Bruvyman
Active Member
Its not THAT bad, is it? Are you prone to exaggeration, or just hard to please?
By me: June 30, 2011
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CityPlace Masterplan
- Thread starter casaguy
- Start date
Its not THAT bad, is it? Are you prone to exaggeration, or just hard to please?
By me: June 30, 2011
Tuscani01
Senior Member
There will be a proper cross walk for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the Gardiner on ramps. Adam Vaughan has also brought up the idea of using the extra wide sidewalk south of Fort York Blvd. to install bike lanes, meaning cyclists will no longer need to share that part of Spadina with cars.
Also, the timing for the light that you are speaking about was set that way because pedestrian counts were greater than vehicle counts. Since the community is rather new, traffic services have very little data to use when setting the timing. They are constantly monitoring the intersection though and making adjustments where needed. Apparently Spadina was timed as a two stage crossing a short while ago, and it has since become single stage.
hawc
Senior Member
Its not THAT bad, is it? Are you prone to exaggeration, or just hard to please?
By me: June 30, 2011
Agreed. CityPlace is great. But the haters will continue to hate. No use trying to change their minds.
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I remember reading about that a few years ago. What's the timeline? Given the fate of the Fort York pedestrian bridge, I don't see this happening any time soon. I'm sure there would be any number of approvals needed to make this happen. The opening of Dan Leckie way has made things a bit better; it's barely used (Fort York is only one-way (eastbound) for half of it) so it's quite pedestrian/bike friendly at this point.
hawc
Senior Member
You mean the pedestrian bridge that's being built right now and will be finished at the end of this month?
Also another question, when you say, "There will be a proper cross walk for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the Gardiner on ramps." Do you mean a light or yield to pedestrian sign or just painted lines on the road?
That pedestrian bridge is going across the rail lands, not across the Gardiner. It's linking City Place with Front St., not with Lake Shore/Queen's Quay. There was talk of one that would actually go OVER the Gardiner if I remember rightly. I don't think you can just paint lines or put up a yield sign to cross over there
CanadianNational
Senior Member
One interesting thing about Cityplace - whether you like or dislike it - is how different it feels than any other part of Toronto. Astringent, exact, deliberate. I don't think it's exactly a good or bad thing, but it is unique. You come south off Spadina, and it's a bit like entering a different realm.
^ I agree with you guys about the retail / nightlife component. I think Bremner was a fantastic opportunity that hasn't been quite fulfilled. Double-height retail along that curving stretch could have been wonderful. I think the Bremner area looks good architecturally though, overall.
That said, it's not too late for the giant, remaining block 31. While the forces that be are busy making it a community centre and such, maybe they could layer in a multiplex, bars, clubs and some shopping? Quartz's location would be a good one for some fun uses as well, at the other side of the park.
Or, for something different, I can't help but think Block 31 would make a great extension to the existing park. The library, community centre and other facilites could be under a huge folded and undulating green roof that could effectively act as a park.
^ I agree with you guys about the retail / nightlife component. I think Bremner was a fantastic opportunity that hasn't been quite fulfilled. Double-height retail along that curving stretch could have been wonderful. I think the Bremner area looks good architecturally though, overall.
That said, it's not too late for the giant, remaining block 31. While the forces that be are busy making it a community centre and such, maybe they could layer in a multiplex, bars, clubs and some shopping? Quartz's location would be a good one for some fun uses as well, at the other side of the park.
Or, for something different, I can't help but think Block 31 would make a great extension to the existing park. The library, community centre and other facilites could be under a huge folded and undulating green roof that could effectively act as a park.
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Tuscani01
Senior Member
Construction starts late summer, this year. Its not a bridge, its a painted cross walk. The ramp is being reconfigured to make pedestrians more visible, and make the crossing safer.
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hawc
Senior Member
I've been looking at a lot of other developments in Toronto and I can't find another condo community (5 or more towers all done together by the same developer) that is nicer than CityPlace. There are lot of gorgeous individual condos here and there. But as a community show me a developer that has done a whole area better.
ladyscraper
man alive
I think the problem isn't that another developer could have done better with such a large piece of land. It's more like it's never a good idea to hand over such a large piece of land to just one developer no matter who it is. It creates something too monotonous.
I personally like most of the Cityplace towers when taken individually but it just gets tiresome so see them all right next to each other. Having just one developer hasn't been good for building lively streets and retail either. Hopefully this will improve over time though.
If you take a few of the best Cityplace towers and scatter them randomly around town, they would be so much easier to appreciate.
Torontovibe
Senior Member
That's exactly it. One single developer, should never be allowed to develop large tracks of land, ever again. Hopefully we've learned a lesson from that. I'm sure they could have made more money, selling off smaller plots of land, little by little.