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East Bayfront: Bayside (Waterfront Toronto/Hines/Tridel, Pelli Clark Pelli et al)

CanadianNational said:
I didn't know the north side was held up by private owners. I guess I just assumed that WaterfrontToronto had just proceeded to snap it all up, kit and kaboodle by now.
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Waterfront Toronto isn't buying up lands unless they are where a public amenity or infrastructure is slated to go. Parkside / Monde was only pushed by Waterfront Toronto because it was part of the property required to build Sherbourne Commons North. Really with Bayside now out for development there are only three small parcels of developable land left in the East Bayfront that Waterfront Toronto is responsible for (a small parcel in along Queens Quay in front of Sugar Beach, a small parcel in front of Corus, and a small parcel in front of George Brown). Once the road and LRT are put in and boardwalk installed there is nothing for Waterfront Toronto to do but move on to Keating Channel Precinct.

Automation Gallery said:
Interesting, looks like everyone else wants in.:confused:
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They can want in all they want but in East Bayfront that means getting other property owners in the area to sell, such as FedEx and Downtown Mazda. The next opportunity for other developers using land Waterfront Toronto will put out to bid are likely some properties in West Don Lands post 2015 if there are any remaining that the province still owns, and on the east side Keating Precinct in the lands 3C Lakeshore doesn't own.
 
EnviroTO said:
They can want in all they want but in East Bayfront that means getting other property owners in the area to sell, such as FedEx and Downtown Mazda. The next opportunity for other developers using land Waterfront Toronto will put out to bid are likely some properties in West Don Lands post 2015 if there are any remaining that the province still owns, and on the east side Keating Precinct in the lands 3C Lakeshore doesn't own.
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Apparently there's a huge, undiscovered parcel of land for sale in the Port Lands, as long as you are amphibious. Write to Doug Ford at City Hall, Etobicoke South East, Ontario.
 
...and as above, just on the fence.

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There is a public meeting on November 28, 2011, starting at 6:00 pm with an open house and the meeting itself is from 7-9. It will be held at 106 Trinity St at Enoch Turner Schoolhouse.
 
I believe the East Bayfront will have more potential than central waterfront. There is currently hardly anything by the lake east of Yonge St, which means we can start from a clean slate - to do something right this time. Central waterfront from Yonge st to Bathurst is already destroyed by those tacky condos, and before 80% of those existing buildings are bulldozed, which is not likely to happen by 2060, and have little chance to be beautiful. damage done, irreversible. Consider that as a lesson.
 
kkgg7 said:
I believe the East Bayfront will have more potential than central waterfront. There is currently hardly anything by the lake east of Yonge St, which means we can start from a clean slate - to do something right this time. Central waterfront from Yonge st to Bathurst is already destroyed by those tacky condos, and before 80% of those existing buildings are bulldozed, which is not likely to happen by 2060, and have little chance to be beautiful. damage done, irreversible. Consider that as a lesson.
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Writing off the waterfront from Yonge all the way to Bathurst strikes me as quite the hyperbole. Once you get past the awful Harbour Square at Bay going west, the midrise condo streetscape--which includes work by Arthur Erickson--is colourful and attractive. The water's edge is then lined with public spaces, including the beautiful Music Garden. Could it still be better planned and designed on the eastern waterfront? Sure, but one must acknowledge that there are pleasant achievements in downtown west's waterfront.
 
junctionist said:
Writing off the waterfront from Yonge all the way to Bathurst strikes me as quite the hyperbole. Once you get past the awful Harbour Square at Bay going west, the midrise condo streetscape--which includes work by Arthur Erickson--is colourful and attractive. The water's edge is then lined with public spaces, including the beautiful Music Garden. Could it still be better planned and designed on the eastern waterfront? Sure, but one must acknowledge that there are pleasant achievements in downtown west's waterfront.
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kkgg7 doesn't go down to the waterfront, so something like the Music Garden (which is not overly obvious on Google Streetview) escapes his attention.

I couldn't agree more about the west side of QQ -- I'm really looking forward to the boardwalk to the Irish park being opened. I think this could really be an interesting and beautiful addition to the chain of parks from Harbourfront to Bathurst, not to mention the way it'll open up access to the Irish park.
 
He's ignoring basically everything south of Queens Quay... the ice rink/canoe pond, concert stage, powerplant theatre, HTO parks, the slips, the boardwalk...
 
I find the music park to be completely underwhelming as have friends of mine who have visited from out of town. The comment most of them made was why we could have more plantings that don't look so bad during the fall and winter, during the summer its ok, but the rest of the year it just does not measure up to more beautiful gardens around the world. I'm don't know much about gardening but many of my friends do and rattled off numerous plants that would do well year round here.
 
I've seen many parks throughout the world, I'd never claim the music garden is one of the most beautiful, or even crack the top 100 ... but having said that it's still very impressive for a Toronto park. I'm not really sure what you're getting at regarding the plantings, I'm sure you and your friends do know a lot more them me though; It's always looked good to me though.
 
For me, the western waterfront, as with many things in Toronto, lacks cohesion, but overall is not short on beauty or quality spaces.

HtO, the music garden, and the powerplant with its surroundings are all quite nice. Certainly nothing worthy of Toronto in their own right, but together form an impressive building block for the future. The music garden is very nice but needs to be integrated with queens quay as well as better maintained. The swirl walkway is an enjoyable physical and aesthetic experience, the theatre is a nice centrepiece, the trees and planting are generally good, and I enjoy the naturalized entrypoint on the eastern edge. However, it would seriously benefit from the silos being revitalized - although recent information in that vein has not been encouraging, suggesting yet another waterside parking lot for the GTA. If the western silos could flow into Norway park, I would like the gardens even more.

So cohesion is the main problem as I see it. The police basin breaks up the space between HtO and the rest of the waterfront, the silos are a terrible bookend as of now, the ferry landing is not connected in any way, there are random buildings in places they don't belong, etc.

Waterfront Toronto's plan to have a continuous boardwalk with bridges along the water would really improve the landscape for me. It would afford a nice view of the city, and allow for a flow along the water that currently is forbidden - along with providing visual interest through the undulating designs. I don't know the status of funding for these, though.

Harbourfront also needs some serious work. Get rid of the parking lot and connect it to the both the east and west sides with a bridge, however, and it would be much nicer, with a few gems already there, such as the world statue that you can walk into with the water flowing back into the lake beneath.
 
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The plants they use don't last but a couple of months , so for the better part of the year most of the gardens appear dead. Instead as my friends have suggested there are so many varieties that look "nicer" for a longer part of the year ( I'm guessing different grasses, evergreens, etc).
 
grey said:
He's ignoring basically everything south of Queens Quay... the ice rink/canoe pond, concert stage, powerplant theatre, HTO parks, the slips, the boardwalk...
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I am just surprised that many actually throw words such as "impressive" or "beautiful" to describle any part of central waterfront/Queens Quay. They are probably fine for a typical Canadian city with less than 500K people, but for a city of 2.6 million, the country's financial center, largest city? I have to say the standards are set extremely low.

I am not "ignoring" them. Just extremely, extremely underwhelmed by whatever is there. I have been there for probably 8 or 10 times, but still when I try to remember it, I can hardly form a picture. It is just messy bits and pieces. The first time I went there, I have to say, I was very very disappointed. A million miles below my expectation.
 
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