Don Mills : Development News

There’s a new building material in town. It’s called Bone, and its Quebec-based progenitors are colourfully enthusiastic about it.

“In addition to being environmentally friendly and energy efficient,” their press release says upon the introduction of Bone to the Toronto market, “the BONE Structure system promotes the development of local economies and gives free rein to clients' and architects' creativity by making it easy to form vast spaces with variable volumes and grandiose fenestration.”

I’m guessing that was written by president and founder, Marc Bovet, based on the tone and timbre of our quick talk.

“I have been in different trades,” he says, talking about what got him into the building business. “I was born and raised in retail, probably even conceived behind a counter.

“I'm not an engineer, not an architect, not a handyman, I do not wear a tool belt on the weekends. In 2004, I bought a property, a 1942 house, the paint was original, even the phone was Northern Atlantic. People tell me I'm compulsive. I hired a master carpenter. It went way over schedule and I ended up in a hotel room with my wife and four kids for two weeks.”

He says the experience left him “pissed off,” and he went in search of a better way to fix your home.

After reading and travelling and consulting with his old colleagues at Bombardier, where he used to work in management, he came up with Bones, made of recycled materials, and put together in what he compares to Meccano, for those old enough to remember it, or Lego for those who aren’t.

Standardized parts, made of 40- to 60 per cent recycled steel into 11-gauge galvanized steel, mean as much as 1,000 square feet of home can be put up per day by four or five builders using a single tool (an impact drill). “There’s no cutting, no piercing, no welding, no garbage on our construction site,” Bovet says. There are also no load-bearing interior walls, meaning houses built with Bone are easily alterable.

“Your kids, they leave home at 28 if everything goes well,” he says. “You can knock down the walls, and put them back up when they come back at the age of 32.”

The system, he says, has been patented in 42 countries.

As a showcase, Bovet’s had a show home put up in Don Mills, open to the public Sept. 27 and 28, in conjunction with an information session at the Shops at Don Mills, from which there will be shuttle service to the site. (You can register by emailing [email protected].)

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Marc Bovet

The final staff report is in and it looks like there will be a new SmartCentre in Leaside.

Known locally as 70 Wicksteed, the development is proposed for a 1.4-hectare site near the corner of Laird and Eglinton, near the site of another proposed 3.8-hectare business park at Eglinton and Leslie. There has been a great deal of public opposition to the allowance for an anchor store, especially against the Walmart rumored to be a key potential tenant, opposition shared by the ward’s councillor John Parker.

In a letter he wrote to two community groups (including the Leaside Property Owners' Asociation) after a meeting on the subject in late January, Parker wrote, "I share the concerns of the community. None of us wants more retail development in Leaside. None of us wants a Walmart.”

He goes on to say that he further regrets the city cannot stop Walmart from occupying that anchor position, acknowledging that there’s been no confirmation from anyone involved that Walmart is or is being considered as a tenant. Earlier media reports suggested SmartCentre, the developer of "unenclosed shopping centres" behind the report, would not rule out the possibility of a Walmart at the Wicksteed location. 

The report will be considered by the North York Community Council on Feb. 26, and then, if passed, by City Council before the zoning amendments that would allow the development are made.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: John Parker

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].

A little rickety wooden footbridge that's been a focus of interest for Ward 26 residents has been replaced.

"The replacement of the former wooden walkway with a new steel walkway was declared substantially complete today," project manager Bruce Tisdale wrote this week in a note to Ward 26 councillor John Parker.

"The walkway was open to the public this afternoon. Some minor restoration in the form of hydro seeding the sides of the walkway approaches and sodding of an area beside the east approach will be completed by November 23rd. Temporary six-foot-high barrier fencing has been installed on the water side of the walkway approaches and will be replaced with a permanent wooden post and paddle barrier by November 30th."

The old footbridge had been there since 1986 and according to Tisdale, had reached the end of its useful life. The new walkway is built of self-weathering COR-TEN steel, with an anti-slip  deck and a hand rail.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Councillor John Parker, Bruce Tisdale

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].

Nominations opened this week for the 2012 Green Toronto Awards, though the most interesting category from the 2011 edition has been dropped.

Last year, the awards expanded to include a green homes category, aimed at individuals who had done something remarkable to or with their own homes.

"It wasn't our strongest category," says Jessica Chow, co-ordinator for the city-sponsored awards. "We don’t know why. We noticed a lot of them were, 'Oh, I recycle in my home.' It wasn't really what we were after."

So this year, it's been folded into the more general green design category, where individual homes will now compete with eco clothing, green roofs and other design innovations.

Nominations can be submitted here until midnight on Feb. 6. Winners will be announced in March.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jessica Chow

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].

"The city hasn't built an arena in almost 40 years," says Allan Williams.

One result is a lot of old arenas. Another is a shortage of arenas. And a third is the door-to-door canvass on June 11 that raised about $10,000 towards the building of a new arena in Leaside.

"The primary purpose was awareness-raising," says Williams, who organized the event, as well as the mailing that preceded it, through his marketing company, Proximus Canada.

The proposal for the new arena, which will be added to the existing Leaside arena (which will be renovated as part of the project), was approved by council in February. It's a $9.5-million project, of which $7 million is coming in the form of a city loan guaranteed against operating revenue. Of the remaining $2.5 million, about $1.9 million has already been raised, including an anonymous $1-million private donation.

Though there is no straight ahead official funding per se, representatives from all three levels of government � the offices of MP John Carmichael, MPP Kathleen Wynn and Councilor John Parker � helped out with the canvass.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Allan Williams

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].

Today's the last day to get an advance look at the designs for the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Museum, being built on a large campus of land between 49 and 77 Wynford Drive.

On display on the first floor of the Ontario Science Centre since Dec. 23, the exhibit is free. According to theismaili.com, the website of the international Ismaili community, "The Aga Khan Museum will be a museum of Muslim culture that will seek to address the gap of knowledge about Islam and create opportunities for dialogue and understanding between peoples and cultures. The first of its kind in North America, it will bring together visitors locally and internationally, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to explore their connected heritage and celebrate their unique backgrounds."

According to Councillor John Parker, in whose ward the buildings are going up, the exhibit is "well worth viewing."

The $300-million, 6.8 hectare project is set to be completed in 2013.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Councillor John Parker

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].

A development that will add 62 new affordable rental homes for seniors and people with disabilities broke ground at 5 Deauville Lane in Flemingdon Park last week.

"It's really exciting," says Simon Liston, manager of housing development at the city's Affordable Housing department, speaking of the roll-out of about 1,000 units of affordable seniors housing funded by economic stimulus money, of which the Deauville project is a part. "It's the largest tranche of seniors rental housing we've had in this city for decades."

Many honourable folks turned out with their fancy shovels to mark the event, including the Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas) and the area's MP, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, provincial Minister of Transportation and the area's MPP, and Councillor John Parker, whose ward the units are going up in, who is also no doubt quite honourable.

The architect for the project is Michael McKnight of Barrie-based McKnight Charron Laurin Architects.

The project is being funded by the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program to the tune of $7.4 million, with an extra $550,000 worth of incentives such as fees and property tax waivers from the city.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Simon Liston

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].

The Aga Khan and Prime Minister Harper were in town last week to break ground on the $300-million Aga Khan Museum and Ismaili Centre in the city's north end.

"His original hope was to locate this project in London, England," says an effervescently enthusiastic Councillor John Parker, in whose ward the buildings and adjacent park are being built, "but things didn't work out there. Plan B was Wynford Drive, Ward 26." Parker calls the development his ward's largest "by a long shot."

The site, on which construction began last week, was formerly home to a Shell Oil office building and, more notably, the former headquarters of Bata Shoes, a building by John B. Parkin that the Toronto Star's Chris Hume wrote was "reminiscent of an ancient Greek temple. Unadorned yet poetic, the architecture pays homage to the past while extolling the virtues of the future," and the Globe's Lisa Rochon described as "imperfect," "clumsy" and derivative.

According to Parker, the original plan was to build in two phases, but various delays in approvals convinced the developer, a local corporation put together by the Aga Khan, to build it all at once and much more quickly, starting several years later than planned, but finishing up by the original completion date, in 2013.

"Your average developer would move ahead on as many fronts as they could establish, and once they had a critical mass of construction approvals, would get to work building," Parker says. "This developer didn't want to make their first move until they had all their plans fully approved."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Councillor John Parker

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or renovating, even a cool new house in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].