Toronto Westdale | 134.7m | 40s | Sorbara | Graziani + Corazza

[Northern Light]

Huge application for this site in the north-west end of the City, Six Towers, ranging from 14s to 40s.

This is the south-west corner of Weston Road and Walsh Avenue. The site is over 6 acres!

Development Applications

City Planning COA Application Information Center

app.toronto.ca

Site as is: (from the Planning Rationale Report)

Streetview: (looking north-west along Wilson)

Now the proposal, from the Docs:

* I found the Arch. Plans to be too slow loading...........there may be addtiional content in them of note.

Elevation Drawings don't add much to what you see above, though there are some sections of additional podium detail. Images are all rotated incorrectly. I will add some later if no one else does.

Comments:

On the architecture stylistically: Ugh!

On the density/massing: Don't really have a problem with it per se, but lacks any obvious precedent. This is what's across the street today:

Parkland: Due to Highway 401 to south, 400 to east, Humber Valley to west, this site is within an area with low provision of tableland park space. Park would ideally be larger here, even if the City needs to purchase that additional space.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I see this *finally* went in. Last I saw it was 3 years ago and with a different architect..

 

[Northern Light]

I see this *finally* went in. Last I saw it was 3 years ago and with a different architect..

Unlike you, youngin, I remember the proposal before that one...............

LOL

Curious question, as the last iteration this ugh?

 

[innsertnamehere]

It wasn't G+C... so, yea, it was better.

 

[Northern Light]

It wasn't G+C... so, yea, it was better.

It's funny, LOL, how this firm competes with KirKor and most of IBI for worst architecture firm, and how you can see the differences in 'style', cough, between them.

The easiest comparison is G+C and KirKor; which can be summed up as Plain ugly, and Busy and Confused Ugly.

 

[ProjectEnd]

IBI > TFAI > Kirkor > G+C

It's all diminishing returns...

 

[Amare]

Well i mean this site has held off this long without being touched, I dont mind waiting another ~5 years until G+C magically disappears from the architectural plans on this.

 

[Towered]

While the architecture sucks, I'm totally in favour of the proposed density. The neighbourhood is very drab and desperately needs something shiny and new (I just wish the design were better). I've often wondered why this large greenfield has sat vacant for so long - what was here before (if anything)?

 

[ProjectEnd]

First off, this is Sorbara, for the thread title, @Northern Light.

Wow. Just getting a chance to look at now: sure, the density's fine, but this thing suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. No activation on Walsh / Wilson and just a silly jumble of drive aisles in the middle. The overall piss-poor effort can well be summed up with this *jazz-hands-'planning'*

Yes, it's a difficult site, but deal with it. This is bottom of the barrel stuff.

 

[Northern Light]

......but this thing suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. No activation on Walsh / Wilson and just a silly jumble of drive aisles in the middle. The overall piss-poor effort can well be summed up with this *jazz-hands-'planning'*

Agreed!

View attachment 431120

I mentioned park space before; but I'd start there, by adding some additional criticism.

The park is proposed next to Weston Road, which is a whopping 9 lanes of traffic here. Absolutely no one wants to sit and relax, or take their kid to the playground next to that. Much better spot for high visibility retail, with good noise proofing.....

I like parks to have access from a main street wherever practical, for visibility and ease of access, but here, if a park were done in-situ, it needs to front Wilson at the south end of the site and be as buffered as possible from both Weston and the 401.

I would also prefer a more regularized shape for the park to expand the range of programming choices.

Any suggestion of a green linkage to the Humber Valley here is a non-starter, not for people or wildlife across a 9 lane road.

****

Speaking of Weston Road, I haven't yet taken the time to read the traffic study, but I find it hard to believe that a 9-lane configuration is needed here. That seems really bloated; and a good community benefit would be to
look at rationalizing this some what, even a 2-lane diet would make this much less of a barrier than it is now, but a 4-lane diet would be ideal if capacity constraints permit.

****

Does anyone know if consideration was ever given to extending Wilson further West? Obviously that would require a bridge over the valley; but I can see a logical case for linking it to Rexdale Blvd. A bit challenging both environmentally and in terms of current land uses and cost.........and any alignment is complicated by that mess of an interchange w/401.........still........

****

The 401/Weston interchange takes up more space than required, a refined design could site the ramps closer to the highway which would allow for a mid-block street to cut across this parcel. I realize that's well beyond what can be asked of any developer here, and offer it merely as an observation.

Allowing that such a fix may not be practical; a central pedestrian/bike only blvd in the middle of the site would be a welcome offering.

As @ProjectEnd noted, too much space in this layout is needlessly devoted to vehicle circulation which amounts to lots of pavement just to access parking garages or turnarounds.

There is a much better way to lay this out.

 

[Amare]

Does anyone know if consideration was ever given to extending Wilson further West? Obviously that would require a bridge over the valley; but I can see a logical case for linking it to Rexdale Blvd. A bit challenging both environmentally and in terms of current land uses and cost.........and any alignment is complicated by that mess of an interchange w/401.........still........

I've never heard of any serious proposal to extend Wilson further west myself.

But if the city couldnt even find money to do a logical and straightforward extension of Front Street, I dont think we'll ever see something like a Wilson Extension come to fruition. Front Street costs were be peanuts compared to what we'd see from any Wilson Ave extension.

 

[Towered]

There is a much better way to lay this out.

Just don't count on G&C to figure it out!

 

[interchange42]

Speaking of Weston Road, I haven't yet taken the time to read the traffic study, but I find it hard to believe that a 9-lane configuration is needed here. That seems really bloated; and a good community benefit would be to
look at rationalizing this some what, even a 2-lane diet would make this much less of a barrier than it is now, but a 4-lane diet would be ideal if capacity constraints permit.

****

Does anyone know if consideration was ever given to extending Wilson further West? Obviously that would require a bridge over the valley; but I can see a logical case for linking it to Rexdale Blvd. A bit challenging both environmentally and in terms of current land uses and cost.........and any alignment is complicated by that mess of an interchange w/401.........still........

****

The 401/Weston interchange takes up more space than required, a refined design could site the ramps closer to the highway which would allow for a mid-block street to cut across this parcel. I realize that's well beyond what can be asked of any developer here, and offer it merely as an observation.

Allowing that such a fix may not be practical; a central pedestrian/bike only blvd in the middle of the site would be a welcome offering.

As @ProjectEnd noted, too much space in this layout is needlessly devoted to vehicle circulation which amounts to lots of pavement just to access parking garages or turnarounds.

There is a much better way to lay this out.

Walsh Avenue/Albion Road bridges over Weston Road, that's why there are so many lanes there. Removing the grade separation would be the only way to tame that junction…

…and yeah, no way would the City ever spend money linking Wlison to Rexdale Blvd, a huge amount of expropriation would be required.

42

 

[Northern Light]

Walsh Avenue/Albion Road bridges over Weston Road, that's why there are so many lanes there. Removing the grade separation would be the only way to tame that junction…

Any notion as to why that junction was built that way? I can't see an obvious, compelling reason when look at aerials and maps.

It occurred to me that maybe Albion had been envisioned as part of the highway network at one time, but I couldn't find evidence of that in a quick google search.

There are a few other similar interchanges in the City, (Six Points has been removed, and Progress/McCowan is next on the hit list); after Danforth/Kingston, this one needs to be bite the dust.

 

[ProjectEnd]

Any notion as to why that junction was built that way? I can't see an obvious, compelling reason when look at aerials and maps.

It occurred to me that maybe Albion had been envisioned as part of the highway network at one time, but I couldn't find evidence of that in a quick google search.

There are a few other similar interchanges in the City, (Six Points has been removed, and Progress/McCowan is next on the hit list); after Danforth/Kingston, this one needs to be bite the dust.

It was just an enlargement and traffic 'easing', typical of the 1960s (I believe). You can see the alignment of 'Old Albion' with its own, much smaller, bridge here, and 'new Albion', so to speak, just west of it.