Development News

Last week, Ryerson University won the American Institute of Architects' Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design for its master plan.

"With its thoughtful connection to the area transportation system and extensive integration with the city,  this plan is a decidedly 21st-century response to co- development," the jury said, "including funding and potential integrations of uses within a tight time frame."

The lead architecture firm responsible for the master plan is Toronto's Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg, who worked in conjunction with Daoust Lestage, Greenberg Consultants and the IBI Group on the long-term plan for the development of the downtown campus.

Originally announced in 2006, the plan was approved in 2008 with the three principle goals of urban intensification, pedestrianization and commitment to design excellent. The Ryerson Photography Gallery and Research Centre and the Student Learning Centre, located on Yonge Street on the site of the former Sam the Record Man shop, are the first two projects to be realized under the plan.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: AIA

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On July 9, the Ontario government announced the launch of its Community Capital Fund to support infrastructure projects for non-profit organizations across the province.

Aimed at various cultural communities that deliver public services, the grants, from $20,000 to $500,000, will be aimed at covering capital costs, which are often overlooked by other funding organizations.

The $50-million fund will be administered by the Trillium Foundation. Applications are going out in September, with a deadline of Dec. 31.

"Not-for-profit organizations deliver important public services to cultural communities and contribute greatly to the social and economic development of this province," says Minister of Tourism and Culture Michael Chan. "This new fund strengthens our diversity, supports local economic development, and creates more jobs for Ontario families."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Michael Chan

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].

Last Sunday, the parking lot between York Quay and Queen's Quay closed, the first step in the process that will see its 212 spots replaced by 302 underground spots on three levels.

York Quay Phase II, as the 1.4-hectare project's called by Waterfront Toronto, is one part of the larger scheme that will see the waterfront from east to west transformed, mostly in time for the Pan-American Games in 2015.

"We're burying the lots," says Waterfront spokeswoman Samantha Gileno, "and there will be a public space fronting the lake called Canada Square, and there are plans for a retail cultural village, and a plaza space that will be a new front door for Harbourfront."

Though signs posted at the site say construction was meant to have started in March, there was some delay in organizing funding, which will be coming from both Harbourfront as well as the federal government, the latter of which has committed $25 million to the project. The delay has pushed the project back to the fall, with an expected completion sometime in 2011.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Samantha Gileno

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 strip of Bloor between Church and Avenue is nearing normalcy, with the Bloor Yorkville Business Improvement Area announcing the beautification and infrastructure upgrade project is ahead of schedule and on track to be finished by the end of the year.

Envisioned as far back as the 1990s by the city, which wanted to replace the area's aged water mains, the work was delayed for about half a year in 2008-2009 as schedules got confused between the various agencies working in the area.

"Because it's city-owned property," says the BIA's general manager Briar de Lange, "they have to manage the project. That's been problematic for us, co-ordinating between them and the utility companies hasn't gone as well as we would have liked."

But now Phase I, which encompassed the area from Church to Yonge, has been mostly completed. Phase II began on March 9.

There will also be 20 bike posts installed, designed by Pittsburgh company Forms + Surfaces.

According to de Lange, the Bloor Yorkville BIA, which is responsible for all the visible changes to the strip, including the granite sidewalks and the planters, will have spent a total of $20 million by the time the project's complete.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Briar de Lange

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].

Earlier this month, the city honoured Home Ownership Alternatives, a little known but increasingly influential funding body, as one of the city's several Affordable Housing Champions.

They were recognized for the work they did financing Options for Homes' 643-unit housing project at Keele and Dundas, Village by the Park.

"We're actively looking to get some new partners, both on the financial side and the developer side," says Joe Deschenes-Smith, HOA's vice president of partnerships, "so recognition like that is always great to help open some doors and find new projects and organizations.

HOA, which was founded in 1998 as the funding agency for Options for Homes St Lawrence Co-Operative, funds affordable housing by providing project financing, offering second mortgages to home buyers, and lobbying government for more affordable housing legislation and funding.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Deschenes-Smith

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].

Digging has commenced and new poles are being erected as part of Project Brian, Toronto Hydro's upgrading of a neighbourhood's old electrical infrastructure that was blacking out almost 10 times more often than the city's average.

The six-month, $1.4-million project in the area around the intersection of Brian and Old Sheppard in Don Valley East will replace both overhead and underground lines.

"Over the years, they've deteriorated," says Toronto Hydro spokeswoman Denise Atallah. "Underground, they're removing the direct buried cable and putting in new, concrete-encased ducting, which helps with premature aging and maintenance."

Crews are putting in about 20 new poles; the old poles will remain in place until the other utilities have replaced their wires.

Begin in May, the project is slated to be completed by October.

There will be power outages as a result of the work, Atallah says residents will be alerted.

According to Atallah, the neighbourhood was suffering between 8 and 12 power outages a year. The city's average, she says, is 1.5.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Denise Atallah

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].

Roncesvalles is finally getting its own LCBO. Opening on July 19 at 2290 Dundas Street West at Bloor, the 8,600 square foot store (5,600 square feet of selling space) will carry 2,400 brands, with a 390-strong Vintages section.

"We wanted to get a tore into the Roncesvalles village," says LCBO spokesman Chris Layton. "Previously, the closest store was at Brock and Queen, which is more towards Parkdale."

Hours will be Monday to Wednesday, 10am-8pm, Thursday-Saturday 10am-9pm, and Sunday noon to 5pm.

The store is moving in to the retail property anchored by Loblaws, which also houses a Zellers, a Firestone and a Coffee Time.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Chris Layton

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].

As a logical follow-up to the bus bike racks, and a precursor to an eventual Bixi outpost, Toronto installed its first subway bike shelter last week at the Wells Hill entrance to the St Clair West station.

"I believe it will be a path-breaker in allowing Torontonians to see that we need this across the system," says Councillor Joe Mihevc, in whose ward, and at whose insistence, the bike shelter was constructed. "If you go to almost any subway station right now, you'll see bikes attached to trees, attached to anything that's sticking out of the ground."

The shelter will house 20 bikes, in addition to the 10 that are already accommodated by unsheltered ring and posts.

"I hope to get them done at all subway stations," Mihevc says, "in my ward, and in every ward."

The public realm division of the city's Transportation Services funded the project.

"This is the first of many secure bike parking facilities that are being put in place at other subway stations across the city," said Daniel Egan, manager of Pedestrian and Cycling Infrastructure in a press release. "Some will be full lockers. We expect to have more in place over the next two years."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Mihevc

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].

One tower is nearing completion and another is getting its parking-level concrete poured at the latest large condo project in Etobicoke.

Beyond the Sea, which is rising at Parklawn and Lakeshore, was launched three years ago this month and the three-tower complex (the second tower reached its 10th floor last week) is now set for a fall, 2012 completion.

The project, whose towers will be 26, 36 and 44 storeys respectively, will house 830 units and retail on the ground level. And though the building will have 40,000 square of amenity space, in addition to offering new office space to the area, Empire Communities' spokeswoman Stephanie Lane says that the chief attraction "is the neighbourhood itself. It's almost directly on the waterfront, and they've got a park and the Martin Goodman Trail right across the street."

Retail tenants have not yet been signed, and the residential portion of the project is 93 per cent sold.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Stephanie Lane

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].

Museum House, the long touted ultra-luxe condo next door to the McDonald's on Bloor west of Avenue Road has finally poked its head out from underground, reaching the third of its small-footprint floors this week.

Designed by Page + Steele IBI Group Architects with interiors by Powell & Bonnell, the 19-storey building will be one of the city's most expensive. But the tiny site � the tower takes up the space of a single store front � presented some challenges.

"It's almost like trying to build a Swiss watch," says Page + Steele associate Omar DaBarp.

The first two storeys will be retail � no tenants have yet been signed � and the residential space begins on its third floor. The first 12 residential storeys will be split into two units each, levels 15 through 17 will be single-unit floors, and the top two floors will be part of an as-yet unsold penthouse.

The building, which is also across the street from the Royal Ontario Museum, is scheduled for completion in the fall of next year.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Omar DaBarp

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].

Toronto Hydro has launched a site that allows anyone to keep track of the work the utility is doing around the city. Searchable by ward, powerUptoronto.ca is a response to customer research that indicated people would like to be kept abreast of work around the city and in their neighbourhoods in particular.

"They wanted to know about timing of the projects, when it would start ,when it would finish," says Toronto Hydro spokeswoman Denise Atallah. "They were also interested in knowing things like if the timing changed on the project, if there was going to be a delay, and they were also interested in knowing is it going to impact my driveway, am I going to be able to drive down my street, when will my lights be out."

The site allows users to brose a project map and search for current projects, future projects or all projects, across the city or ward by ward. It also gives a list of all projects, project updates and major initiatives, as well as a glossary of commonly used but poorly understood terms relating to Toronto Hydro's work.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Denise Atallah

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].

Six of the mayoral candidates debated their thoughts on how the city has been building itself at a panel discussion last week at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Moderated by architecture writer John Bentley Mays, with questions from former city planner Gary Switzer, president and CEO of MOD Developments, the panel discussed issues as specific as planning committee approvals procedure and as general as the aesthetic merit of Toronto's architecture.

Five of them agreed that most, if not everything, should be changed about the way development works in Toronto. Sarah Thomson, admitting she thought the city was "great," said that its architecture "doesn't tell a great story." George Smitherman said current plans for a hockey arena in the Port Lands would ensure that "the Port Lands of tomorrow is as bleak as the Port Lands of today."

Current deputy mayor Joe Pantalone emerged as the sole defender of the way the city works now. "There are 100 cranes up now," he said in front of the standing-room-only crowd at the AGO's Baillie Court. "Somehow, the system is churning things out, there's no doubt about that. There's no other city in North America that has anything near 100 construction cranes."

Writer: Bert Archer

A two-tower condo complex slotted for northwest Kerr Village in Oakville, approved for 10 and 14 storeys, is going to the Ontario Municipal Board to increase its height allowance.

The site, at the corner of Kerr and Speers, was once part of an 11-acre orchard and is also home to two historically designated houses, both vacant. Singled out for being the earliest examples of their particular style of stone-based architecture in Oakville, they have already been relocated once, when the developer built its sales office. "They're going to be shifted two more times before they reach their final resting place," says Stephanie Lane, spokeswoman for developer Empire Communities.

Rain was designed by Graziani and Corazza Architects, and is scheduled to launch in September.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Stephanie Lane

The Pug Awards were given out last week and the first housing co-op to be built in the city in two decades took top honours.

Decided by popular vote, the colourful building, designed by Teeple Architects, came in first, with the new Royal Conservatory of Music addition taking the top spot for commercial design. Coming in second for residential projects was Pure Spirit in the Distillery District, and the RBC Centre came in second in the commercial category.

Conceived originally as an award for the ugliest building built in Toronto each year, the Pug Awards have developed into a forum to highlight development issues in the city and discuss the aesthetic issues that often get swept aside by more practical concerns and controversies.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Darlene Hesas

The crane went up three weeks ago at the future site of The Modern, a 17-storey, 343-unit glass and steel condo tower currently slated for 2011 completion.

Designed by Du Toit Allsop Hiller Architects, the project was taken over by Empire Communities in 2008 after its original developer ran into financial difficulties.

Du Toit Allsop Hillier describes the building as being "slightly angled to provide better access to sun and views, while establishing a generous public entry plaza addressing the corner."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Du Toit Allsop Hillier