Church & Wellesley - Yorkville - Annex : Development News

The Gerstein Reading Room at the University of Toronto has won a design excellence award from the Ontario Association of Architects, the university announced this week.

The firm of Diamond + Schmitt were praised for both renovation and renewal, with particular mention being made of an old boarded-up attic, which they discovered, uncovered and recovered, exposing the previously hidden neo-Gothic woodwork, dating from the building's original 1892 construction.

The facility's director, Sandra Langlands, is especially partial to the old periodical reading room, which the architects also restored, complete with (non-functioning) fireplace and original glazed tiles. "It's been made into a really nice group study room," she says.

The reading room is housed in what was once known as the Sigmund Samuel Library (or Sig Sam for short), and though that's what the building is still officially called, the work done since the Bertrand Gerstein Family Foundation and the Frank Gerstein Charitable Foundation made sizable donations in the 1990s has resulted in the whole structure now being colloquially known as the Gerstein.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Sandra Langlands

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After what owner Yang ("just Yang," he says) describes as a "mild fire" six months ago, Yang's Flowers, part of the Avenue and Davenport flower district (that also includes Grower's, Jong Young and Kay & Young's), re-opened last week at 132 Avenue Road.

An employee next door at high-end kitchen supply store Bianco Plus say the fire was actually quite big, but was limited to Yang's space, with no collateral damage either to them or to L'Unita restaurant, which shares its southern wall with Yang's.

Damage was extensive enough that Yang decided to take the opportunity to completely renovate. "We re-built the whole store," he says. "Everything's new."

That includes the name, too. After 10 years of being Yang's Fruit & Flowers, and a number of years of not actually selling any fruit, the shop is now simply Yang's Flowers.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Yang at Yang's Flowers

Excavation is complete and the crane now operational on the site of the new Rotman School of Management expansion on St. George St. on the University of Toronto Campus.

The 15,000 square metre (160,000 square feet), $65-million project will more than double the school's space, says Ken McGuffin, Rotman's manager of media relations.

"We're actually bursting at the seams," he says. "The building we're in opened in 1996, when we were taking in 120 students per year. Now we're taking in more than 260 students per year. I'm sharing an office myself with two other people."

The building will house classrooms, offices, an event space and study spaces, and is being built on the site of two older St. George St. buildings, the old Classics building and the campus radio station CIUT's offices and studios. The former will be incorporated into the new design (the department having moved to the Lillian Massey Building at the southeast corner of Bloor and Queen's Park). The latter, which McGuffin says lacked both architectural significance and structural integrity, has been demolished.

The new building, designed by KPMB Architects s to be connected to the existing building immediately to the north of the site and will be completed by Spring, 2012.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ken McGuffin

The old Rawlinson Cartage building at 11 St. Joseph Street, built between 1895 and 1898 and turned residential between 2002 and 2004 when a 17-storey tower was added outback, is getting another update. Design firm II by IV (Two by Four) began work a month ago for owner Barney River to redesign the more than 200 rental units to be sold as condos.

"The units were pretty well planned, so there was no structural or architectural alterations needed," says II by IV partner Dan Menchions, who says the project is meant to be completed on March 27.

Forty-two of the units have already sold to previous tenants, according to Menchions, who is confident sales will progress briskly from here on out. "I think they have the advantage that the building exists," he says, in contrast to the numerous pre-build sales going on around town.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Dan Menchions

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The walls are now fully up on the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, designed by Diamond + Schmitt and being built by Eastern Construction, bringing the $100-million project one step closer to its scheduled summer completion for a Spring, 2011 opening.

"We clad the west wall in glass," says project leader Matt Smith. "So from Victoria Street, you'll be able to see the inner workings of the buildings. One of the reasons we clad the whole building in glass was to create a whole new transparency and linkage between what's going on in the building and the public." The theory is reminiscent of KPMB's work with the National Ballet School's Jarvis Street campus.

Smith says that the older parts of St. Michael's Hospital, founded in 1892 in response to that year's diptheria epidemic, are inward-looking, which was the style in the 1960s, when most of the building was built.

The new centre, one of six chosen by the Li Ka Shing Foundation as a centre of excellence, will bring together the teaching and research facilities in the hospital, in the hope of speeding the process of getting discoveries into practise.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Matt Smith

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The Church Street strip got a new restaurant to occupy the space vacated by the late, lamented Il Fornello just south of Wellesley when Chi-Ko-Roo opened on March 2.

The Mediterranean-themed restaurant is owned by long-time Yonge and Dundas Pickle Barrel general manager Gilmar Oprisan, who partnered with the team behind the two Green Eggplant restaurants to open his first restaurant.

"The rent's not cheap here," says Oprisan, who before moving to Canada 10 years ago worked in restaurants in Israel, the Netherlands and his native Romania. "It's big competition, but I like competition."

He says he renovated about 40 per cent of the space, including adding new hardwood floors, a stone bar and new lighting to the 2,600 square foot space, which employs between 20 and 30.

The name, Oprisan says, doesn't mean anything in particular. "When you call somebody a nice guy, you call him Chico, so we said Chi-Ko-Roo. Why not?"

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gilmar Oprisan

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The gay village strip of Church Street has been chaining up over the past few years, adding Ginger, Subway and Hero Burger to its longstanding Starbucks and Timothy's. The most recent addition, due to open this week or next, is the 15th Pizzaiolo in a space occupied for decades by Bigliardi's steak house, one of the last pre-gay business to survive on the strip.

"He had a good run," says new Pizzaiolo partner (and co-founder and former co-owner of of Manchu Wok) Michael Craig, of George Bigliardi. "From what I understand, he was ready to retire."

The new Pizzaiolo will be 2,200 square feet with 15 employees, one of the biggest in the city.

"We like to have three being built at any point in time," Craig says, pointing to another one coming up a few blocks away at Yonge and Wellesley, and another at 588 Danforth.

Founded by Luigi Petrella 10 years ago, Pizzaiolo started licensing its brand three years ago and has since expanded at a rapid pace, and may soon be adding its first location outside of Toronto, on Oakville.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Michael Craig, Pizzaiolo

Before the dinosaurs, there were the bats. From its opening in 1988 until they were overwhelmed by Libeskind's pretty new box for the old bones, the Royal Ontario Museum's Bat Cave was its consistently biggest draw.

But a recent renovation, completed last week, is aimed at giving the T-Rex a run for its money. Much of the reason for the renovation was simply the exhibit's age, according to Bat Cave curator Burton Lim. "It's an open exhibit," he says, "so things get dusty and dirty over 22 years."

The renovation also includes new video screens, a documentary filmed by ROM curators in Jamaica this past January at the St. Clair cave that originally inspired the Bat Cave, and new flooring made to resemble a stone floor to replace the old brown industrial carpeting.

Funding came in part from a $2.75-million federal government grant that covered several gallery projects, and from private donors, including Thomas Kierans and Mary Janigan.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Burton Lam, ROM

Amid all the condo towers popping up all over Yorkville over the past couple of years, developer Ken Zuckerman decided it was time for an elegant mid-rise to come out of the fray, but still not too far from the action. "It's 100 yards away from Yorkville," Zuckerman says, "but it could be 10 miles."

The site of Hazelton36 is the old St. Basil's Separate School at 34-38 Hazelton Avenue, less than a block north of Yorkville Avenue. Built in the 1920s, the building's fa�ade will remain, incorporated into the new 6-storey structure, according to Zuckerman, known around town for the well-received residential development at 113 Dupont.

Though the project was just announced and Zuckerman, who owns Zinc Construction, winner of an Ontario Association of Architects award for a home on Bishop Street in Yorkville, has not yet announced the architect, designers or unit prices, he will say that the suites will have 11- and 12-foot ceilings and will range from 1,700 to 6,000 square feet.

"They'll be condominiums of some scale," Zuckerman says, "but the building will be neatly camouflaged with terrace setbacks, so you won't really be able to see the building from the street when you're on it. We'll retain that residential feel."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ken Zuckerman

One of Toronto's first gourmet pizza places has expanded into the Annex. John's Italian Caffe, one of the two original Baldwin Street restaurants, has opened its third location at 1048 Bathurst Street, between Bloor and Dupont, in the old Telepizza space.

"We've always been catering and delivering to the Annex," says Marco Henao, brother of John's owner, Julian Henao, who bought it seven years ago from founder John Lostracco. The Bathurst location, which is Marco's baby, is distinguished from the other two locations by its Italian-Latin American fusion menu. (The Henaos are Colombians raised in Venezuela and Canada.)

"We consider this one to be the restaurant," Henao says, "the Baldwin is the caf�, and the College location is just the pizzeria."

The 300 square foot space cost about $220,000 to renovate, and will soon, pending approvals and the arrival of spring, have a back patio.
According to Henao, he and his brother have spoken with the landlord and have plans to buy the building in the next few years and expand onto the second floor.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Marco Henao

You could see it as a test of just how far Dupont has come. Though it's been developing over the past decade, making the transition from industrial hinterland to North Annex, with businesses like Nancy's Cheese, Ezra's Pound and Frangipane bakery apparently flourishing, the step-down restaurant spot at 328 Dupont, owned by Wynn Family Properties, has not been so lucky.

The owners of Diverso by Ferraro hope the time has come for a mid-range restaurant on a strip known until know for its relative highs (Bistro Tournesol, Indian Rice Factory) and its beloved lows (AAA and Vesta Lunch).

The second location for the company (the first has been on Eglinton just west of Avenue for 16 years), the owners made an extra effort with the renovations to distinguish themselves from a long line of failed restaurants, the latest of which was called Trattoria 328.

The cosmetic renovation was done by Hirschberg Design Group on a budget of about $50,000. "If this thing works well, then they're going to make a serious commitment to the neighbourhood," says Martin Hirschberg of the design that incorporates the prominent piping that's part of the building's infrastructure. "This space is really for them to find out how it's going to work in the new neighbourhood. So we wanted to do something that was kind of light and kind of fun, not too serious, kind of a bit campy, to make it inviting to the area."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Diverso by Ferraro, Hirschberg Design Group, Martin Hirschberg

We've been seeing condo towns -- those things that look like town houses but are, inside, stacked like condos -- around the city for a few years now. But now Grand Metropolitan Homes, Dewbourne Developments and Paradigm Architecture and Design are building the "loft houses."

"We wanted to do something that hadn't really been done in Toronto," says Adam Ochshorn, a principal with Forest Hills developer Grand Metropolitan, who says he went to Chicago and New York to research loft forms before embarking on this project, which will break ground at 483 Dupont Street in May. He says he's not seen anything quite like this combination of house and loft aesthetic anywhere else.

The $350,000-$700,000 loft houses in three storeys totalling 30,000 square feet of residential space, will have 11-foot ceilings, polished concrete floors and outdoor spaces on every level, including rooftop terraces.

According to Andrew Zimet, the Chestnut Park Real Estate broker who's been selling the spaces, three of the four ground-level units, designed to allow for retail space according to an agreement reached with councillor Adam Vaughan's office and the Seaton Village Residents Association, have initially been sold to people who will be using them as residences, including a landscape architect who may also be practicing out of the space.

The first units will be ready in May, 2011.

 
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Grand Metropolitan Homes

Though the developer, Kevric, is being tight-lipped about their remarkable attempt to add about 100 metres to Bloor West's high-end commercial strip, the project is nearing completion.

Known for years among folks who like to dine in the three and four figures for being the home of Prego della Piazza, the little dog-leg that runs between the Renaissance Plaza and the Church of the Redeemer on the northeast corner of Avenue and Bloor, Kevric is attempting a major upgrade to make it a logical extension of the Bloor strip, rather than a cute detour for the curious.

Kevric, developing the property for the two Quebec pension funds who own the property, the Caisse de Depot and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which handled the pension funds for the RCMP, is known for its innovative and mildly controversial development under the Christ Church cathedral in Montreal.

Kevric had received some bad press recently based on complaints from Renaissance condo dwellers who contend their access to the building and their underground parking spots has been impeded or denied as a direct result of Kevric's development.

 

Writer: Bert Archer

Though it's been on the books for several years, excavation and demolition just began last week on what will eventually be the Milan condo tower on the southeast portion of what was until recently the flagship Canadian Tire store at the corner of Yonge and Church.

According to a source at the Conservatory Group who didn't want their name used because they were not authorized to talk to the press, crews started destroying Canadian Tire's old underground parking lot last week, but are now on temporary hold for unspecified reasons. It will probably be about a year before construction reaches ground level.

Occupancy was originally slated for December, 2010, a date that still comes up on the building's website.

The site is of some historical significance as well. According to Toronto history expert Stephen Otto, it was the site of one of the first downtown supermarkets (possibly a Piggly Wiggly) in 1922 (the same year the Billes brothers opened the first Canadian Tire at the corner of Gerrard and Hilton streets near Broadview), and before that the site of the Severn Brewery, built around 1835, five years after fellow brewer Joseph Bloor founded Yorkville. Bloor and Severn, who also served as the Reeve of Yorkville, and the reason there's a keg in the Yorkville coat of arms.

 

Writer: Bert Archer

Source: Conservatory Group, Stephen Otto

A $17-million project to densify a small section of the Annex just west of Spadina Road is being completed this week, after several rounds of controversy with the local residents' association. The project, led by 59 Project Management for owners Hanfrow Holdings G.P. Inc., saw the building of two rental buildings at 88 Spadina, with a total of 91 units, and 12 townhouse condos at the corner of Bernard and Walmer.

The project was designed by Quadrangle Architects.

The Annex Residents Association opposed the 88 Spadina project, mostly as the result of shadows the original design would have cast on the backyards of some Walmer Road homes. According to 59 Project Management's Philip Marsland, the design was altered to break the building into two to allow more light through to address the residents' concerns. "The Annex Residents Association was quite strong and vocal against it," Marsland says. "The developer and the architect did a very good job in accommodating the desires of the residents and we had a very open discourse throughout the entire process."

This week, the finishing touches were put on the townhouse condos, designed in a neo-Edwardian style and built on the former site of the original tower's parking lot, which has been expanded and put underground. The first residents are expected to move in at the end of the week.

 

Writer: Bert Archer

Source: 59 Project Management