Month: September 2013

Bayview-Lawrence closures Saturday and Sunday

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The Sunnybrook Foundation and RBC Run for the Kids 5K and 25K has closed Bayview Avenue from Lawrence Avenue to Broadway Avenue today (Saturday, September 21) from 8:30 to 11 a.m. A series of other road closures are scheduled in the Mount Pleasant Road and Lawrence Avenue area to accommodate the 5K Run. Blythwood Road from Bayview Avenue to Mount Pleasant Road will be closed in both directions from 9 to 9:30 a.m.  On Sunday, September 22 a series of partial road closures will take place on Bayview Avenue, Lawrence Avenue, Leslie Street, Eglinton Avenue, Overlea Boulevard, Don Mills Road, York Mills Road and a number of surrounding roads in the area to accommodate the 25K  from 7:30 a.m. to noon.

2 dead in wrong-way head-on 401 collision

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A horrifying wrong-way accident has taken the lives of two drivers early Saturday on Highway 40 near Pickering.  The deadly outcome happened despite the desperate efforts of the Durham police to stop the wrong-way vehicle after they received a 911 call alerting them to the menace. The vehicle, an SUV, is said to have glanced off another car near Harwood Road in Ajax around 2.30 a.m. and then continued until it slammed head-on into a red Mazda near Brock Road. A third car then rear-ended the Mazda. The 25-year-old driver of the SUV and the 33-year-old driver of the Mazda were pronounced dead on scene. The driver of the third vehicle suffered minor injuries. “The witnesses called in saying there was a vehicle travelling obviously in the wrong direction on a controlled access highway and officers from the Whitby detachment immediately responded to try to intercept the vehicle but unfortunately we got there too late,” Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CP24 Saturday morning. 

First Capital wins award for Leaside Village

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First Capital Realty has received a Gold Maple Leaf Award for Design and Development Excellence at the meeting of the  International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC). The award recognizes the design of Leaside Village shopping centre on Laird Drive and the public spirited work of restoring the railway maintenance building which now houses Longo’s (inset top). The Canadian convention was held this week at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. First Capital is a large international real estate investment trust (REIT) which has made purchases locally such as the former CIBC building at 180 Laird  Interestingly the former bank  remains vacant seven months after it was purchased. Although a modest structure by the standard of 1930s bank buildings, 180 Laird does have a well-preserved coat of arms of the bank’s builder, the Imperial Bank of Canada, over the front door (inset). The building stayed in the bank’s family until this year’s sale even after the Imperial merged with the Bank of Commerce in 1960 to create the CIBC. Some think First Capital’s interest in the building is as a foothold looking toward the redevelopment of the west side of Laird Drive south of McRae Drive. First Capital are also the owners of Hazelton Lanes in Yorkville.

BlackBerry cuts 4500 jobs, expenses unsold units

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BlackBerry seems to be facing a grim end as it says it will get rid 4,500 jobs across the country. Analyst everywhere are predicting the worst in the face of this news and a loss of as much of $1 billion in the latest quarter. It will probably be applied to writedowns of handsets that remain unsold. The cuts amount to just over 35 per cent of Waterloo-based BlackBerry’s workforce of 12,700. The company is down 24 per cent today.

Does Eglinton E reveal car-pooling is a flop?

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Berardinetti

Do high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes merely create congestion? That’s the view of Michelle Berardinetti (Ward 35). Her sense of traffic on Eglinton Ave. E. is that very few cars can qualify to run in the HOV lanes. Therefore, says the Scarborough Southwest member of council, she wants the lanes eliminated. Berardinetti represents the south side of Eglinton.  The lanes were created to encourage car-pooling but has it? “We don’t see any studies produced to say that that works,” she said. “I want to see a report to see if it works. We do many things in the city to improve gridlock, but this is more detrimental.” 

Breathtaking dream for Queen and Yonge

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BlogTO has an interesting feature on the Zeidler Architects vision for Yonge and Queen (inset). Here we see the breathtaking transition from the 19th century structure in place to a 65 level residential building. It seems quite unclear as to just how feasible this will be. Re-construction may be required to make the tower sit satisfactorily on the heritage site. It may have to be torn down and become a facade, perhaps. Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27) has also made an apparently sensible complaint about the absence of parking in this concept. Hard to imagine that there is no new parking at all, but that is what is being said. According to BlogTO a recent public meeting  “was worryingly devoid of any actual community members” BlogTO

Not much time left for 308 Rose Park Drive

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It surely won’t be very long now. The heavy oak doors and other elegant woodwork have been stripped from the interior. The porch light and electrical fixtures have been ripped off the exterior. Someone has even dug up the nearly 90 year old flag stones that formed the front walk. And then on Thursday, September 19, 2013, Enbridge sank a hole across the street and turned off the gas to 308 Rose Park Drive in Moore Park. Outside on the nice little boulevard that lines the street, the mandatory orange plastic mesh tree fence has gone up to protect the maples. They are only about 45 years ago, planted in sadness too when the original elm trees all died off from the wretched disease. In this instance, the orange tree fence also protects the unique stand-alone street lamps that line Rose Park Drive. They remain in use from the 1920s. A short walk to the rear past the original milk box is the large yard. Stretching across nearly 70 feet, it will be fine for the two town homes to be built here in the months to come. The owners — all of them — are gone but neighbors have many memories of their friends and events (inset) like the 2011 Rose Park Drive Street Party where magician Tricky Ricky beguiled kids in the driveway to 308. So long 308. 

City will be asked to fight 2 Laird at OMB

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Click to make larger

The saga of 2 Laird Drive drags on at City Hall with local councillors recommending to the full council that the city fight the present plan which is now before the Ontario Municipal Board. Members of North York Community Council so voted at their September 10, 2013 meeting. The developer, Knightstone Capital, says opposition at the OMB would be a foolish expense because city staff has already recommended acceptance of the development based on revisions the developer has made. But height is the burning issue, with  opponents demanding that the condominium be limited to five storeys. As it stands, the application calls for 2 Laird grow to 7 storeys. It would be built as a 78 unit residential building with 94 parking spaces underground. Knightstone agreed to changes earlier this year. City staff has bought into these changes but it still has some minor requirements related to set back, the elevation at street level and a pedestrian walkway on Krawchuk Lane.  An outdoor amenity area is proposed on the rooftop overlooking Millwood Drive. As a result, from a zoning perspective, the proposed building would be considered 8 storeys in height. The 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th floors have a variety of balconies, terraces and setbacks along the west and south sides of the building. The 6th and 7th floors facing Millwood Road and Malcolm Road are also stepped back 2 to 5 metres from the main face of the building. The ground floor of the building would include grade related dwelling units along both public streets and the public lane. The units along the public lane have been designed as grade related townhouse units, 3-storeys in height, in response to the existing townhouses opposite on Krawchuk  lane. The main entrance/lobby to the building is located near the Malcolm Road entrance driveway with a direct connection to the public sidewalk. At grade, open space is comprised of private patios along Malcolm Road, Millwood Road and Krawchuck Lane with varying building setbacks. With the exception of the corner building element at Millwood Drive/Malcolm, the building is generally set back 3.1 metres from Krawchuck Lane, 1.2 – 4.0 metres from Millwood Drive and 3 metres from Malcolm Road. The corner building element is set back 2 metres from both streets.  Staff report on 2 Laird.  Larger picture 

Colt surveys pasture realm from garage roof

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And how did he get down? It’s simple really. This one-year-old colt descended the same way he clambered up on the roof. The garage from which he surveys the world in this unusual picture is built into the side of a hill (inset). It is not a wide path to the roof, but if you are a sure-footed young creature with four legs for balance it can be done. We judge that little length of roof just off the ground to be about a foot and a half in length. Pat and Stephen Downey of Hampton, New Brunswick run this horse farm with Stephen’s brother Archie. It was Archie who got up early the other day to find the colt up on the roof. He snapped a picture and sent it to his brother. No one believed it. The old photo shop trick, you know. But it was all real and it took some coaxing to get the colt back down to his pasture. Those old shingles must taste awful.