{"id":25222,"date":"2019-11-14T22:42:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T03:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=25222"},"modified":"2019-11-22T20:21:03","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T01:21:03","slug":"new-chapter-begins-for-historic-armoury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/new-chapter-begins-for-historic-armoury\/","title":{"rendered":"New chapter begins for historic Armoury"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new chapter has officially begun in the story of\nAurora\u2019s Historic Armoury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, community members gathered at the former\nVictorian drill shed at the corner of Larmont and Mosley Streets for its\nrebirth as the newest campus of Niagara College\u2019s Canadian Food & Wine\nInstitute (CFWI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioned under Queen Victoria in the 1870s, the\nbuilding was home to the Queen\u2019s York Rangers regiment for more than a century.\nUnder the restored original timber beams, evidence of the Armoury\u2019s past was\nevident as more than 150 people toured the sparkling new facility, sampling\nbeer and wine made by CFWI students, hors d\u2019oeuvres created under the direction\nof Soohyeong Lee, and even a bit of pasta made by Mayor Tom Mrakas in a\ndemonstration in the building\u2019s new state-of-the-art teaching kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of the Town and Niagara College,\nWednesday\u2019s ribbon cutting was much more than an unveiling, it was the breaking\nof bread over an important new collaboration they hoped would become a standard\nbetween municipalities like Aurora and post-secondary institutions like Niagara\nCollege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the Council of the 2010 \u2013 2014 term purchased this\nbuilding, there were many discussions about what it could be,\u201d said Mayor Tom\nMrakas from a podium set up in the large open area designed to be used as\ncommunity space. \u201cEveryone knew that this building was something special and we\nneeded to do something monumental. The 2014 \u2013 2018 term of Council was\npresented with an opportunity to renew and repurpose the Armoury and bring new\nlife into the downtown core through the transformation of the building as a\npost-secondary institution. What an incredible transformation it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking up at the original wooden ceiling, alongside the\nnew roll-up doors on the west side of the building that now connect the Armory\nto Town Park, the Mayor said, \u201cI know we have done something truly special\nhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paying tribute to former councillor Paul Pirri, who was\ninstrumental in beginning discussions between the Town and Niagara College,\nMayor Mrakas said bringing a post-secondary presence to Aurora fulfils a key\nmandate of the Town\u2019s Strategic Plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that universities and colleges bring not only\neconomic benefits but social ones as well,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey foster a\ncommunity and bring people together. When we approached Niagara College and\nbegan discussions about having them make Aurora their first campus in the GTA,\nwe knew that we could work with them. We knew we were on the same page and we\nwould be able to create a shared vision for both the college and the Town. As\nsoon as Niagara College saw the Armoury, they knew that this was the right\nplace for them to begin their expansion into the Greater Toronto Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey wanted to create a state-of-the-art facility in a\nplace where they could not only continue their work as an internationally-celebrated\nculinary school, but where they have become part of the community. They saw the\npotential of this building and our downtown core in the same way that we did.\nOur vision for what that space could mean for our community aligned perfectly\nwith their desire to be an integral part of our town and be part of something\nbigger than just a post-secondary institution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These views were shared by Dr. Dan Patterson, President\nof Niagara College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to the assembled crowd, Dr. Patterson dubbed the\nfinished product \u201cspectacular\u201d and said he was looking forward to a \u201cgreat\npartnership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Dr. Patterson\u2019s remarks, Craig Youdale, Dean of\nthe CFWI, said that throughout the process he was struck at how \u201cexcited and\npassionate\u201d Aurora was in bringing something \u201cunique and special\u201d to the\ncommunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he first visited the Armoury, when it was just a\ndrill shed, Mr. Youdale said he did not necessarily see in his mind\u2019s eye how\nit would all turn out, but they knew that this was a space they \u201creally wanted\nto be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were really excited about the history and from Day\nOne when we met with the Town and met eventually with [the architects from Gow\nHastings] we wanted to make sure history was an important component of the\ndevelopment,\u201d he said. \u201cAside from being part of the community and having a\nspace that was accessible to all, we wanted to make sure that the history of\nthis amazing space was not lost and that this incredible building\u2026will continue\nto celebrate the history of this space and what it means, and it is not lost to\nme that we\u2019re all wearing poppies today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe planning, construction and implementation really was\na challenging and different process for us. Normally when you embark on\nsomething of this scale, one of your first steps to look to the other projects\nthat are the same and to the other buildings that are similar, the other\npartnerships that have a similar pedigree. The reality is there is none. This\nis really, truly a unique element in so many ways: the history of the building,\nthe partnership between the municipality and the college, the actual diversity\nand use of this space that all those in the community will be able to be here\nand enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CFWI, he continued, encompasses a \u201creally unique\ncollection of programs\u201d with \u201can amazing collection of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a ribbon cutting and opening to not just a\npartnership but a really exciting partnership I think will become a template\nfor municipalities and communities across the country. This really is an\nexciting and unique space and I can\u2019t wait for all of you to come and use this\nspace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Aurora CAO Doug Nadorozny: \u201cI believe this is an exceptional partnership and one that is going to flourish over the years to come and be a model for partnerships between post-secondary institutions and communities. We are very proud of the partnership we have started and the fact that the Canadian Food & Wine Institute has been able to expand into the GTA market through this Aurora location. Our ability to work together with an organization like Niagara College to create this space is something I know will be the envy of many municipalities as word gets out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Landmark formally rep-opens as new campus of Niagara College’s Canadian Food & Wine Institute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/2019-11-14-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6yO","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 11:49:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}