Toronto Parkdale Hub | 54.5m | 16s | CreateTO | DTAH

Northern Light said:
But again, the key on the western side is and always has been the Dollarama property.

If they have that.........they have no excuse for not putting a tower in play.
Click to expand...
We asked some explicit questions about the Dollarama lands (and if there was a "Drop-Dead" date on Acquiring them) - during the Public Meeting. It sounds like those lands are still in play - and the City has until 2024-ish to close the deal.
 
I am adding the info for Parkdale Hub site to this thread.

As it is clearly an interrelated project.

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The relevant reports can be found below:

Report here: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2021.PH28.2

Phase 3 sites: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ph/bgrd/backgroundfile-172099.pdf

Pipeline sites: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ph/bgrd/backgroundfile-172100.pdf
 
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Summary of the September 15, 2021 meeting is available online:


Parkdale Hub - CreateTO

createto.ca createto.ca

Some notable points:

207 Cowan Avenue was for sale. Had it been purchased and incorporated into the hub it could have served as additional space; potentially temporary artist studios or gallery space for Gallery 1313. Why was this property not incorporated?

CreateTO: We did look at this opportunity, but the property is home to existing residential tenants and we did not want to displace tenants as part of this process. Costs were also a key consideration, including costs to acquire the property and costs associated with heritage preservation of the property. Councillor Perks: We did quite a bit of work to get Council to consider acquiring a different piece of privately-owned land, and convincing Council to use public money to buy land for community use can be quite difficult.


Will the Hub be finished or built by 2029, and is there sufficient funding to support the entire project?

CreateTO: In terms of timing, the goal is to be done by 2029. That said, the current timeline is an estimate of how long design and construction will take. We are currently working on the phasing strategy, which will give us a better sense of specific timing. The timeline may extend beyond 2029 to ensure we are meeting the requirements of all key stakeholders involved, including minimizing disruption to ongoing programs. Since this project will be part of the City’s Housing Now Initiative, it will follow an expedited rezoning process.

In terms of funding, both the Toronto Public Library and Parks Forestry & Recreation have approved budgets for their components of the project. The remaining funding will come from the City through ongoing discussions with Council as the process moves forward. The preliminary costing analysis, currently underway, will inform these discussions.

Councillor Perks added that, since funding for the library, community centre, and Housing Now is approved, there is a lot of momentum for this project, saying he is very optimistic that the remaining required funds will come.


What is the vision for the new community space? How will the spaces be organized to make it accessible to different organizations that have different needs and funding sources?

CreateTO: Right now, at the demonstration plan phase, we are working to keep the vision for community space as open as possible to allow it to evolve to best meet the needs of future tenants and organizations. There will be space specifically set aside for Artscape, and we will work with the City’s Social Development, Finance & Administration (SDFA) Division to allocate remaining space. SDFA also has programs that can help offer affordable tenancies to different organizations. Tenancies will be determined later (closer to construction / occupancy dates), but we are keeping track of interest from different organizations.


Has a specific floor or location been set aside for Artscape live-work tenants?

CreateTO: No, we have not committed to specific floor at this time. DTAH: There is enough room and several locations where Artscape live-work tenants could be accommodated in a diversity of unit sizes. As the process moves into detailed design, CreateTO will continue engaging Artscape and its tenants to clearly understand their priorities and objectives.
 
For the record, the local Councillor being the person who "hand-picks" the members of these Local Advisory Committee (LAC) groups is a big problem in Toronto. Essentially, it is a mechanism for "stacking the jury / steering the outcome" by folks who live within a couple of hundred meters of the site.
 
www.toronto.ca

City of Toronto further advancing innovative, city-building Parkdale Hub project

News Release November 30, 2021 The City of Toronto’s Parkdale Hub project, a transformational city-building initiative at the intersection of Queen Street West and Cowan Avenue, is ready to progress to phase three. The Parkdale Hub site is currently home to City-owned facilities and community...
www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca

City of Toronto further advancing innovative, city-building Parkdale Hub project​


News Release
November 30, 2021

The City of Toronto’s Parkdale Hub project, a transformational city-building initiative at the intersection of Queen Street West and Cowan Avenue, is ready to progress to phase three.

The Parkdale Hub site is currently home to City-owned facilities and community services, including the Parkdale Library at 1303 Queen St. W., the Masaryk-Cowan Community Recreation Centre at 220 Cowan Ave., the Parkdale Arts & Culture Centre operated by Toronto Artscape Inc. at 1313 Queen St. W. and a municipal parking lot at 1325 Queen St. W.

The City’s investment in the Parkdale Hub project will deliver wide-ranging social, cultural and economic benefits to the Parkdale community, including:

  • The creation of new non-profit affordable rental housing
  • The revitalization and expansion of the Masaryk-Cowan Community Recreation Centre, to better deliver recreational programming to the community through a more efficient design and the addition of space
  • The reconstruction and expansion of the Parkdale Library Branch to provide increased visibility and accessibility to the third busiest library branch in the city
  • The ongoing delivery of Toronto Artscape’s cultural hub program, which provides affordable live-work housing for local artists as well as an art gallery and community office space
  • The creation of new inclusive and accessible community space and design elements that will strategically connect programs, services and people
  • Significant enhancements to the public realm in the heart of the Parkdale neighbourhood, as well as the adaptive re-use of heritage buildings and improved connectivity with the adjacent residential neighbourhood
On November 22, CreateTO’s board approved a report providing an update on the project’s phase two Feasibility Study, which included collaborating with City staff on advancing architectural design work, a construction phasing strategy, environmental due diligence, negotiations for a strategic property acquisition, a preliminary civil engineering assessment, high-level costing analysis, and ongoing community and stakeholder engagement. Based on the outcomes of the phase two Feasibility Study, City staff recommend a series of actions to advance the project to phase three in a report to Executive Committee on December 7.

As part of phase three, staff request the authority to initiate stage one of expropriation proceedings to acquire 1337 Queen St. W., a property adjacent to City-owned lands on the Parkdale Hub site. The acquisition of this property is key to the project, and will enable the creation of new affordable homes and community program space to benefit the local community, including:

  • Opportunity to construct up to 109 homes on this site (including at least 50 per cent affordable homes, which could be delivered through the Housing Now Initiative)
  • Opportunity to construct up to 800 square metres (8,500 square feet) of community space
  • Creating vehicle access to the Parkdale Hub site from Dunn Avenue, which would provide access to the community recreation centre and library for loading and site servicing
  • Opportunity to strategically phase construction work at the Parkdale Hub site to minimize disruption of essential programs and services
The staff report to Executive Committee will be considered on December 7 and, if adopted, will be considered by City Council at the December 15 and 16 Council meeting.

For more information on the Parkdale Hub project, visit ParkdaleHub.ca Opens in new window.

Quotes:

“The Parkdale Hub project is an excellent City of Toronto partnership that will benefit the community. The Hub will create more housing, 50 per cent of which is affordable housing, and community spaces, and will provide residents the programs and supports they need, want and deserve.”
– Mayor John Tory

“The Parkdale Hub project is a unique City-building initiative whose scale and diversity of benefits to the community provide a real opportunity to improve the lives of Parkdale residents through improved programming, the creation of new affordable housing and stronger community supports for some of our most vulnerable residents.”
– Councillor Gord Perks (Parkdale-High Park)

“This project is a great example of the work CreateTO was formed to do. Together with our partners in City divisions and agencies, CreateTO has been working diligently to ensure the Parkdale Hub better serves the local community by providing more space for current and future uses on site, including new community space, and affordable homes. This city-building project is going to enable the Parkdale community to continue to thrive.”
– Vic Gupta, CEO of CreateTO
 
Muddling through the reports to next week's CreateTO meeting.......we stumble across something interesting about this site......

CreateTO has contracted for architectural services for the sites at Parkdale Hub and 20
Shortt Street, and is in the processes of securing architectural services for Allen East
District (Downsview). Concept massing for Parkdale Hub was recently endorsed (with
conditions) at the October 6, 2022 meeting of the Design Review Panel, with a first
zoning submission expected this quarter. Due diligence work for additional property
acquisition at Parkdale Hub was also launched on October 17th, with the transaction
expected to close by late Q4/early Q1 2023. CreateTO is continuing to procure
additional consultant services. Report back timing for the results of each respective
feasibility analysis will be determined as consultant work is undertaken.

Bolding is my emphasis

From this report:

 
Northern Light said:
Muddling through the reports to next week's CreateTO meeting.......we stumble across something interesting about this site......

CreateTO has contracted for architectural services for the sites at Parkdale Hub and 20
Shortt Street, and is in the processes of securing architectural services for Allen East
District (Downsview). Concept massing for Parkdale Hub was recently endorsed (with
conditions) at the October 6, 2022 meeting of the Design Review Panel, with a first
zoning submission expected this quarter. Due diligence work for additional property
acquisition at Parkdale Hub was also launched on October 17th, with the transaction
expected to close by late Q4/early Q1 2023. CreateTO is continuing to procure
additional consultant services. Report back timing for the results of each respective
feasibility analysis will be determined as consultant work is undertaken.

Bolding is my emphasis

From this report:

Click to expand...
I'm assuming the Dollarama site. It's a waste of space.
 
Towered said:
I'm assuming the Dollarama site. It's a waste of space.
Click to expand...

The report recommending purchase was 13 months ago or so; If this transaction is only closing at year end that's an absurdly slow pace.

Due diligence is odd here in that any assumption of the property is based on demolition, you don't need much of a DD process to ensure that you don't have any lease issues or easements or other encumbrances; the only thing I could think of might be soil contamination issues. But the timeline is still absurd.

I was wondering if they had elected to buy something else on either the eastern or western portion.
 
Rezoning Application filed by CreateTO for this site:

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app.toronto.ca

Application Details

app.toronto.ca app.toronto.ca

Quick Notes: Zoning here is clearly functional, including height and massing, but is not at the Architectural finish level. At least no quality renders appear to be included in the package, and no SPA is present.

From the Docs:

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Height of western block (former Dollarama) is 10s in storeys.

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* note the higher quality 'renders' are from the Urban Design Brief, not the Arch Plans.
 
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looks good to me. Generally, add 2-4 floors on each residential building and it would be even better. There is no reason the west building can't match the height of the TCHC building to the south.

Also - I'm concerned about this large of a stretch of Queen being used only for community space with no retail. Community space is generally not a bad thing, of course, but two city blocks of it may result in killing the retail presence in the area.
 
innsertnamehere said:
looks good to me. Generally, add 2-4 floors on each residential building and it would be even better. There is no reason the west building can't match the height of the TCHC building to the south.

Also - I'm concerned about this large of a stretch of Queen being used only for community space with no retail. Community space is generally not a bad thing, of course, but two city blocks of it may result in killing the retail presence in the area.
Click to expand...

I feel like given the smaller footprint I'm open to the shorter height on the eastern site; but I'm entirely with you on the western side, as I'm sure @HousingNowTO would be as well.

I don't see any obvious reason, not to go taller. I accept the rationale for the illusion of shorter on Queen, but that's already been achieved w/this design. There's no park or school yard shadowing to worry about, why not a bit more ambition?
 
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