[Softee]

The following photos were taken this past July during a one hour helicopter ride over the city by North Bay's mayor, Victor Fedeli. He gave me permission to post these photos after being kind enough to burn them onto a CD for me after I e-mailed him and asked if there were any recent aerial photos of the city I could get a look at.

Flying over the North Bay waterfont, Marathon beach and downtown.

Ameila park beach. My apartment is in this pic!

Downtown money shot - in a few years that huge empty area will be beautiful parkland.

The West end and Harbourside condos, jokingly referred to as the "Great Wall of North Bay".

Over the old West end and the construction site to expand Algonquin High School. Two hospitals are nearby.

Way up high!

The Chief Commanda is coming into port.

North end commercial area at Algonquin and McKeown Ave.

Upscale housing and new development on the escarpment.

New infill construction area near the ski hill - including a new secondary and elementary school.

Trout Lake area with downtown and Lake Nipissing in the distance. The tower crane is for the new water treatment plant project.

The Cove, a popular beach in the Birchaven area.

Ferris area condos on Lake Nipissing and a new residential and industrial development getting underway.

Nipissing University and new hospital site, two additional tower cranes have since been erected!

Thats it, hope you enjoyed.

 

[Observer Walt]

Softee, another good set of pictures. Thank you, and to Mayor Fedeli.

North Bay is a nice city. They have done a good job taking advantage of the waterfront location.

 

[Redroom Studios]

nice aerial shots indeed and a great part of our province! You say that giant open area infront of downtown is going to be made over into a park? What a missed opportunity for Concord to do a mini version of City Place... that empty area reminds me of Toronto's railway lands from 10+ years ago... come to think of it they could also run some rail lines and a raised expressway through there. Think of the possibilities!

 

[JasonParis]

The airport is bigger than the city! Seriously though, great shots.

There seems to be a fair amount of development for a relatively small place. New high school, condos, housing tracts, hospital expansions, etc. Is the town experiencing a population boom? And if so, why?

 

[Long Island Mike]

Good aerial North Bay pics!

Softee: Good aerial tour of North Bay-I happen to enjoy this this type of stuff-you caught most if not all angles of NB.
As you say that open waterfront land near Downtown will become a park-good idea! Nice stuff-thanks to co-operation from NB's Mayor. LI MIKE

 

[Softee]

Thanks, yeah the airport is pretty huge, one of its runways is 10,000 feet long. North Bay has been going through a building boom over the last several years, Nipissing University has grown to be the largest single employer in the city and it brings in lots of new jobs and people every year.

Also, the Northern mining industry is booming right now, and although there are no mines in the city or its surrounding area, NB is home to many mining supply companies and whenever the mining industry booms in places like nearby Sudbury and other Northern mining communities, the city booms right along with them. North Bay is also a retirement destination for people from both up North and down South, with several new condo and housing developments geared to active retirees.

The city's population grew by 2.3% between 2001 and 2006, which is only modest growth compared to the rapidly growing communities in the GTA, but it was still the highest growth rate among major Northern Ontario cities and towns.

 

[Mustapha]

Yeah, but what's the nightlife like? Just kidding.

Thanks, great pics and the mayor must be regular people.

 

[MG22]

Great shots!

I'm actually from North Bay and happen to be sitting in the THRIVING metropolis as I type this message (I'm back for reading week).

North Bay is a nice city, small town politics aside. It offers excellent recreational facilities and has much a city of its size would not normally have (i.e., a local university and college).

It's a great city to visit during a summer weekend, too! I'd advise you to bring a bathing suit so you could visit some of the multiple public beaches, umm, on second thought, stay away from any beaches on Lake Nipissing so you don't contract 'The Itch!' Besides, Trout Lake is much more refreshing on a warm day (it's the smaller lake towards the 'back' part of the city in the aerial photos).

Thanks for such awesome pics Softee. I can't believe you left out Scollard though ... it's a gem!

 

[MG22]

Re: Waterfront rejuvination

Softee -

Have you heard anything more about this convention centre being built on the rail lands? I believe it was proposed by a Burlington architecural firm or something or other. It had Sudbury up in arms according to an article I read.

 

[Softee]

Wow, this thread has been brought back from the dead! haha

The last thing I read about the hotel/convention centre was that the hotel was going to be a 6 storey Hilton Garden Inn and that the project is planned for the former Uniroc site which overlooks Lake Nipissing on Memorial Drive. I haven't heard any confirmed dates for the start of construction as of yet, but I have a feeling it won't be for at least another year.

In other hotel news, the new Hampton Inn on McKeown Ave. in the North end is coming along quickly, it'll probably be opening before summer. I'll post a pic of it sometime soon.

P.S. The nightlife is actually not bad considering there are over 10,000 university and college students in town who need to be entertained! haha

 

[allabootmatt]

Does the size of the airport have anything to do with the NORAD facilities in North Bay?

 

[Hipster Duck]

Cool shots. Downtown looks fairly nice but the rest of the area has sort of an outer-Atlanta look to it.

 

[JasonParis]

Yup, the "sprawl amongst the trees" always reminds me of Atlanta by air.

 

[Softee]

^^^ I think the NORAD facility and the fact that CFB North Bay used to be home to a squadron of fighter jets definitely had something to do with the size of the airport, but nowadays there are only about 500 military personnel left at the base.

Those sprawly new subdivisions in the trees are what would be considered our outer Northern Suburbs - they are up on the escarpment that runs across the North end of the city.

MG22, I just heard today that the new waterfront hotel/convention centre is to begin construction in 2010, with the hotel being built that year followed by the convention centre in 2011.