Development News

When Quadrangle Architects was commissioned to re-work what partner Brian Curtner calls a traditional office building, they saw some potential in the space, and decided to move in themselves.

Taking lessons learned from doing the interiors of the Corus building on the eastern waterfront—whose exterior and basic structure, by Diamond Schmitt, might also be called traditional (or just basic)—Quadrangle was able to transform the building in general, and its new seventh-floor home there, into what Curtner describes as "funky new offices spaces."

The new space, at 20,000 square feet, is all on one floor. Their current offices at 380 Wellington, which they will be leaving the weekend of August 10, are just 13,000 square feet, spread over two floors. Since Quadrangle has doubled its staff over the past couple of years, to a total of 105, the company certainly needed the extra room. Their current offices are also not accessible, with neither elevators nor accessible toilets.

In addition to their floor, Quadrangle renovated the building's common areas, the exterior, the building's atrium and, in Curtner's words, "fixed up" its elevators.

Curnter and Ted Shore were the partners in charge of the project, which was managed by Caroline Robbie and Rob Dyson.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Brian Curtner

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Edithvale Park has been growing in a hodgepodge fashion for years, but after a year's work, a new, unifying design for the North Toronto park was unveiled this month.

"The perimeter of the block on Finch Avenue West and Lorraine Drive used to be lined by residential lots," says senior project co-ordinator Doug Giles. "Over recent years, the city has slowly either acquired these lots, or developers have conveyed these lots to the city as their parkland dedication, thus increasing the area of parkland beyond the parkland in the centre of the block. As conveyed, the residential lots came to the city with only basic sod (and domestic shrubs and planting remnants), and the current project integrated these lots into the overall design of the park."

Designed by landscape architects Schollen and Company, the park now has two new playground structures, a community bake oven, a paved plaza, an herb garden, lit pathways, a pergola and new trees and shrubs.

The total construction cost of the project, which began in June 2011, was $1.4 million.

The park is built on the site of part of the former Wilket Creek, which was culvertized here several decades ago.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Doug Giles, Senior Project Co-ordinator, Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation

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Toronto now has a fully accessible playground for children of all levels of physical and mental abilities, right in the heart of Forest Hill.

The $1.3-million Neshama Playground in Oriole Park, just northwest of Upper Canada College, near the junction of Yonge and Chaplin Crescent, opened this week.

"The project was initially the brainchild of Thomas Caldwell [of Caldwell Financial] and Toronto lawyer Steven Skurka, who enlisted Theo and Brendan Caldwell and recruited friends and associates who became known as 'A Bunch of Guys,'" says Rob Richardson of the city's parks department. "A Bunch of Guys raised over $700,000 to create a state-of-the-art, inclusive playground experience for all children. The site was chosen for its central location, access to public transit and proximity to numerous organizations who cater to persons of various abilities."

According to an interview Caldwell gave to Metro Morning this week, the playground came about when Caldwell found himself seated next to Skurka on a flight eight years ago, after Skurka had read a magazine article about accessibility and playgrounds. They went to see then-mayor David Miller, who got his parks department on it.

The playground was designed by Beverly Ambler of PMA Landscape Architects. Work began in 2010 and the majority of it was completed last year, with finishing being added into this past spring.

Neshama is the Hebrew word for "spirit" or "soul."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Rob Richardson, Manager of Partnership Development, Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department

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The penthouses at the Imperial Plaza have just got the Toronto good condo-keeping seal of approval.

This week, David Feldman, president and CEO of Imperial Plaza developer Camrost-Felcorp, announced that Joe Brennan will be the designer for the high-end, high-altitude suites.

Brennan—who did most of the interiors for the Hazelton condos among many, many other high-end properties around the city's tonier postal codes—is, roughly speaking, the condo-equivalent of Brian Gluckstein, designer-of-record for a huge proportion of Forest Hill and Rosedale interiors.

On the crest of St. Clair overlooking the city, the Imperial penthouses have what people in real estate sometimes call forever views, ones that will not in the foreseeable future be obstructed by future development, so the suites, going for $4.1 to $14 million, are especially desirable for a certain set.

Imperial Plaza, the former corporate headquarters of Imperial Oil Ltd., is one of the best adaptively reused condos in the city, with Camrost-Felcorp, who are also re-doing the old Four Seasons, maintaining many of its mid-century modern charms, including the large lobby mural by York Wilson, titled The Story of Oil.

The penthouses remain unfinished, with Brennan being on-call to design each one according to its owners' wishes. Richard Mariani, Camrost-Felcorp's director of marketing, says the first penthouse will probably be finished in the spring of 2014.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Richard Mariani, Director of Marketing, Camrost-Felcorp

CORRECTION: The date of completion for the first penthouse was originally stated as being October, 2013, which is the estimate for the completion of the rest of the tower's renovation.

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 bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

Cortel broke ground this week on the first phase of a major development that both the developer and the City of Vaughan hope will be the first step to urbanizing this northern suburb.

Expo City will ultimately include five residential towers within walking distance of a new subway stop, just east of Jane Street at Highway 7, part of the York University extension.

"This is the beginning of a new neighbourhood, Vaughan's downtown," says developer Peter Cortellucci. "Expo will offer its residents the first opportunity to be a part of this amazing downtown. The citizens of Vaughan will see firsthand the transformation of the Highway 7 corridor from a congested and industry-driven area to an exciting pedestrian friendly downtown avenue."

This first tower is expected to be finished by 2014, with the subway opening in 2015, roughly in tandem with the opening of Expo City’s second phase.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Peter Cortellucci, Vice President, Cortel Group

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 bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

The ice has come back to Maple Leaf Gardens.

This week, the ice has begun to gel once again in the storied space at Carlton and Church, part of a $72.5-million project to make the space into the sports facility Ryerson never had.

The new rink is on the third floor, above the Loblaws on the ground floor and the LCBO on the second. When it’s complete, it’ll seat 2,600 for hockey, and more for other ice sports with seating possible on the floor. The third floor is also home to the new volleyball courts, the floors of which have just been laid. They'll take four to five weeks to settle, roughly the same time it’ll take for the ice to set next door.

Michael Forbes of Ryerson’s public affairs department says work started in December 2009. There’ll be an opening ceremony in August, with the official grand opening on September 6, in time for the new academic session.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Michael Forbes

CivicAction announced its 27-member league of regional transportation “champions” this week.

The civic leaders, both senior and junior, from across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, will be joining CivicAction chair John Tory and its CEO, Mitzie Hunter, to try to distill what the region’s residents figure are the most important aspects of regional transportation and, by getting them involved, hopefully build a coalition of the willing for whatever taxes will be necessary to build such a system.

“They’ll be leading discussions within their own communities,” Hunter says, taking the form of “in-person forums, online forums and we’ll be able to take this information that we hear back to government.”

The so-called Champions Council will seek to build on the momentum created by other jurisdictions recently, including such unliklely transit cities Los Angeles, Denver and Atlanta, where citizens voted for transportation-specific taxes to build systems they believed in. Specifically, they’ll looking for ways to raise the $40 billion that is required to fulfill the terms of the region’s 25-year transit plan.

The council will meet periodically between now and June 2013, when Metrolinx is due to present its investment strategy.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mitzie Hunter

For years Bay Adelaide Centre site stood stalled as a monument to the 1990s recession before construction was restarted in 2006. Now, a second tower will spring out of these once blighted foundations in a Toronto that '90s investors could only have dreamed of.

A new 980,000-square-foot, 44-storey tower was announced by developer Brookfield last week, a companion to the 51-storey tower that opened in 2009. Anchor tenant, Deloitte, is signed on to take about 419,000 square feet. The move that will consolidate all the professional services firm's downtown Toronto space into one address.

“Strong fundamentals and low vacancy in Toronto’s financial core signify the market’s willingness to support new office development,” Jan Sucharda, president and CEO of Brookfield Canada, told The Globe and Mail.

Office vacancy is so low, in fact, that Brookfield is already looking for a lead tenant for a potential third tower on the same site.

Deloitte's real estate executive Sheila Botting expects staff to be able to move in by the end of 2015.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Sheila Botting

The Atrium on Bay is set to get a lot bigger.

Long the underappreciated younger sister of the Eaton Centre to its immediate south, the mall is set to add four floors of retail.

The owners, H&R Real Estate Income Trust, received community council approval for the project. H&R REIT also recently bought the Corus Quay building on the waterfront.

"It was largely supported by planning staff, as well as the downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area," says councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam. "There is going to be significant improvements to the street, a part of their application is really putting in almost three million to public realm improvements. They’re going to be internalizing the Dundas exit, the one that sits right in front of the Dundas and Yonge. So where you have those stairs leading up onto Dundas on the northwest corner will be removed. Which means we're going to recapture width. They're redesigning, repainting, re-landscaping Dundas, Bay, Edward as well as Yonge."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Kristyn Wong-Tam

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Anyone who's interested can now check up on what construction's going on around the city, as well as how it might affect traffic.

The new municipal website, called T.O. Inview, will outline all the work being done by Transportation Services, Toronto Water, City Planning, the transit authorities and utility companies.

"T.O. Inview will provide the taxpayers of Toronto the opportunity to see first-hand the construction work that is happening and will happen in their neighbourhood," said councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, in a prepared statement.

The site will not be keeping track of emergency or other short-term projects, information that's long been available elsewhere.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Steve Johnston

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Starting in August, you’ll be able to drink in the middle of Yonge Street. For a month, at least.

As part of the Yonge Street Planning Framework, a city blueprint on how to make the downtown stretch of Yonge Street a little more vibrant urban strip, Celebrate Yonge has gotten city approval to reduce the car lanes from four to two, and bars on the strip between Queen and Gerrard, will be licensed to serve alcohol on the temporary patio seating on the street.

"That's the first time in Toronto we'll be seeing that done," says councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, in whose ward the month-long festival will be held.

The strip will have 235 planters, donated by the Carpenters Union and designed by Ken Greenberg and Maryanne McKenna of KPMB Architects.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Kristyn Wong-Tam

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The suburban slabs are about to get prettier, and possibly happier.

Last year, the United Way issued a report called Poverty by Postal Code 2: Veritcal Poverty, in which they asserted that poverty is especially intransigent in the citys outer areas, and most particularly in the high-rise apartments there.

After interviewing 2,800 residents of such towers, the United Way determined that though most of these towers were solid structures and an asset to the city and its residents, there were both long- and short-term problems that needed to be resolved. Broader issues—like long-term housing strategies and neighbourhood-improving by-laws—take broader and longer-term approaches. But there were other complaints residents had that could be fixed pretty quickly.

"Residents told us they needed community space," says United Way president and CEO Susan McIsaac. "They wanted space where children could play, they wanted buildings that looked nicer, they wanted to reclaim some of the common space that had been lost to storage."

So they set aside $800,000 to make the slabs more livable, and this week, the costing is being figured out so that changes in the first two neighbourhoods in Rexdale (at a cluster of towers centred on 2667 Kipling) and Orton Park, can be completed within 12 months. Similar improvements to two other pilot areas, yet to be determined, could be done within 12 months of that.

An NFB production, called the Thousandth Tower, has also been produced in tandem with this tower renewal.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Susan McIsaac

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This month's so-called "economic dashboard," released by the city's economic development committee, shows Toronto's development sector in fine fettle.

"This really shows that our economy is on the increase in a number of different sectors," says committee chair councillor Michael Thompson. "The housing start-up sector, according to the report, it's up 20 per cent ahead of last year, which is a good thing."

The report also makes note of the fact that Toronto continues to be the leader in high-rise development on the continent, and most of the world, with 189 projects under development right now, compared with runners-up Mexico City (88) and New York City (82).

The report also finds that "Toronto's overall office vacancy rate has been trending downward for the last two years and stands at 5.5 per cent (2012, first quarter), despite the recent completion of several large office buildings downtown. Vacancy rates downtown and along the Yonge Street corridor are below five per cent."

Thompson emphasized the fact that such indicators fluctuate, and pointed out that, amid all this frenzied growth, there is still at least one major problem with Toronto's economy: unemployment.

"It is still higher than the national average," he says. "That's an area we want to be mindful of. The national average is seven and change [per cent], and Toronto is 8.2."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Michael Thompson

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 bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.

The "passivhaus" for which Germany has become so famous was actually born in Canada in 1977, says Ross Elliott, the man looking to bring the idea back home.

"Europe took what the Canadians learned back in the early '80s and developed this passive house certification and sort of sent it back across the ocean to us," says Elliott, president and CEO of Homesol Building Solutions. The voluntary certification promotes ultra-low energy buildings with small carbon footprints.

Elliott, alongside Russell Richman, Ryan Abendroth and Graham Irwin, are bringing their own German certification training to Toronto in July to teach their first nine-day course on passive house construction.

The course, which will count for 32 credits, or two years' worth, of professional continuing education for architects and LEED professionals, will teach students how to build houses that use as little as 15 kilowatts per square metre per year for heating. The average house now uses between 150 and 160 kilowatts. The goal for the total energy load for the passive house, including heating, ventilation, lighting and other services is 120 kw. The standard for retrofit houses is 25 kw per square metre for heating annually.

"It's not pie-in-the-sky stuff," Elliott says, pointing out that there are about 25,000 such houses across Europe, and eight now on the drawing board in Ottawa, where he's based, with about 30 likely to be in the works by the end of the year.

The course runs July 31 to August 4 and August 20 to 23 and costs $2,250 plus HST, with an extra $250 charge to take a certification exam.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ross Elliott

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The French public school board broke ground this past weekend on yet another new school, this one in Scarborough.

"Finally after many talks and actions, we were able to put our hands on this lot that was separated from the TDSB," says Conseil Scolaire Viamonde's director of education Gyslaine Hunter-Perrault, referring to the 15-acre property that was divided into 10 acres for single-family home construction and about five acres for the French school board.

The design of the small, one-storey school, which will initially have about 200 students with a capacity of 300, is based on Carrefour des Jeunes, a school the board had built in Brampton about a decade ago. The architects are Robertson Simmons.

Like all its recently built schools, the new École élémentaire Laure-Rièse, named for the late Swiss-born professor at the University of Toronto's Victoria College, will include various ecologically conscientious elements. Hunter-Perrault says the question of whether they'll apply for LEED status has not been decided, since the application costs several thousand dollars, money which might be better spent elsewhere.

The school will replace the current Laure-Rièse on Morningside Drive, which had become over-crowded.

Construction started this week, and the school is scheduled to be ready for the beginning of the school year in 2013.

The lot is on Alton Towers Circle, near McCowan, just south of Steeles.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gyslaine Hunter-Perrault

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 bert@yongestreetmedia.ca.