Toronto Wellesley on the Park | 194.15m | 60s | Lanterra | KPMB

The plot is probably worth way more than $60 million, which is way too much for the city to be forking over just so that a few park benches could be scattered about for crack-heads to covet. The plot is hardly 2 hectares, not what I would call prime park material, and definitely not to be paid for with city taxpayers' hard-earned moula. Condo developers might also be wary of forking over $60+ million, because they would therefore want to justify their purchase price by applying to build a super-tall. But commercial developers would tend to think $60+ million is just about right for some kind of mixed-use development right by a subway station, so my money's on the province doing what is best for the bigger fiscal picture and that's selling it to whomever wants it, but to people who know that it can't be a super-tall condo, which, of course, developers are too scared to even attempt to start marketing anyway knowing that their current projects are starting to stall. Latest office tower development stats indicate horrendous scarcity of available plots downtown.
 
SPREAD THE WORD!!!

Community Rally for 11 Wellesley St W.

Wednesday August 29th, 2012

No more condos! People need a community park!

Where: Queen's Park, north side near the statue of King Edward VII

- 4pm - sign-making (community will make their own signs and banners, but everyone is encouraged to bring signs)
- 5pm - rally begins
- 6pm - march to the site (a surprise action is currently being planned for the end of the march)

Who: Krystin Wong-Tam (city councillor), Glen Murray (MPP), BCCA, communities around and us!!

Why: You know why!
 
This area is not very densse at all. You have Queen's Park, UofT grounds, those long narrow parkettes above the Yonge subway line, College Park and more a very short distance from here.

This site should be 100% covered with buildings.


+1 ... honestly ...

buildings here should include retail / office / residential ... and heck you can throw in a small park.

This area is not very dense by any measure ... the area just to west is extremely institutional (i.e. no density at all) ... you may argue the core in general (if you are willing to further) is dense, granted but they have their own parks already.

There is one and only one exception, if we build a destination park (i.e. one tourists / locals from a far would visit ... i.e. millennium park) ... clearly this will not happen ...


I already emailed the local and provincial counselors stating this much, of course because this likely didn't agree with their view I didn't get a reply (even though they asked for emails).
 
retail + office ... that's too everyone's benefit, and some condos as well.
 
Queen's Park does not provide a number of the functions that are needed in a neighbourhood park. It's a ceremonial space to a great extent, and it's surrounded by three or four lanes of traffic typically moving at 60 km/h.

That said, I think there's little hope of getting all of 11 Wellesley for a park, and I've stated a few times in this thread that I think the eastern edge and northwest corner of it should be developed. Good luck to the residents who want the park, but a more realistic solution is likely to ask for part of it as a park: crunch some numbers and come up with a plan which allows for some development and means the Ontario Government gets some cash out of this, and you might get some new parkland.

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