Category: UrbanToronto

Councillor Mike Colle and resident defenders of Station K in front of restored post office

Built in 1936 and bearing the arms of the late Edward VIII

Montgomery Square at Yonge St. and Montgomery Ave. has been re-opened after five years of construction during which condominiums were built over the historic Postal Station K. A ceremony took place June 27 to celebrate the survival and renewal of the square. Station K sits on the site of Montgomery’s Tavern, a gathering place for members of the Rebellion of 1837. As reported here earlier, the restored Station K will become home to a lavish new restaurant. Letters in the window indicate it will be called Stock TC. It’s not clear what this means. The partners in this venture are said to be operators of the restaurant Terroni and Cumbrae’s butcher stores.

Three views of the proposed Union Park: Top looking north, centre, aerial to the northwest and at bottom, public space/Oxford Properties

Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, is proposing to build a huge $3.5-billion development in downtown just north of Rogers Centre. Oxford proposes a 4.3-million-square-foot, mixed-use complex on a four-acre site to be called Union Park. Stories Wednesday recall that it is Oxford Properties that is building the nearly completed Hudson Yards project in Manhattan. Union Park plans call for two office towers, 58 and 48 storeys, about 800 rental apartments across two buildings, and 200,000 square feet for retail. Three acres will be devoted to public space, including an urban park over the Union Station rail corridor, which spans Blue Jays Way to the John Street Bridge. Urban Toronto Also Toronto Sun

At Eglinton Station

Trains roll on above

A newer video describing the process of underpinning Line One subway stations at Yonge and Eglinton (Eglinton Station) and at the Allen Expressway and Eglinton (Cedarvale) is seen here. It also appears on Urban Toronto with an account of a media tour last week conducted by Crosslinx Transit Solutions President Bill Henry. Service on Line One will continue to carry on even as the LRT underneath is dug out.

Proposed for 409 Huron St.

As it stands

Crystal adjoins ROM

Urban Toronto has posted details of plans to enlarge the student residence of 409 Huron St. in a way that evokes the style of the “Crystal” addition to the Royal Ontario Museum around the corner. In fact, the affliction is not quite as serious as it is on Bloor St. and possibly much more functional. Urban Toronto says the plan calls for a total of 90 rental units, including 40 replacement units for existing rentals on site. These are planned in a mix of 66 studio units, 16 one-bedroom units, 7 two-bedroom units, and a single three-bedroom unit, while the 40 rental replacement units would include 39 studio units and a single one-bedroom unit. The replacement units are proposed to be generally larger in size than the existing units they are set to replace.

Flashy promotional schematic on Metrolinx site

Crosstown LRT car

Phil Verster, Metrolinx President and CEO, presided Wednesday at a positive news opportunity showing off one of the units that will run on the Crosstown (Eglinton) LRT line in, it is expected, 2021. On Track Urban Toronto

Bounded by Yonge, Heath St. E, Alvin Ave. and the property line with 2 St. Clair East

Looking southeast. Orient yourself with Yorkminster Baptist Church on the left.

The website Urban Toronto has obtained information on a proposed three-tower development north of Yonge and St Clair that will, if approved, create a huge boost in density to the area. It would stand at Yonge and Heath St. East and offer a rival to the growth and height of skyscrapers at Yonge and Eglinton. The northern three-fifths of the block to the northeast of the Yonge-St. Clair intersection is targeted for redevelopment as Wittington Properties Limited seeks rezoning to permit the development. It includes condominiums rising above significant ground-level retail and pedestrian space and would no doubt add density and attractive business growth. It will also change the character of the area profoundly. The low-rise businesses north of the intersection will go, as will Wally Crouter Walk and the familiar Alvin Ave. Green P lot. Homes and businesses on the east side of Alvin will sit in the permanent shadow of the new towers.

623 housing units, retail and public space

Finished Art Shoppe Condominium

Urban Toronto updates the progress on the Art Shoppe Condo at Yonge St. between Soudan and Hillsdale Aves. There will be 623 new homes in the 28 and 12-storey towers as well as retail and improved public space to the area upon completion. As the website says, high-rise “towers extend in all four cardinal directions from Midtown Toronto’s Yonge and Eglinton intersection, forming a cross of density hugging the major thoroughfares.”

Chester Public School

A plan has been filed at City Hall to uncover and save the facade of Chester Public School built in 1891 at 954 Broadview Ave. between Danforth and the Pottery Rd/Mortimer Ave. corner. The project is part of an 18-storey retirement home plan set on the high bank of the Don Valley. It is put forward by developer Revera Living and designed by Montgomery Sisam with heritage aspects overseen by ERA Architects and would reveal the old school for the first time since it was mostly hidden behind a 20th Century addition. Urban Toronto correctly calls it a forgotten heritage gem.

Condominium proposed for properties running from present street addresses of 1408 to 1420

Urban Toronto reports on a new proposal submitted to the City at the end of February seeking rezoning and an Official Plan Amendment to permit an 8-storey development on Bayview Ave. south of Balliol St. The proposal by Gairloch Developments calls for the replacement of four existing buildings including two brick semi-detached homes numbered from 1408 to 1414. To the north of that two buildings numbered 1416 and 1420 are included. The new address for the condo would be 1410. The website notes a retail space of 98 m² proposed beside the lobby. It can be seen at the south end of the depiction above. Urban Toronto

Context Map of Subject Site – 1408-1420 Bayview Avenue

The Howard Property Group has submitted updated architectural plans for an 11-storey extension of its 13 storey rental property at 368 Eglinton Avenue East opposite Forman Ave. Howard Group, like so many others, is busy fulfilling Toronto’s plan for the high-rise makeover of much of Eglinton along the new LRT line. Urban Toronto

Scarborough Community Council forgot O’Connor Dr. is 100 percent west of Victoria Park Ave.

Years of plotting to redevelop the Eglinton Ave. Golden Mile in keeping with its enormous new value when the LRT is finished seem to have been thrown into confusion. The cause is a plan to reroute O’Connor Drive away from Eglinton Ave. and send it eastward to Birchmount Ave. The unseen problem is that Scarborough Community Council, which came up with the plan, overlooked the lurking presence of North York and Toronto and East York Community Councils to the west of Victoria Park Ave. O’Connor Dr. is 100 percent outside of Scarborough. Rerouting O’Connor would require property purchases inside North York and Toronto and East York. That seems to mean Golden Mile planning would have to move downtown to full City Council. Read on at Toronto.com.   Golden Mile Secondary Plan Study.

Golden Mile Secondary Plan Study Boundary / City of Toronto