Development News

Toronto, and more specifically the office of Brook McIlroy Planning, has won an award for a plan to build reasonably sized buildings and strengthen our avenues.

Lorna Day, project manager for the Avenues and Mid-Rise Study, which won the award, says she hopes the recognition will help fuel other cities' efforts at increasing density without having to resort to exclusively high-profit, high-rise structures. Toronto's avenues add up to about 324 kilometres of main-street property frontage; about 200 kilometres of that could be redeveloped as mid-rise built form, according to the report. No taller than the width of the street, mid-rise buildings can provide increased density without changing the character of a neighbourhood as dramatically as high-rise buildings.

"I presented this work at the conference," Day says of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute event in Ottawa at which the award was presented, "and the audience was planners, public sector planners from other major cities in Ontario. Some of them would like to start implementing the performance standards themselves." She says she also presented the report at the Canadian Institute of Planners conference in St. John's in June.

The importance of the study, according to Day, lies in its guidelines that go beyond individual developers' usual concerns.

"The development industry in Toronto has figured out a couple of formulas that have worked for them in the past," Day says. "One is high-rises, the other is houses."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Lorna Day

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One of the city's most iconic buildings is getting a facelift and a new purpose.

Known to a generation of Torontonians as the seat of our Second City troupe, the Old Fire Hall is now undergoing a renovation to become the new home of Complections, a college of make-up art and design.

The building at 110 Lombard Street was originally constructed in 1886, and then rebuilt after the great fire of 1904. It was most recently the home of Gilda's Club (now known somewhat less memorably as the Cancer Support Community), which provides what they refer to as "psychosocial" care for cancer patients.

"They made many little living rooms in the house," says Complections president and co-owner Pamela Earle. "We've taken the walls out and created eight classrooms, and one large classroom for the graduation days."

The renovation will also remove the drywall from the old windows, and undo the dropped ceiling, revealing the original five-metre-high first-floor ceiling.

The building's a big move up for the school, which currently occupies about 8,500 square feet on St. Nicholas Street. Earle figures they'll be able to take about 30 more students a year, increasing the annual enrolment to 200.

The schedule calls for an early 2012 opening.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Pamela Earle

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The library in Mount Dennis is shutting down on Saturday at 5pm and won't be opening again until some time in the first half of 2013.

The 60-year-old library, with its current collection of 45,000 items, was last renovated in 1982, when Moffat and Duncan architects designed an addition to bring it up to its current size of 11,350 square feet.

The new renovation, which Anne Bailey, director of branch libraries, calls "a complete renovation," will take at least 18 months, with a construction budget of $2.86 million and a complete budget of $4.3 million.

"There's a complete redesign of the interior of the library, with logical entrances and exits and a new layout of the collection, equipment, programming space and staff work areas," Bailey says. There will also be new landscaping, a new main entrance and greater accessibility for people with disabilities.

The project was designed by G. Bruce Stratton Architects.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Anne Bailey

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Ground was broken last week on a new 192-bed long-term care facility in north Etobicoke.

The 10.5-acre site, currently housing a 337-bed long-term care facility, is being restructured to keep up with current ministry standards.

"We decided to build the home towards the south end of the property so we could maintain the current physical structure until the end of construction," says Reg Paul, acting general manager of long-term care homes and services for the city. "Once we've opened up the new home, there will be a month or two in between and then we will tear down the old structure."

The old facility had already been downsized by 75 beds, and by early 2013, when the current construction is completed, Paul figures the problem of the remaining difference between the two facilities of 70 residents will have resolved itself through what he pragmatically refers to as “natural attrition."

The new facility, which will continue to be known as Kipling Acres, has been designed by Montgomery Sisam Architects. The construction is being managed by Buttcon Ltd.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Reg Paul

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The public will get another opportunity to consider and either approve or oppose the plan to add 162 three-storey townhouses to a plot of formerly industrial land in Scarborough.

The final report requesting the rezoning required to add considerably to the residential density at Ellesmere and Midland is being submitted to Scarborough Community Council and the interested public on Nov. 2.

There have been several changes to the proposal since Yonge Street first reported on the project in April, including the addition of what’s known as a "common element" laneway, owned jointly by the townhouse proprietors.

The report has been submitted by the Goldman Group and Monarch Group for a plot of industrial-zoned land owned by Goldman Ellesmere Developments Inc.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Carly Bowman


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Fans of Pottery Road are going to have to wait a little bit longer.

The reconstruction of the popular alternative route was originally scheduled to re-open after Labour Day weekend, but in late August, the team realized the work they'd done might have destabilized the inclined earth around the road.

"We're going to put in something referred to as soil nails," says Maurizio Barbon, the city's manager of design and construction, "long rods driven into the slope above the detaining wall, and then covering it with concrete and putting in some fill as well, to treat the slope as one large unit."

Barbon says the project was substantially completed on its original deadline. This week, they're finishing off a bit the re-pavement of the bottom end of the road near Bayview.

Barbon estimates the road will now re-open on Nov. 30.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Maurizio Barbon

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"We’re not tearing down walls and starting from scratch," says Alan Black about the Bloor Cinema renovations going on now until the end of the year. Black is senior manager of client services at Hot Docs, which will be operating the cinema when it reopens. "The general idea is to embrace the curves in the building, embrace its heritage."

The words will come as a relief to the century-old cinema's fans, who may have been justifiably concerned, in light of the rash of rep cinema closings, that "closed for renovations" might be code for "going out of business," or "closed for transformation into a multiplex."

Hariri Pontarini are the architects in charge of the restoration and renovation. In addition to ground-up work like 783 Bathurst and Great Gulf Dallas, they're the firm responsible for Atom Egoyan's Camera and the proposed Alliance Française expansion on Spadina Road.

In addition to a new and bigger screen, the seats on the lower level are being replaced with what Black describes as "bigger, more comfortable" ones, meaning the capacity will be reduced slightly, to 750 from 840. The balcony seats are being refurbished (and more importantly, retained), the concession stand is being redone and the façade is being extended to meet the street, bringing the box office indoors. Black says there will also be a complete technical overhaul, replacing the audio system and allowing the Bloor to show digital films.

The Bloor Cinema was bought several months ago by Blue Ice Films, which in turn is owned by filmmakers Steven Silver (The Bang Bang Club) and Neil Tabatznik (Shake Hands with the Devil).

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Alan Black

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The people who brought us LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification are bringing their trade show to Toronto.

The 10th anniversary of the Greenbuild expo and conference runs Oct. 4-7 at the Metro Convention Centre. It's the first time the show has been held outside the United States.

"We focused on Toronto not only because it is a modern global hub for green building and development," says Jennifer Easton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Green Building Council, "but also because of our strong relationship with the Canadian Green Building Council."

The show will feature exhibits from about 1,000 companies related to green building, as well as talks by Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, Thomas Friedman and Cokie Roberts. The opening plenary session will be entertained by Maroon 5.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jennifer Easton

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If you think Toronto's been getting a little uppity recently, with all its tall, tall buildings, you may want to stop by Too Tall, a new exhibit that runs through December in the Architecture Gallery at York Quay.

With exhibits from three firms (RAW Design, KPMB, Architects Alliance) and artist Douglas Walker, Too Tall is looking to explain the various issues surrounding building up.

According to RAW's Richard Witt, the show is meant to answer questions like, "How tall should they be? What's the reason for them to be tall? Every time a new building goes up, people are concerned. But there's more to it that just how tall the building is next to it."

RAW's own tallest building in the works is an as-yet unannounced 60-storey tower in Toronto. In recent years, the limits of "how high can you go" have been challenged by various Gulf state projects, like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the planned Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With the global population about to hit seven billion, and urban migration increasing daily, Witt says building skywards is becoming an increasingly attractive, and practical, option.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Richard Witt

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A new tower's worth of condos just went on sale in a building its architects hope will help create a new hub of street life in the core.

The second phase of Quadrangle's Studio towers--a 41-storey complement to the first, 31-storey tower--will begin construction next month.

"The discussions with the city with respect to the massing on this site were very interesting," says Quadrangle principal Les Klein. "It took a long time for us to uncover that their main concern had to do with the shadowing that might occur on the north side of Queen Street. When we established that this was their concern, we were able to nail down an approach… to eliminate those shadows."

The building, developed by Aspen Ridge Homes, will include what Klein refers to as a linear park, a quarter-acre green roof five storeys above the street, for tenants' use.

The tower's five-storey podium will, Klein hopes, also create some vibrancy-inducing streetscape.

"I like that Phase 2 is at the corner of Duncan and Nelson," he says, "Nelson being an emerging street leading from the Shangri-La on the east end to the John Street corridor on the west end. We see this as a major anchor to creating this new public amenity of this upgraded Nelson Street."

If sales go well, Klein expects the tower to follow close on the first tower's heels, and be completed by the beginning of 2015.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Les Klein

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Little Italy is getting a new liquor store.

Opening in November, the new store at 549 College St. at Euclid (beside the Shiatsu School of Canada and across the street from The Midtown) with have about 2,300 square feet of shopping space, and about 1,100 different forms of booze, including a Vintages section with a selection about 115 strong.

"This store is designed to bring more convenient service to this vibrant neighbourhood of Toronto where we expect to have mainly walk-in customers," says LCBO spokesman Chris Layton. 

Until now, the closest liquor stores to the area were at Spadina and Dundas, and Dundas and Dovercourt. Over the last couple of years, the LCBO has been filling in underserved areas in the downtown, including new stores at Spadina and King and at Roncesvalles and Dundas.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Chris Layton

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The Matty Eckler community centre has closed for nine months for renovations.

Councillor Paula Fletcher calls it a "state of good repair" closure.

The centre closed on Sep. 15 and is not due to re-open until next summer.

One of the chief reasons for the renovation is to make the centre more accessible.

"The elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor," Fletcher says, "so that'll be added on, and the lighting will be improved for the pool."

Programs have been relocated to other nearby centres. Fletcher suggests calling 311 for specific information.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Paula Fletcher

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Scarborough has a new community centre.

The Warden Hilltop Community Centre, at 25 Mendelsson St. near Warden and St. Clair, opened last week in a ceremony presided over by the ward’s councillor, Michelle Berardinetti.

Designed by a team led by Paul Cravit in conjunciton with project manager Abdul Kaderali of CS&P Architects and built by Maystar Construction, the centre, which cost about $9 million to build, has a large gymnasium as well as space for a preschool, a dance studio, a weight room and a teaching kitchen.

"We wanted it to be something that had an impact on the community and on the setting," Kaderali says of the one-storey building that began construction at the end of 2009 and was completed in July.

It was also designed to comply with LEED Silver environmental criteria, with several green features, including geothermal heating and a movement sensor-activated system of lights.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Michelle Berardinetti

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A condo development that has been on the books for almost 10 years is showing some signs of life in the east end.

Approved by the city when Leslieville was still mostly a glimmer in some real estate agent's eye, 64 Colgate by Showcase Developments was the first purpose-build live-work development to get the go-ahead from the city.

Most of the residents in the neighbourhood have moved in since the public meetings were held prior to the 2002 approval, so Councillor Paula Fletcher held another one in June to give people concerned about the new construction site an idea of what was going on.

"It's the same developer as the other developments" in the area, Fletcher says, including Natalie Place, adding that when they finally decided to move on the property, they changed the 7-storey façade from the original design. "It was felt to be a little 2002," Fletcher says.

In addition to adding significantly to the area's density, as part of the original OMB decision, part of the building will provide low-cost units.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Paula Fletcher

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The 2011 Urban Design Award-winners were announced Monday, with Sugar Beach and the Shops of Summerhill two of the big winners.

Thirteen awards of excellence and 10 honourable mentions were given out in 10 categories, including Private Buildings in Context, Public Buildings in Context” and Large Places or Neighbourhood Designs, the last of which was won by Waterfront's Sugar Beach, Toronto’s version of the internationally popular urban beach.

"Toronto can proudly boast of having one of the most talented pools of practicing design professionals, and sophisticated development companies anywhere in the world," said Councillor Peter Milczyn, chair of the planning and growth management committee, in a statement borne out by the broad swath of winners.

The jurors for this year's awards were journalist John Lorinc, Christine Abe of MBTW Group, Markham's Town Architect Ronji Borooah, Giannone Petricone Associates founder Ralph Giannone and Greg Smallenberg, founding partner of Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg.

The winners are being displayed in the Rotunda of City Hall until Sep. 23, and will be shown at Etobicoke Civic Centre, North York Civic Centre and the rotunda of Scarborough Civic Centre in successive weeks in October, beginning Oct. 10 in Etobicoke.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Bruce Hawkins

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].