Corktown District (King & Sumach, Streetcar, to 6s, Quadrangle)

[VoiceofReality]

There was a meeting between the Streetcar, the city planner and "concerned" residents on Jan 16th at city Hall to discuss revisions to 549 and 569 King St. E. Apparently some area residents were raising a stink about infractions (presumably against code) that the two buildings' current plans represented. I didn't hear anything anything out of that meeting. There seem to be many in the area who think building in the Corktown area should be restricted to 2-3 story brick townhomes.

Revisions...any idea of what they [Streetcar] changed or were proposing to change? If 2-3 stories is 'ideal' I see why Streetcar may want to go straight to the OMB (probably an easier way for the politicians to avoid scrutiny - formalizing a position).

 

[marcus_a_j]

The case number is PL071130. I can only assume Streetcar has foreknowledge that council is going to reject the project at an upcoming meeting and have filed with the OMB in order to expedite a hearing (which I don't think can happen without a judgement from council).

I believe it can make an appeal with the OMB before final judgement. This happened with Vaughan Mills. They received approval from Vaughan, but before any decision was made at the Region, they filed an appeal to the OMB. They made the file to expedite the case assuming there would be appeals anyways from other businesses, developers, residents, etc. I think York did give it approval and the OMB hearing date was a week later, which lasted < a day because of settlements that were made leading up to the hearing.

I don't know the situation with this case, but maybe they are just "taking a number" now and getting in line with the assumption of it not being approved and appealing later. Going to the OMB costs a lot of time and money for all parties involved, so the quicker the better I guess.

 

[jayzie]

Thanks for the info badga. Certainly a different story than Streetcar is telling. I called the developer for an explanation this morning and was told that the OMB case number was a "part of the process to get all of the buildings through". They also claim that all of the city councillors and the neighbourhood are on board with the project. In fact, Streetcar claims to be excited about going before the OMB so that they can get a definitive date for moving the project forward. Apparently going before the OMB protects the builder against further neighborhood protests. I was told not to be concerned at all and that the OMB was nothing but a positive development.

 

[Mike in TO]

I don't know the situation with this case, but maybe they are just "taking a number" now and getting in line with the assumption of it not being approved and appealing later. Going to the OMB costs a lot of time and money for all parties involved, so the quicker the better I guess.

That is essentially the case - the OMB has a heavy case load right now so most proponents would be wise the "take a number". It also can help expedite the municipal process and serves as a check/balance on the municipal process.

There are many examples of municipalities deciding just to "not make a decision" - which would essentially leave a project in eternal limbo if not for the OMB.

With respect to not having further community protests that is only partially true. Under Bill 51 (OMB Reforms) that came into effect last January 1st, the only people that can appeal to the OMB or appear at an OMB hearing are those who already took part in the municipal process. This puts more emphasis on the front end of the planning process. Unfortunately in the past there are a lot of examples of people who don't participate at all in the municipal planning process and then just show up out of nowhere after a project is approved and then appeal to the OMB or show up as a witness at the OMB. Under the new rules one must participate in the municipal process to then have any rights at the OMB.

 

[digitalcabana]

510 King Street East

510, 512 and 530 King Street East
Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments Application
Preliminary Report
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-10204.pdf

 

[badga]

from the report...

"As background, Working Group sessions were held for 52 Sumach Street, which resulted in revisions to the proposal’s overall height (reduced from six to five-storeys) and builtform (45-degree angular plane along the front and rear frontages of the condominium)."

Any clue what "45-degree angular plane along the front and rear frontages of the condominium" means?

 

[VoiceofReality]

from the report...

"As background, Working Group sessions were held for 52 Sumach Street, which resulted in revisions to the proposal’s overall height (reduced from six to five-storeys) and builtform (45-degree angular plane along the front and rear frontages of the condominium)."

Any clue what "45-degree angular plane along the front and rear frontages of the condominium" means?

Sounds like Streetcar still has lots of work to do for Phase I and II...w/r to your question above my guess would be that the building needs to step back from the front and back elevations to minimize the impact of the street wall on Sumach (East) and houses on Bright St. (west) neighboring. The only relevant example that comes to mind (and will probably cause lots of chatter) is Toronto Life Square. If you look at the Yonge Street facade it steps back from the 4th floor in comparison the Dundas facade which does not and by design is quite imposing.

 

[jayzie]

Sounds like Streetcar still has lots of work to do for Phase I and II...

Certainly does. The reduced height and builtform proposal means Streetcar essentially has to go back to the drawing board on 52 Sumach (which I belive is 95% sold). A redesigned building constitutes a "material change" so the buyers in that particular building may cancel their purchase agreements (or so I understand) if council insists on these changes.

The "further community consultations" noted for 549 and 569 will likely result in changes to those buildings as well.

No wonder Streetcar is going to the OMB.

 

[VoiceofReality]

Certainly does. The reduced height and builtform proposal means Streetcar essentially has to go back to the drawing board on 52 Sumach (which I belive is 95% sold). A redesigned building constitutes a "material change" so the buyers in that particular building may cancel their purchase agreements (or so I understand) if council insists on these changes.

The "further community consultations" noted for 549 and 569 will likely result in changes to those buildings as well.

No wonder Streetcar is going to the OMB.

Looks like a pre-hearing has been set for April 8, 2008 at the OMB, has anyone heard anything new? From previous comments it sounded like they were going to come to an agreement with the City.

 

[jayzie]

The OMB website indicates the pre-hearing is on April 17th...

 

[VoiceofReality]

The OMB website indicates the pre-hearing is on April 17th...

Yes...you are correct.

 

[jayzie]

Streetcar sent an update to all Corktown buyers informing us that Phase One has "unfortunately encountered some delays in the rezoning process". A "friendly appeal" has been filed with the OMB although the city endorses the project (which will be presented in the final report to city council in April). Buyers are assured that the OMB process is just a matter of expediting the approvals process.

Construction is now projected to begin at the end of June 2008. Which seems a bit ambitious seeing as the OMB pre-hearing is on April 17th. A full hearing and decision will take months more. I don't expect Phase One to get started before the fall.

Streetcar goes on to stay that only a few minor changes were required to the plans based on city and community feedback. Apparently, the select number of unit owners impacted by these changes have been contacted (and they likely backed out of their contracts due to material changes).

Good news is that because of the delay, the builder is now planning on near simultaneous construction on all three sites.

 

[VoiceofReality]

Article from today's National Post.

Eastern promises

Lisa Van de Ven, National Post Published: Friday, April 04, 2008

The history of Toronto's Corktown is decidedly working class. Back in the early 1800s, it became the new home for Irish emigrants from places such as County Cork, the district that likely gave the neighbourhood its name. The community's close proximity to Toronto's distilleries and breweries may have contributed to its moniker as well, industries where many of those working souls would have earned their daily living.

Wherever the name came from, though, Corktown has retained its title throughout the years. Today, it's bordered by the Gardiner Expressway, Berkeley Street and the Don River. To the north is Regent Park, while the West Donlands site sits to the southeast; both are in the midst of major revitalization by the city. Corktown itself isn't without its upcoming changes either, with a burgeoning mix of condominium and townhouse sites underway throughout the neighbourhood, replacing well-worn buildings and vacant lots, and adding a touch of new to complement the historic homes that have long been part of the community's draw.

Developers Les Mallins, president of Streetcar Developments, and Dino Longo, president of Longo Communities, both have ongoing projects in the Corktown community. Putting their sites into context, they provided walking tours of the neighbourhood, showing why one of Toronto's oldest areas is now becoming its newest residential hot spot.

Les Mallins, Corktown District Lofts and Towns

Les Mallins begins his Corktown tour at Streetcar's head office, located in a King Street East building close to Sumach Street. It's part of the very district the company is in the midst of redeveloping, a relocation that came when the boutique builder began focusing its efforts on the east-end neighbourhood. It's also one of three separate sites that make up the first phase of Streetcar's new Corktown District Lofts and Towns: three buildings, with a handful of townhouses, interspersed at different addresses along King and Sumach, all to be incorporated as a single condominium.

The second phase is underway across the street, at the location of the existing sales office, where King meets Queen Street East.

Mr. Mallins has become quite familiar with this neighbourhood, not only moving his offices to be closer to the project, but also meeting with neighbours to discuss what is - and isn't - needed in this close-knit community. What he found was an area with a unique history, and neighbours who weren't willing to substitute character for change. Change, though, is underway, says Mr. Mallins.

"The interesting thing about Corktown district, and Corktown in general, is it's surrounded by a lot of areas that have been designated regeneration areas. And a lot of them are highly publicized - like the Regent Park redevelopment," Mr. Mallins says. "Corktown is sort of in the centre, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need a little bit ... I think it's earmarked for gradual change, which is what we're trying to do."

At the corner of Sumach and King, for instance, the developer points out the second of his sites, the future location of a six-storey building and four townhouses bordering Percy Street, one of Toronto's few private roads. The property was once home to a gas station but has been sitting vacant since before Streetcar took it over, and Percy Street itself is not without its issues, such as crumbled asphalt and an old lead water main that the residents must maintain themselves. "While we've got machines here doing our excavation, we're going to dig up their street, replace their water main and then repave the street," Mr. Mallins says.

The King and Sumach street corner itself, he adds, will be a new hub for the community, with plans by the city to make Sumach a bigger thoroughfare and to extend the TTC through the area, all in an effort to service the newly developed east-end neighbourhoods, including what Mr. Mallins estimates to be about 15,000 new residential units planned for the immediate vicinity.

The new projects will still be juxtaposed by older existing roads such as Bright Street. Running parallel to Sumach, the one-way road offers an example of what the neighbourhood may have once looked like, with row housing and the occasional cottage-style residence thrown in.

"All of a sudden you feel like you're on a narrow street in Europe - note the architecture of the houses and how they're all leaning in various directions," Mr. Mallins says.

Dino Longo, New Corktown

It was the combination of new and old - the changes going on in a neighbourhood with so much history - that first attracted Dino Longo and his team at Longo Communities to the Corktown neighbourhood as well. Mr. Longo saw buying property in the area a win-win situation.

"What was attractive to us in coming here was that the Regent Park revitalization program was underway," he says during his tour of the neighbourhood. "Now the West Donlands is coming, too, which is a huge opportunity and will bring even more interest to this part of town."

Mr. Longo has been developing another vacant piece of land - also the location of a former gas station - this time at Shuter and River streets on the north end of Corktown. There, he has built 16 townhouses at his New Corktown site, which takes its design cues from the existing historic homes in the neighbourhood.

"The people who live in this area love it here," Mr. Longo says. "When we were presenting our project to the local ratepayers ... they were all very passionate about living here, its location and the type of architecture. They were very supportive of what we were planning to do."

The developer hosted that meeting at the Dominion on Queen, an eatery that's a mainstay hangout in the area, and has been since 1889. Mr. Longo points it out as he walks through the community, as well as several other neighbourhood shops and restaurants along the Queen East strip that is Corktown's commercial core.

He also draws attention to Regent Park, located across Shuter Street on Corktown's northern border, with its dramatic shift in architecture delineating it from its neighbour. The ongoing redevelopment of that community will have a striking effect on Corktown itself, Mr. Longo says, with a shift from 100% social housing to a mix of social and market housing currently underway, and a redesign that will see it melding more seamlessly with the other neighbourhoods around it.

Meanwhile, he predicts, "Corktown is going to continue to evolve. I think it's only going to get better."

 

[adma]

Corktown is popping?

 

[badga]

do you write for NOW mag? This one is about corktown in general but the heart of it is the Corktown District buildings. Pretty one sided.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=162425

Popping Corktown
The last of T.O.’s untouched historic ’hoods is under siege.
Enzo Di Matteo

Abandoned as an industrial wasteland, the area where King meets Queen is all of a sudden hip, thanks to specialty shops and the souls who stayed and painstakingly reclaimed properties.

The city’s desire to connect people to the waterfront and the Distillery District has opened the long-forgotten stretch to runaway condo development, but the last thing residents want is to see this Victorian-era enclave overwhelmed by glass boxes.

Where it all began for Corktown – the grocery store and lumber yard at the southwest corner of Berkeley and King.

What makes Corktown cool

• Turn-of-the-19th-century industrial architecture; one-way streets and curving lanes; cottages.

Corktown’s big-buck appeal: penthouses for $1.7 million at Parliament and King


The city’s dilemma

• Planning department is eager to see long-ignored industrial plots redeveloped; King Street is ripe for intensification; planners are keen on cutting developers some slack, but the projects being pitched are more than twice the allowable height limit.

Richmond off ramp sparked King East exodus, but the real estate rush is now on.

• The city has asked Streetcar Developments Inc., the developer of four of the projects (510, 549, 569 King and 52 Sumach), to make refinements. (Residents note dozens of zoning bylaw infractions.) Streetcar has responded by taking its case to the OMB over delays.

Sticking points for residents

• Building setbacks. Parking. Visual appeal.

• Three of the proposed buildings on King East are less than 30 metres from each other.

•Light studies were done on the longest day of the year, not during the 10 months when projects will have their greatest shadow impact on neighbouring houses.

Tower tacked onto Robert Davies’s Dominion Brewery was thankfully the only gaudy miscue in 1990s reno

The bigger threat

• The West Don Lands behemoth touching Corktown’s eastern flank. Can full-fledged towers like the Distillery District’s twin 32-storey numbers be far off?

Properties for sale

Shadows of proposed condos and office buildings may fall on Victorian-era cottages on Bright and old firehall on Berkeley.
• Two-storey commercial bulding at 135 Berkeley.
• Three-storey commercial at 487 King East.

Recently sold

• 443 and 445 King East, reportedly for upwards of $1 million.

In the works

• Fourteen-storey condo with penthouses at 333 King East.
• Eight-storey, 185-unit condo at 510-512 King East.
• Six-storey, 42-unit condo with commercial space on ground floor at 569 King East.
• Six-storey residential, 44 units, with four townhouses at 549 King East.
• Five-storey, 44-unit condo at 52 Sumach.
• Dedicated streetcar lane down Sumach to the Distillery District.