Toronto Sun Life Financial Tower & Harbour Plaza Residences | 236.51m | 67s | Menkes | Sweeny &Co

I say good riddance. Get that parking lot out of there. Then let's tear down the Gardiner (sorry gazers) and replace it with a grand boulevard a la University. Commission architects to design boulevards that attract people and we could have a fantastic link to the waterfront. Or heck, maybe run a subway underneath it. They could, dare I say it, build the DRL so that it passes under the Gardiner Avenue and has an underground tunnel to union station. There will be tons of density down here and that expressway HAS to go if we ever want it to feel like it is a part of the city. I can already picture it now.
 
Everyone has a fantasy regarding the Gardiner, but I really don't see how an at-grade boulevard stuffed with traffic offers anything positive. Putting some sort of by-pass underground would be a better solution. That would divert cars not going into downtown. But as all things "underground" require a forest of trees growing money, it ain't gonna happen. Besides, if such a chunk of cash came available, my pet project would be a Downtown Relief Line for transit.

That being said, I'd love to see more office development in this area. It makes a good balance to all the condo building. Maybe creative minds can then take advantage of all that underutilized space under the Gardiner to create an urban playground of sorts and other interesting attractions for all those new residents.
 
Never mind the subway and Gardiner tear-down I can't see the city maintaining a 'boulevard'!
 
CanadianNational said:
March 20, 2012.
Well, these views might not be with us much longer.
East and West views of the lot, from walking by.

blurch-1.jpg
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nice pic of dubai ;)

the more i see it, keep the gardiner... in a couple of years, it will be surrounded and hidden by condo towers, thus making it better looking for the city and even better looking to drive on. i think it'll be the coolest thing.

if you want to hide this thing on a budget, build condo towers around it!
 
steveve said:
if you want to hide this thing on a budget, build condo towers around it!
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Yep -- visually the Gardiner will be effectively gone in a few years from many vistas. I think the main problem with the Gardiner is far more about how it impacts on pedestrians, but there may be ways to mitigate that without tearing it out (such as brightening the underside, putting in noise abatement materials, and more clearly separating/demarcating pedestrian paths).
 
steveve said:
if you want to hide this thing on a budget, build condo towers around it!
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Tulse said:
I think the main problem with the Gardiner is far more about how it impacts on pedestrians, but there may be ways to mitigate that without tearing it out (such as brightening the underside, putting in noise abatement materials, and more clearly separating/demarcating pedestrian paths).
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Agreed -- integrate it better, perhaps by channeling s.37 funds or requiring developers to beautify the underside in exchange for some additional density. If the city is willing to be creative and flexible about funding it, it could certainly be done.

The Gardiner and the railway tracks have certainly acted as a barrier up til now, but that could start to change if they were better integrated.
 
The problem for pedestrians is Lake Shore. Pedestrians need to feel like they belong in this area and that they are supposed to be crossing under the Gardiner, rather than like mice underneath the Running of the Bulls. There need to be fewer lanes of traffic down there and the traffic has to be slowed with more crossings so that it's not so intimidating to pedestrians. Adding parks, retail, and other human-scale stuff along the way would be a huge improvement.

My fantasy is that eventually there will be enough people living around the Gardiner that there will be enough support to turn it into a raised park like the High Line instead of a traffic pipe.
 
We don't have money to finish Sheppard, we certainly don't have the money for much more expensive projects like the DRL or burying the Gardiner.

Let's face it, Torontonians (or at least the councillors they elect) are defeatist.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
We don't have money to finish Sheppard, we certainly don't have the money for much more expensive projects like the DRL or burying the Gardiner.

Let's face it, Torontonians (or at least the councillors they elect) are defeatist.
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That's exactly the problem. Torontonians should be fighting for the right solution and not settling for whatever crumbs the Province drops our way. Toronto is the biggest engine of revenue and growth for Ontario and even Canada. We need to be more demanding - not just accepting of what dribs and drabs they throw our way. every major city in the world receives financial support from their multple levels of government. In fact until a few years ago the Province paid for 75% of Toronto's transit costs. That all changed with Mike Harris and ammalgamation. Now we are expected to pay for it ourselves with occassional assistance from the Province.

We should stand up for Toronto and demand the right solution.
 
We should stage a MASSIVE protest. Toronto doesn't do any work until we get what we require as a city, i.e. a new agreement from the provincial and Federal government re: transit.

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Is that a bad idea? Haha.
 
Big Daddy said:
That's exactly the problem. Torontonians should be fighting for the right solution and not settling for whatever crumbs the Province drops our way. Toronto is the biggest engine of revenue and growth for Ontario and even Canada. We need to be more demanding - not just accepting of what dribs and drabs they throw our way. every major city in the world receives financial support from their multple levels of government. In fact until a few years ago the Province paid for 75% of Toronto's transit costs. That all changed with Mike Harris and ammalgamation. Now we are expected to pay for it ourselves with occassional assistance from the Province.

We should stand up for Toronto and demand the right solution.
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I agree about the need to stand up for proper infrastructure in Toronto and not be satisfied by having one issue addressed while ignoring others. Transit spending at the provincial level is handled by Metrolinx's planners, while highways are not. So these are two issues that are independent of each other. The Gardiner was downloaded to the city so it's entirely up to us as to what to do with it, but reconstruction will probably require money from other levels of government.
 
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