Developers, entrepreneurs tasked with ‘reimaging’ former Oshawa Bus Terminal
Published December 19, 2024 at 3:29 pm
The City of Oshawa has heard from the public on the future of the former bus terminal downtown, now developers will get their chance to “reimagine” the space at 47 Bond Street West.
The goal, noted a press release from the city, is to “transform the fully serviced space and land into a development that will positively contribute to downtown Oshawa.”
The site, located at the corner of Bond and Centre streets, includes the following areas:
- Terminal: a bus terminal featuring a public hall, washrooms, a former ticketing office and a second-floor lounge
- Bus Platform Area: ground floor space located directly below the two levels of parking within the garage
- Garage: a three-level parking garage with 396 parking spaces located just south of the bus platform on the ground floor and an additional two levels of parking directly above the ground floor parking area and the bus platform
The city of Oshawa issued a Request for Expressions of Interest for the development of the city-owned lands in the summer of 2022 and plenty of ‘suggestions’ came in, albeit not on the required channels.
Public comments on social media two years ago included condos with main floor retail, a homeless shelter, NOT a homeless shelter, a drug treatment centre, NOT another methadone clinic, a grocery store, food bank, subsidized housing, a library branch location and an appeal to donate the property to the university.
Some of the proposals were quite detailed, while others only asked that the city preserve the murals on the north and east side of the building.
Officially, responses were received through Purchasing Services in 2022 though none appealed to the city, leading to Thursday’s announcement.
The terminal, in the heart of the city’s downtown, closed completely on Sept. 5, 2020 when GO Transit moved its end of the line to the Oshawa GO Station. The rest of the bus terminal closed about six years ago.
The terminal last saw public use in September when it was transformed into a temporary interactive art display during the Convergence Music & Art Festival.
Proposals for the terminal will be accepted through the city’s oshawa.bidsandtenders.ca web portal until 2 p.m. on Thursday, February 27.
For more information or to submit a proposal visit Oshawa Bids and Tenders.
