The Challenge
Second Newsletter
First Newsletter
The current 501 block on Yonge Street is ripe for redevelopment. It's a strip-mall misplaced onto the main street of Canada's largest city. It got there because the Yonge Street Subway line runs beneath the site. The older original buildings were torn down to make way for that subway. The strip mall was a cheap way to take advantage of retail opportunities along the street. Few would argue that it's an attractive block. Redevelopment makes eminent sense.
But not all possible redevelopments should be allowed. The guidelines in the Official Plan would seem to argue against large high rise buildings on this site. The Proposed Tall Buildings Plan would seem to argue even more strongly against placing very tall building on this site. But neither plan forbids tall buildings on the site. Lanterra Development has submitted a proposal that calls for a (very) tall building on this site. They are proposing a 5 storey parking garage on top of a two storey retail base, all topped with twin 58 storey high rise condominium buildings, with everything running out to the site boundaries. One result would be to change, forever the character of this stretch of Yonge Street.
Given all of the forces at work, some redevelopment of this block is inevitable. And given the acceptance of densification in the city core, the redevelopment is going to be relatively dense. But there's bad dense sites and sites that, while dense, provide significant architectural and social appeal. The proposed structure has few socially redeeming features. The neighbourhood needs to work with the City and the developer to make sure that this will not be the true for the actual project.
The Development Proposal notice was posted on all sides of
the site at the end of May 2011. City Planning prepared its Preliminary Report at the end of May 2011. That report contains several architectural drawings of the proposed structure on this site. The illustration presented here is the view as seen from Yonge Street. What's being proposed is "two 58-storey towers containing 960 residential condominium units on a shared 7-storey podium". This would be a daunting presence on Yonge Street. It would loom, massive and domineering, over anyone walking on the street. It would effectively block one of the more attractive gateways to the Church Wellesley neighborhood.
Understandably, those of us who live in the immediate neighborhood are apprehensive. Yonge Street will be changed forever. A vital connection between commercial Yonge Street and the vibrant Church Wellesley neighbourhood would be severed. The inviting patio dining now located at both ends of the block would disappear. People walking along Yonge would be confronted by a massive and uninterrupted 7 storey glass wall. The somewhat tacky, but inviting current strip mall would be replaced by a looming mass almost calculated to drive people away. This block of Yonge Street would become much less inviting and take on a distinctly anti-people aura. The implications for living to the East of the proposed new building would be severe and negative. The laneway would see a dramatic increase in traffic, and in pollution. The proposed building would put adjacent buildings and open areas in shadow for most of the afternoon.
Stopping all development on the site isn't going to happen. But proceeding as proposed by Lanterra should not be allowed. This website is used to identify issues that should be addressed, and to provide a forum for those who wish to express their concerns about the proposal. Leave your thoughts in one of the discussion forums, or submit a public concern that can be presented to City Planning.
To illustrate the visual impact, this is Yonge Street at Alexander Street, facing North - Before and After the Lanterra proposed towers:
The more that I have studied the Lanterra proposal, the more it seems an almost calculated insult to the neighbourhood. They appear to have taken the view that the first thing they should do is to ask for the very maximum density that could be engineered onto the site. In this, they have given no consideration for what should be done to respect the context. It's almost as though those of us living in the neighbourhood don't count, are irrelevant to their plans. How could we feel other than insulted by their proposal?
Robert Fabian
. robert@fabian.ca