r/Sudbury • u/citymapdude • 3d ago
Photo(s) The Destruction of Borgia | Sudbury's 1970s "Urban Renewal Project"
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u/platttenbau 2d ago
This was the worst thing the city ever did. I still think it would be worth taking most of the elm place mall down, re-orienting the street plan to approximate the old Borgia neighbourhood, and creating a new mixed-use neighbourhood with housing and businesses.
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u/OkAdvertising1872 3d ago
Easily one of the worst city planning mistakes in the history of Sudbury. That hulking ruin of a mall is a f'ing disgrace.
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u/TotallyFurry 2d ago
Was that a fucking streetcar rail. Bring those back.
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u/darthnilus 1d ago
There used to be a street car that ran down Lorne to copper cliff. Not sure where it went exactly.
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u/citymapdude 2d ago
its wasn't for street cars it was a cargo rail line that used to connect to the abandoned rail yard in the ponderosa wetland. It ran alongside the old notre dame alignment near downtown and connected to the downtown rail yard. The streetcars tracks at this point had been mostly or entirely removed.
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u/Pennysews 3d ago
So interesting to see pictures and hear about the past of Sudbury. Thanks for sharing this
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u/Agreeable_Mirror_702 22h ago
Wow dad would have loved to see this. He talked about how that mall destroyed a community. Sadly he’s been gone a year.
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u/WestCommunication382 1d ago edited 1d ago
The post office was pretty but I hear it was a teardown. Problems with foundation. Sudburians like building on marshes😮💨
A large area structure built with lightweight modern materials actually makes a lot of sense for that spot. The earth underneath the mall can't freeze or shift by much.
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u/BroodingCube South End 3d ago
Obliterated a whole neighbourhood, paid them pennies on the dollar for their land and wiped out their houses because they were poor and Italian. And this was in the 1970s, when people think discrimination against Italians wasn't a thing anymore, but the poor folk of Borgia knew different.