Toronto David Crombie Park Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto

The fencing is up!

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Dinamo5 said:
We need better retail, restaurants etc on that street as well, I find it's pretty dead for the most part.
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I was touring the area with the late George Baird and I made the same comment. I said, perhaps it’s not dense enough. His reply: “You have to remember, Alex, in those days ‘density’ was a dirty word.”
 
DSCToronto said:
It was designed as, and has always been, primarily a residential area.
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AlexBozikovic said:
I was touring the area with the late George Baird and I made the same comment. I said, perhaps it’s not dense enough. His reply: “You have to remember, Alex, in those days ‘density’ was a dirty word.”
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I think Front Street serves as the retail 'high street' for the area, its a mere 1 block away. The retail has a couple of patches on Front, but is mostly continuous from Scott to Berkley

The Esplanade also has a showy restaurant row west of Market, and, of course, the St Lawrence market on top of that.

I'm not sure how much more retail the area could support, or needs to.

I could see the virtue of adding a second, small, restaurant row, with patios facing the Esplanade/Park. But do we really need much more than that?

I also have to say, the density of St. Lawrence is generally quite pleasant, its by no means empty, its predominantly midrise, with a few hirise forms at the edge, and a smattering of townhomes.

No need to make it St.Jamestown.
 
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Northern Light said:
I think Front Street serves as the retail 'high street' for the area, its a mere 1 block away. The retail has a couple of patches on Front, but is mostly continuous from Scott to Berkley

The Esplanade also has a showy restaurant row west of Market, and, of course, the St Lawrence market on top of that.

I'm not sure how much more retail the area could support, or needs to.

I could see the virtue of adding a second, small, restaurant row, with patios facing the Esplanade/Park. But do we really need much more than that?

I also have to say, the density of St. Lawrence is generally quite pleasant, its by no means empty, its predominantly midrise, with a few hirise forms at the edge, and a smattering of townhomes.

No need to make it St.Jamestown.
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Yes there are two distinct parts of The Esplanade. The eastern section between Lower Jarvis and Parliament Square Park - the section with the Park on the south side - which has a few small retail and eating facilities (primarily aimed at locals) and the section between Lower Jarvis and Yonge which has a (once thriving?) much larger restaurant/bar and retail scene (primarily aimed at both locals and 'visitors') . When Time & Space was being built there were expectations that the retail at its south end would bring a bit more 'life' to the eastern section but to date we only have an (as yet unopened) golf place and an unrented space at corner of Lower Sherbourne which was designed for a cafe spreading into the POPS courtyard.
 
Northern Light said:
I also have to say, the density of St. Lawrence is generally quite pleasant, its by no means empty, its predominantly midrise, with a few hirise forms at the edge, and a smattering of townhomes.
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In fact there are more like 300 townhouses, which occupy a significant area of the original plan, and there is also a lot of open space.

One can argue numbers all day (I won't), but that place feels dead almost all of the time, except for school recess.

It's an interesting lesson.
 
AlexBozikovic said:
One can argue numbers all day (I won't), but that place feels dead almost all of the time, except for school recess.

It's an interesting lesson.
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I won't extend this unduly either, except to say, I sincerely disagree w/the characterization of the area 'feeling dead'. I spend a fair bit of time in the area for a non-resident, and I've found it consistently busy. The parks are well patronized, lots of people out walking and biking. Its not crowded; but I think that's fine.
 
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Agreed with Northern Light. As someone who lives just east of here and walks through this section of the esplanade (every single day). This area is not dead and I always find it a bit ridiculous to generalize an entire area or neighbourhood based off (seemingly) a single walk around it.

The St. Lawrence/Distillery area is already full of life and it is only improving year after year as the area fills out. There will be plenty of additional density in the areas surrounding David Crombie park (and I welcome that) but even in its current state, “dead” is not a fair characterization.
Northern Light said:
I won't extend this unduly either, except to say, I sincerely disagree w/the characterization of the area 'feeling dead'. I spend a fair bit of time in the area for a non-resident, and I've found it consistently busy. The parks are well patronized, lots of people out walking and biking. It’s not crowded; but I think that's fine.
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AlexBozikovic said:
In fact there are more like 300 townhouses, which occupy a significant area of the original plan, and there is also a lot of open space.

One can argue numbers all day (I won't), but that place feels dead almost all of the time, except for school recess.

It's an interesting lesson.
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As someone who lives in the area and probably walks along some portions of the David Crombie section of The Esplanade almost daily and at different hours I must disagree with you. Not that I would not like a decent coffee place with tables on the sidewalks but the only real place for that is in Time & Space and they seem to have nobody interested in renting the planned-for cafe space which has POPs adjacency.
 
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