generalcanada
Senior Member
bud, this is so far away from being built youre better off asking jesus for guidance
and it depends, i think less towers, more retail, and more parkland would be a good idea
Toronto Rail Deck Development | 239.43m | 72s | LIUNA | Sweeny &Co
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and it depends, i think less towers, more retail, and more parkland would be a good idea
toronto647
Active Member
lol... I have a place at Front and Blue Jays facing south and this will ruin my view so was just curious how many years I have left there. Good to know I have at least until the end of the decade it seems.
generalcanada
Senior Member
you should be more concerned about the union park right in front of you lmao
toronto647
Active Member
I am on the South West corner of Front and Blue Jays... Union Park is on the South East corner so don't think that project will not significantly impact my view.
UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
I think having the 5 tonne gorilla out of way who may not listen to community feedback might be good thing here, IMO. I mean, it's the reason they said they where hitting the reset button on this as opposed weaponizing a fanciful design to win support over it's critics (I really hate when devs do that) as you say.
That said, it doesn't mean this will end up being bland grey glass box heaven either. As who is not on that list is important who is. That is, there is no Concord or Spanderel...I mean, Canderel or the other lowfi suspects mentioned as far as I am aware. So hopefully with enough feedback we'll get something delicious as well as sustainable and practical instead.
And to keep in mind my bias here: I'd rather have these folks look after getting us a rail deck than the city, which has no real money currently to throw at anything like this.
milkycontent
Active Member
Never thought the most recent plan would get built--it was a fantasy. Best thing they could do (besides going back to the city's original vision!) would be to connect Dan Leckie Way and Portland St. so it becomes a continuous at-grade street.
Anything to make Cityplace and the "fashion district" feel more like a cohesive neighbourhood.
Put a "generous" park on the east end of the sight and put the mixed used/residential towers on these blocks like this. Don't need to reinvent the wheel.
Of course Metrolinx's plans kind of screw this up and we'll end up getting a condo on the SW corner of Front and Spadina...
Anything to make Cityplace and the "fashion district" feel more like a cohesive neighbourhood.
Put a "generous" park on the east end of the sight and put the mixed used/residential towers on these blocks like this. Don't need to reinvent the wheel.
Of course Metrolinx's plans kind of screw this up and we'll end up getting a condo on the SW corner of Front and Spadina...
toronto647
Active Member
Are you proposing the green park be from Front and Blue Jays to Front and Spadina?
SW Corner for the Spadina GO station I guess ur referring to?
cd concept
Senior Member
Why can't they just build a hybrid park looking like the video on precondo. It's amazing in every aspect in my book! Utilizing green space where ever can on buildings too. Not just a square park and condo's. MIX IT UP A LITTLE !!
Start Fox
Active Member
If this development is indeed happening, then I think the following should be the guiding light:
- the City's ambitions for a rail deck park should be moved westward, to create a park over the rails between Bathurst and the Garrison Point area.
- this development should have parkland arranged similar to the renderings, where all the buildings are pushed to the north part of rail deck and the entirety of the south side is parkland.
cd concept
Senior Member
My thoughts as well I said something similar from covering the railway from Garrison Point to the Don River. With connected commercial and institutional podium buildings ranging from 1 to 5 storeys in the middle. Then putting the parkland on top creating a hill and Valley effect and accenting some sections with condos or offices having greenery on top. Creating park land and a new path system from one podium to another. Something similar like what Precondo's ORCA youtube video reveals !
TossYourJacket
Senior Member
My only concern with a variable level park like that, is that unless it's well designed, it could result in asking people with mobility challenges to use multiple elevators just to go across the park from East to West. Which is less than ideal. Parks should focus on being accessible to all, before we get into what is more conceptually exciting. At the very least, the park needs to meet the street at the same level. If the park requires stairs/elevator to access in the first place, it's doubtful it would be a particularly successful park. We need something people can casually walk into, regardless of their level of mobility.
I agree about the park being linear along the south edge (or north edge, either works tbh) is a good idea, but they need to ditch the idea of a parking structure below it that they had in the original design. The park should be at street level. Otherwise it will likely be only used by condo residents, which is a total waste. Hopefully the end of parking minimums makes that possible.
Also totally agree on doing a more westward rail deck park. I'd always hoped that would end up being a future phase of the city's plan after this section was developed, and since this is now out of the city's hands, might as well focus somewhere else.
cd concept
Senior Member
I'm with you on the point on having a major path way for pedestrians that's basically flat for walking. As I talked about it on the Precondo's ORCA youtube video. Which shows the south side basically at street level. Putting the podiums close to Front St with various hieghts creating more park like facilities etc on top. Bottom line I think there should be a continuous meandering walkway path that straddles along from Fort York's Garrison Point area to the Don River's East Harbour, Villiers Island location . That you can walk or bike etc and don't have to basically come in contact with vehicular traffic. By building on top of the railway creating commerce and parkland in one shot. The momentum is there with ORCA, Union park and CIBC Square development projects .
milkycontent
Active Member
It'd be great if they deck over both sides of Spadina (I'm sure someone will eventually), but I'm just talking about this site, west of Spadina.
SW corner is where the GO station is planned, yes. Someone pointed out (maybe another thread?) that Metrolinx put out a call for developer partners.
So maybe it'd be better to put the park on the west end of the site --I'm pretty ambivalent about that -- but to me the biggest opportunity of this development is the chance to connect Cityplace and the neighbourhood to the north of the tracks so this whole area becomes integrated into the street grid network as opposed to the isolated island of condos that it is now.
toronto647
Active Member
Yes I strongly support a park on the east side and connect city place with Rogers Centre and Oxford's Union Park development tbh
turini2
Active Member
Clever, clever. Get local residents on side by actually proposing a quality park - and the City might end up giving them money to help build out the Park.sounds like they are going back to the drawing board with this.Rail Deck Development
www.raildeckreset.com
this time bringing in public feedback which is good. of course people are just going to say "parks" thats what we want
they also seem to have onboarded a few new companies to the project i think View attachment 379415
(at least, that's what the cynic in me thinks - they've realised their profit margin with condos & a large park would be tight. So they've dumped the parking garage and they're looking for City parkland dedication cash to help make the park a reality. The condo bit is easy!)