Tag: Crazy Place: Bayview & Eglinton

Since its fencing off in 2020, the long-anticipated demolition of Sunnybrook Plaza has finally commenced — in December 2023.

“Leaside Heritage is proud to say we now have in our LHPS collection, donated by Concert Properties, the clock, SP and Sunnybrook Plaza signage from the tower plus the letters that surrounded the offices which spelled, “Sunnybrook Plaza Offices”.” Leaside Heritage on Facebook

• Sealed off and forlorn Sunnybrook Plaza awaiting wrecker (The Bulldog, June 2020)
• The end of Toronto’s first strip mall (Macleans, July 2020)

An application was submitted to propose the redevelopment of 1802 Bayview Avenue (at Roehampton Ave), the current location of the neighbourhood stalwart, Bayview Car Wash.

Gairloch Developments partnered with Harlo Capital submitted the re-zoning application on June 19th, 2023, and aim to construct a 46-storey mixed-use building. The ground level will house retail along Bayview Avenue, with 419 residential units in the tower. The plan includes two levels of underground parking with a total of 44 parking spaces. Access to the underground parking will be facilitated by a ramp from Badali Family Lane. Additionally, bicycle parking will be provided on the two underground levels as well as the mezzanine level.

While it’s true that the land is not being fully utilized, the loss of Bayview Car Wash will undoubtedly be a source of sorrow for the community.

The application includes a summary of other development proposals in the vicinity. Check out the photo above to see the impressive scale of these projects. It seems all these developers are optimistically assuming that the completion of the Eglinton Crosstown is not too far away. Uh huh.

• The construction consortium responsible for building the Eglinton Crosstown has yet to deliver a “credible schedule” for the completion of the project
• Enormous condo tower proposed to replace Toronto car wash
• Urban Toronto Discussion: 1802 Bayview Avenue

A new proposal has been submitted for a 34-storey mixed use building with ground floor retail at 1840 Bayview Avenue.

More information about the proposal can be found on UrbanToronto.

A note from FoNTRA

The Federation of North Toronto Residents’ Associations (FoNTRA) has sent a notice to Sherwood Park residents to alert them of all the large development projects coming to the Sherwood Park area adjacent to Eglinton and to Bayview.

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The CBC is reporting that there’s no credible plan in place to complete the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Budgeting, quality of work, missed targets and disputes cloud the project that has plagued Eglinton for what feels like forever. Internal documents obtained by the CBC outline a pretty sad situation. Read CBC story here: There’s no ‘credible plan’ to complete the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, confidential documents say

Councillors Mike Colle and Josh Matlow are demanding answers and accountability for the delayed and overbudgeted $5.5 billion project. CityNews

We knew it was going to happen, but now that there is a proposal to look at, it’s a little extraordinary to see. The new Leaside LRT Station will be integrated into the podium of the new development. According to the Application submitted to the City, it is described as a

“proposal for 35-storey mixed use building containing a total of 373 dwelling units and 541 square metres of retail space.

The subject site is currently occupied by the primary entrance to the Leaside station on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line, which is scheduled to open in 2023 (1787 Bayview Avenue), and two multiplex residential buildings which are to be demolished and replaced as part of the new development (1779-1781 and 1783-1785 Bayview Avenue). …

The proposal will include a total of 373 residential units, comprised of 265 condominium units and 108 rental units (including 10 rental replacement units). … A total of 139 vehicular parking spaces are proposed on 4 levels of underground parking, including 129 residential spaces and 9 spaces for visitors and retail space combined, as well as 488 bicycle parking spaces on the ground floor and mezzanine.”

We think that including some red brick at street level might have been a nice touch on a tower located in Leaside. Also curious to know if a McDonald’s will return to this corner once all is said and done. Asking for a friend. 😉

More:

• UrbanToronto | Tower Proposed Above Leaside Crosstown Station at Bayview and Eglinton
• UrbanToronto Discussion Forum | 1779-1787 Bayview | 118.27m | 35s | Condor Properties Ltd | IBI Group
• Fears gov’t ready to build hi-rise over LRT stop at Bayview (Feb. 2021)

If you happened to drive or walk through the intersection of Bayview Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East last weekend, you may have noticed the shift. Construction workers and a paid duty police officer were there to help pedestrians get through safely as barriers and signage were moved around for the new traffic configuration.

Details from the Metrolinx Construction update:

Traffic on Bayview Avenue will shift to the west side of the street and a work zone will be in place on the east side. Traffic on Eglinton Avenue East will remain on the north side of the road and the work zone will remain on the south side of the road. The northbound left and right turn on Bayview Avenue will be restricted at Eglinton Avenue East. All other turn restrictions will remain in place at the intersection. The sidewalk on the south side of Eglinton Avenue East, east of Bayview Avenue will be closed.

Pedestrians will be diverted south around the Main Entrance work zone. The east crosswalk at Bayview Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East will be closed and the west crosswalk will be reinstated. The northbound TTC bus stop will be temporarily relocated north of Craig Crescent. The eastbound TTC bus stop will remain in its temporary location. This configuration is expected to remain in place for approximately 1 month. Traffic control personnel and/or a paid duty officer will be present while traffic changes are being implemented.

TRAFFIC DETAILS
• Traffic on Bayview Avenue will shift to the west side of the street and a work zone will be in place on the east side.
• Traffic on Eglinton Avenue East will remain on the north side of the road and the work zone will remain on the south side of the road.
• The northbound left and right turn on Bayview Avenue will be restricted at Eglinton Avenue East.
• All other turn restrictions will remain in place at the intersection.

PEDESTRIAN DETAILS
• The sidewalk on the south side of Eglinton Avenue East, east of Bayview Avenue will be closed. Pedestrians will be diverted south around the Main Entrance work zone.
• The east crosswalk at Bayview Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East will be closed and the west crosswalk will be reinstated.

TRANSIT INFORMATION
• The northbound TTC bus stop will be temporarily located north of Craig Crescent.
• The eastbound TTC bus stop will remain in its temporary location.
• Access to TTC will be maintained at all times.
• Please visit www.ttc.ca for more information.

More updates about this intersection can be found at http://thecrosstown.ca/news-media/whats-new/bayview-avenue.

Over the last few years we have watched the slow and steady construction of the brand new Leaside Station at the corner of Bayview and Eglinton Avenues. This station will be Leaside’s entry into the still under construction, Eglinton LRT.

As we see the daily progress of the new glass structure, we may not have noticed the demolition of the original Leaside Station at 50 Village Station Road, off Millwood Road. Abandoned and dilapidated, this piece of Leaside’s history is now gone forever. It was demolished last week as Metrolinx prepares for the construction of the new Ontario Line’s train maintenance and storage facility. Reader James Weekes sent us images of the rubble. (Thank you James!) Leaside Art Deco Lost, Leaside Life.

All of CP's Toronto-Ottawa and Toronto-Montreal passenger trains stopped at Leaside until these trains were removed in 1966. Passenger service ended at Leaside in 1982 with the cancellation of @VIA_Rail's rail diesel car between Toronto and Havelock. 2/3 pic.twitter.com/kz83F5Hclh

— Toronto Railway Museum (@TORailwayMuseum) November 23, 2020

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This photo has been tweeted of recently installed glass guardrails at the Leaside LRT Station. Long way down. Twitter

Friend of the Bulldog and venerable shutterbug, Rudy Limeback has tweeted a photo of the exposed underbelly of the intersection at Bayview and Eglinton. Quite a change from the archive photo of Sunnybrook Plaza. Metrolinx construction continues.

Sunnybrook Plaza, #Leaside, Toronto's first strip mall

how it started how it's going

(April 1952, pic via @torontolibrary )
(May 2022, construction of Crosstown LRT) pic.twitter.com/UZIPqy9zOI

— Rudy Limeback (@rudydotca) May 25, 2022

It’s 2022 and there’s no better evidence of that than the photo at upper left of the nearly finished Leaside LRT station on the southeast corner of Bayview Ave and Eglinton Ave. You used to eat Big Macs above it. Then at upper right is a fun reminder from the past on the Mount Pleasant Village BIA Facebook page. That’s the Bank of Toronto building at Mt. Pleasant and Belsize Drive. Looks like parade day. Bank of Toronto merged with the Dominion Bank in 1955. Below that are some happy yellow roses seen at Longo’s. They convey friendship, it’s said. Further down we see a diagram of the proposed triangular condo on Pape Ave smack up against the Metrolinx rail line. It comes with a 4.4 metre high “crash wall”. Hmm. Finally, decades of memories will be all that’s left as this noble maple on Randolph Rd north of Millwood Rd. comes down.

The hammerhead crane used to build the main entrance at Leaside Station has come down Saturday. It’s expected that Bayview Ave will be open Sunday.