Well I have to say that’s our plan!
St. Catharines is nicknamed “The Garden City” because it has acres and acres of parks and trails for the residents to enjoy. Many of the trails are along waterways such as Lake Ontario and the Welland Canal. Biking, jogging and walking prevail on these pleasant parklands. St Catharines or STC is located 1.5 hrs from Toronto by highway, along the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). Did you know the stretch of the QEW between Hamilton to STC has a new increased speed limit of 110 km/hour? Also, the residents are known as St. Cathariners. All very good info to know and learn. On a clear day you can see Toronto across the lake, the CN Tower being the most recognizable feature.
St Catharines is the 6th largest city by area in Ontario, while its population of 135,000 ranks 34th in the Province. Located well in the fruit belt of the Niagara Region, it forms part of the Golden Horseshoe. There is a micro-climate here influenced by Lake Ontario and Lake Erie which provide for milder winters and more frost-free days. Wineries abound in this region. If you read my previous blog about Prince Edward County, where you have a lake effect and micro-climate, you have grapes and Wine! I wont lie that was a great influencing factor when we chose STC. Who doesn’t love the idea of living and playing where the grapes grow, and the wine is flowing? Our personal favourite STC wineries include 13th Street and Honsberger. However, there are many more to enjoy and I plan to write about them in a coming blogpost, so stay tuned for that.
This city has an active artisan and performing arts culture. There is the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre home to live theatre, the Niagara Symphony, Dance, and a Film Venue as well. The Niagara Symphony is fantastic and as subscribers to the Pop Series I can attest to the overall professionalism and talent that abounds. We absolutely love the series and are repeat subscribers.
For those who love sport there is a new arena in the downtown core that hosts the Niagara Ice Dogs – the local OHL Major Junior Hockey League team, The Niagara River Lions basketball team, as well as concerts with an arena capacity of 5,000 persons. The main streets of downtown are home to a wide variety of restaurants and pubs. The downtown is now on the Wine Route and sees increased tourist traffic mainly in the summer months.
There are two institutions of higher learning: Brock University and Niagara College. A Teaching Winery is part of the College offerings, and there are some retirees who we are working with who dream of attending the college course for this purpose: learning more about wines.
The state-of-the-art St. Catharines Site of Niagara Health opened in March 2013 and provides a full array of health services to patients who would have had to travel to Hamilton or beyond to access vital healthcare services.
The Welland Canal is a vital transportation waterway which allows large sea going vessels to travel between Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and is quite an interesting spectacle to behold. You can stand along the edge of the canal when one of the ships goes by and be impressed by their massive size. The grandkids will love it!
There are many fantastic areas in STC, and I would like to mention two right now. We love them both and they are directly adjacent to each other. One is the neighbourhood of Port Dalhousie. This is a historic and older part of area that I would compare to the Beach in Toronto. Nice older homes but also a real mix from small wood clad cottages to fabulous infill two storey large contemporary or traditional homes. There are homes for every budget. Some back onto the Lake or Martindale Pond but just recently two developers have sold luxury condos along a protected inlet of the lake which leads into the Martindale Pond. It is a picturesque point on which to build and they are located adjacent to each other, walking distance to the little town area of Port Dal (as locals refer to it) and across from a park which looks over onto the Henley Regatta international rowing venue.
The second area is the North end of STC north of Lakeshore Rd where there are lovely bungalows both old and new to consider for your next home. There are 60-year-old bungalows as well as new luxury infill vacant land condominiums. Vacant Land Condos are very interesting builds and offer the retirees the best of both worlds. The Townhomes are freehold, but the access roads, plowing, and yard maintenance are taken care of by the condo management and thus no grass to cut in summer and no snow to shovel in the winter. This ideal set-up and allows for more time to enjoy and spend your time on what you like to do. It’s perfect for world travellers and snowbirds. Not everyone is ready to live in a condominium apartment building and this is the perfect solution for those buyers.
The city provides a wide variety of housing options. This is one thriving place to retire to.
My husband and I purchased in STC three years ago. As we love our work and have no plans to retire soon, we have kept a Toronto home and enjoy our STC property as a recreational property. We refer to it as our “cottage”, without water but we can walk to it or bike to it or along any of those amazing parklands as well.
STC offers all the city amenities one could want. yet you can be in Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) in less than 15 minutes. I will also talk about NOTL in an upcoming blog. Stay tuned.
This city along with each of the cities presented in this series allow Torontonians to purchase homes for some fifty percent less than they will sell their homes for.
Step one: Call me for a consultation on Downsizing from your Toronto home. We have a team of professionals ready to provide any of the assistance you may need, be it organizers, stagers, handypersons, painters, you name it – we have it. I will take care or guide you through the steps, one of which is to put you in touch with our local Niagara Falls agent ready to assist you on the buying end.