Redpath Sugar Refinery | 95 Queens Quay East

[70Challenger]

Toronto is addicted to this style of ugly ass fence. I swear it's one of the factors that contributes the most to parts of Toronto looking gross and uninviting sometimes. It is crazy how much more appealing our city could be if we got rid of that style of fence and instead opted for more appealing finishes in our public spaces.

It's part of why I'd like to see this converted away from industrial use. In a neighbourhood being built almost from scratch this holdout is hostile from a pedestrian experience, loud, and the sickly sweet smell would probably be hard to tolerate if you lived in the new towers across the street.

Just because it was there first doesn't mean it should spoil a brand new neighbourhood indefinitely.

 

[70Challenger]

Yeah it's the bike lane next to it that's the real issue amirite?

 

[lenaitch]

It's part of why I'd like to see this converted away from industrial use. In a neighbourhood being built almost from scratch this holdout is hostile from a pedestrian experience, loud, and the sickly sweet smell would probably be hard to tolerate if you lived in the new towers across the street.

Just because it was there first doesn't mean it should spoil a brand new neighbourhood indefinitely.

This sentiment reminds me of urban people who move to the country then complain about the smells and slow farm vehicles blocking the road.

 

[DSCToronto]

It's part of why I'd like to see this converted away from industrial use. In a neighbourhood being built almost from scratch this holdout is hostile from a pedestrian experience, loud, and the sickly sweet smell would probably be hard to tolerate if you lived in the new towers across the street.

Just because it was there first doesn't mean it should spoil a brand new neighbourhood indefinitely.

Many people like the sugar smells and the sight of the sugar ships unloading. It is really not hostile (I find it 'amusing' myself. The fact that it blocks the waterfront promenade is unfortunate (but inevitable since they need water access) and the only thing I would change is to upgrade the chain-link fencing on QQE just west of Lower Jarvis.

 

[PL1]

Or people that buy cheaper around an airport and complain about the plane noise.

Or the people that bought in the Stockyards and were shocked, SHOCKED that the abattoirs were still both operating and smelly

 

[DSCToronto]

I assume that is a private fence.

Yes, it belongs to Redpath

 

[AlexBozikovic]

There are people who want the Portlands to be done over in the same way - build new commercial attractions and lots of shiny new residential. That ignores the venerable industrial base which is still very much operating down there - and the film production facilities too, for that matter, even though they are much more recent developments

Can’t see any reason Redpath should be displaced, but it’s worth acknowledging that there is not a huge amount of industrial activity on this area of the port. There hasn’t been for 80 years.

Nuance is required. But the decision to anchor film production in the Portlands - to create a new employment cluster that takes up lots of space and generates bad urbanism - is a different story. That was a policy choice that came largely from the local councillor and it makes no long-term sense.

 

[Lenser]

I

Can’t see any reason Redpath should be displaced, but it’s worth acknowledging that there is not a huge amount of industrial activity on this area of the port. There hasn’t been for 80 years.

Nuance is required. But the decision to anchor film production in the Portlands - to create a new employment cluster that takes up lots of space and generates bad urbanism - is a different story. That was a policy choice that came largely from the local councillor and it makes no long-term sense.

How does it create bad urbanism? Yeah, sound stages take up space, certainly - so do the necessary production offices. But those in turn generates lots of jobs, both for the people working in those facilities and all of the suppliers - caterers, film equipment rentals, sets and props rentals (not to mention location fees that go back into both private businesses and city coffers), etc. Surely we can agree that cities require a healthy mix of land uses, even if the resultant rubbing of shoulders is sometimes awkward.

Should for any reason the local film industry seriously founder, that's when we'd eventually see repurposing of those lands currently dedicated to that industry. In a way it's part of an old story; the city is ever evolving. Older, long-established industries fall prey to disuse and irrelevance, thereby making way for new ones springing up in their place. Sometimes they are replaced by more residential projects. It's all entirely normal. Is the planning for all of this top shelf? No, too often it's tainted by politics. But that's nothing new either.

The Portlands is an odd mix of things. It feels both under-appreciated and poised with fantastic potential. It features strange, striking juxtapositions. Marinas a stone's throw from bird sanctuaries. Concrete and aggregate firms just down the road from huge studios where the latest Star Trek vehicle is being produced. A hydro corridor marching down Commissioner. The silent menace of brownfields still in abundance. A lovely new park wrapped 'round the Don, and bold plans for new residential on Villiers. The hulking giant that is the Hearn Plant. Colorful bridges linking up the Portlands with the city itself. It's nothing if not a jumble.

Still. Slowly but surely it's getting better, getting far more interesting.

 

[Northern Light]

The film industry is valuable, yes, and juxtapositions are interesting. But a film cluster gains nothing by occupying waterfront land.

This isn't quite correct.

There are two reasons these sites are preferred right now, incentives aside.

The first is that a critical mass of the industry has established here from post-production, to studios, to equipment suppliers.

When this establishment began, no one (okay, very few) foresaw this as a residential area in the near or medium term.)

Now, lets set that to one side.


An awful lot of productions do location shoots. Downtown streets are regularly lined by trailers and generators. Distance matters.

Many celebrities are also rented accommodation nearby ranging from hotels to short-term rentals.

Could the studio services themselves be anywhere? Yes.

But that locks at them in isolation. Proximity matters. To related businesses and to off-set shooting locations.

The Portlands has it all in that sense. Its near to everything.

Replacing that with studios in Markham or Mississauga, at best, creates significant commutes and congestion.

At worst, Toronto loses that business to jurisdictions that are more accommodating

The film studios under construction here (with subsidies) are windowless big boxes that need silence and lots of parking. They will be directly in tension with the construction and occupancy of a new downtown neighbourhood that will house tens of thousands of people.

Cinespace signed a 30-year lease on the Marine Terminal waterfront site in 2022. This is going to be a problem.

I prefer cinespace to the planned housing for the most part. People need jobs. They have to go somewhere, and we talk about a 15 minute city with reverence then suggest that 1/2 the functions need to go 60 minutes away.

Not sure how that comports.

We've discussed ad naseum why the proposed density levels here make no sense and can't be made to work. Its math, not politics.

The densities proposed require a subway to the door, and they won't have one. That's it.

A lack of coordinated thought is everything.

 

[Northern Light]

As a side note, I'm not sure how a thread about Redpath devolved into something about studios in the portlands.

Redpath is going nowwhere. Nor should it.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

...factories and warehouses are part of the urban experience as are glass towers and bustling storefronts, IMO.

 

[christiesplits]

This isn't quite correct.

There are two reasons these sites are preferred right now, incentives aside.

The first is that a critical mass of the industry has established here from post-production, to studios, to equipment suppliers.

When this establishment began, no one (okay, very few) foresaw this as a residential area in the near or medium term.)

Now, lets set that to one side.


An awful lot of productions do location shoots. Downtown streets are regularly lined by trailers and generators. Distance matters.

Many celebrities are also rented accommodation nearby ranging from hotels to short-term rentals.

Could the studio services themselves be anywhere? Yes.

But that locks at them in isolation. Proximity matters. To related businesses and to off-set shooting locations.

The Portlands has it all in that sense. Its near to everything.

Replacing that with studios in Markham or Mississauga, at best, creates significant commutes and congestion.

At worst, Toronto loses that business to jurisdictions that are more accommodating


I prefer cinespace to the planned housing for the most part. People need jobs. They have to go somewhere, and we talk about a 15 minute city with reverence then suggest that 1/2 the functions need to go 60 minutes away.

Not sure how that comports.

We've discussed ad naseum why the proposed density levels here make no sense and can't be made to work. Its math, not politics.

The densities proposed require a subway to the door, and they won't have one. That's it.

A lack of coordinated thought is everything.

I echo much of this. Based on my experience as a born-and-raised east-ender, many residents of Leslieville, Riverdale and The Danforth work in TV and film and chose to live in the area due to its proximity to the Portlands. While the theatre, music and visual arts industries don't take up the same bulky footprint as film studios, they too reside close to the core. Media and arts thrive in dense, urban settings, and these industries enhance the cultural fabric of the city. I think there's some Florida guy who talks about this.

 

[NW87]

Taken back around 2018 from Sugar Beach.

 

[Koops65]

That whales mural is very nice...

Credit:

https://flic.kr/p/2gxyaZ1

 

[narduch]

Almost got a job here in 2002. Was one of the last 2 candidates.

Probably would have altered my career totally as I ended up in Construction consulting instead.

Also we used to park here back in the day when we went to concerts at the Warehouse or clubbing at Guvernment