Toronto Widdicombe & Eglinton Condos | ?m | 3s | Cityzen | TACT Architecture

[interchange42]

Not a lot has obviously happened since the last updates.

2014.05.10 drive-by:

42

 

[slickpete83]

does anyone else think its stupid that they advertise these townhomes as "FREEHOLD"???? , its impossible to be 100% maintenance free in these units , considering they will share an underground parking garage????

can't wait to see the National Homes Townhouses on the corner of Kipling and Eglinton , those will be real freehold townhomes

 

[tommygun85]

does anyone else think its stupid that they advertise these townhomes as "FREEHOLD"???? , its impossible to be 100% maintenance free in these units , considering they will share an underground parking garage????

can't wait to see the National Homes Townhouses on the corner of Kipling and Eglinton , those will be real freehold townhomes

They are not advertising these as Freehold. That sign is for a new block of townhomes that will be going up on the east side of Widdicombe which will be freehold and significantly more expensive. The W&E townhomes of this thread are condo units and are advertised as such.

I went by there a couple weeks ago and it seems like they are just over 50% of completing the underground parking garage. Most of the waterproofing on the lagging is done and they have poured several columns and parts of the slab. Considering the completion date for this was supposed to be December 2014, I think they are well behind schedule, probably by about 6 months.

 

[slickpete83]

They are not advertising these as Freehold. That sign is for a new block of townhomes that will be going up on the east side of Widdicombe which will be freehold and significantly more expensive. The W&E townhomes of this thread are condo units and are advertised as such.

I went by there a couple weeks ago and it seems like they are just over 50% of completing the underground parking garage. Most of the waterproofing on the lagging is done and they have poured several columns and parts of the slab. Considering the completion date for this was supposed to be December 2014, I think they are well behind schedule, probably by about 6 months.

Thanks for clearing that up for me , great to hear they will be building more freeholds in that area , I almost bought one from national homes kipling/Eglinton , but it was hard to justify paying 615k for a townhouse with no backyard !!!!

 

[PaulyC]

Hey all, new member here!
I've purchased a Share Unit, was very excited until I received a letter stating due to some BS City By Law, they are cutting our den space in half!
Wondering if anyone has come across this based on the unit you've purchased?
I'm not happy about this, considering I purchased a 2 plus den.
I've taken this to my lawyer as well spoke with several people at Fernbrook and Tarion (useless people)
We better be compensated for our loss and not by just adding storage on our roof top! I'm also strongly considering terminating the deal.

I think Fernbrook should have done their due diligence before selling these units as advertised.

From what I understand it is due to a fire by law....

BS and I'm fighting this to the end!

Anyone else bothered by this?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[kram74]

 

[Conrad Black]

Great design here.

 

[RogerB]

Right direction

The mall is a step in the right direction with all that retail fronting onto St. Clair, the main street. Future development should be mixed use and urban, but the Stockyards area is evolving into something urban. The Upper Junction name is fair since everything up to the Stockyards along St. Clair was part of West Toronto--the city that became the Junction neighbourhood when it was amalgamated with Toronto in 1909. The Stockyards was the Junction's industrial core: it was where the money was made in an industrial place. That's why it's still associated with the Junction.

The 'Upper Junction' is going in the right direction, if you consider replacing industrial jobs with auto dependent single use subdivisions & malls to be an ideal future.
The mixed use nature or the city ends abruptly at the former Stock yards, where walking becomes a tedious ordeal past blocks of lifeless town homes and places like Walmart, which treats pedestrians to the sounds and exhaust of its underground (sidewalk level) parking garage (no sidewalk entrance).
Technically, the Stockyards also has street retail (as required), but the real entrances and cash registers are at the back (front) of the store, fronting the ample free parking lots. The Stockyards does animate its private internal roads, while lining public streets like Weston Road with a block long high concrete wall.
Traffic engineers are also at fault for creating hostile arteries that are unpleasant to walk on or cross. Newer areas like the Stockyards have not allowed pay on street parking, instead requiring free & plentiful off street parking, which works against street retail.

 

[RogerB]

I thought that some people were concerned about this, as it would mean the loss of a potential transit ROW for the Eglinton West LRT line.

Election promises have us living in two parallel worlds. Actual plans have require new developments in the right-of-way to leave enough space for the LRT.
The leading Mayoral candidate's plan has surface subways or a trench running through a 'vacant Richview right-of-way'. Unfortunately SmartTrack would actually need to tunnel, or use expensive concrete lined trenches through places where the right-of-way is either too narrow, difficult (401 interchange), or development blocks the corridor.
Mount Dennis is also a major problem. Last week Tory claimed SmartTrack would run on a bridge or a trench under or through Mt. Dennis.
A bridge over the Georgetown corridor and Mount Dennis is a non-starter considering that the curving 'surface subway' requires a station intended to connect with the underground Mount Dennis LRT station. Would love to hear the campaign's details on exactly where a winding alignment is supposed to trench through occupied Mount Dennis. This is not the 1950's Yonge line, a tunnel would be required.
The Eglinton alignment is big pain for little gain. Why spend billions building tunnels for a train with a frequency of at best 4 single level EMU's per hour (15 minute service all day). SmartTrack's Eglinton alignment is severely constrained by the capacity of existing shared services on the Georgetown, and Lakeshore West lines, as well as Union Station (by its earliest realistic opening date).
The low density corridor, and sprawling Mississauga office park would be better served by the drastically cheaper planned Eglinton Crosstown phase 2 proposal, whose capacity can be quickly ramped up as need arises.
Of course, the alignment's price would be significantly cheaper if the 15 min. service, (optimistic), 7.5 each direction, trains had level signalized crossings, but that doesn't fit with the Ford-like congestion rhetoric.

 

[junctionist]

The 'Upper Junction' is going in the right direction, if you consider replacing industrial jobs with auto dependent single use subdivisions & malls to be an ideal future.
The mixed use nature or the city ends abruptly at the former Stock yards, where walking becomes a tedious ordeal past blocks of lifeless town homes and places like Walmart, which treats pedestrians to the sounds and exhaust of its underground (sidewalk level) parking garage (no sidewalk entrance).
Technically, the Stockyards also has street retail (as required), but the real entrances and cash registers are at the back (front) of the store, fronting the ample free parking lots. The Stockyards does animate its private internal roads, while lining public streets like Weston Road with a block long high concrete wall.
Traffic engineers are also at fault for creating hostile arteries that are unpleasant to walk on or cross. Newer areas like the Stockyards have not allowed pay on street parking, instead requiring free & plentiful off street parking, which works against street retail.

Much of what you're talking about is the past. The Stockyards Centre is a walkable shopping centre. It replaced a factory that didn't employ many people. You can step off the streetcar and walk to a store in seconds from the sidewalk. You don't walk through parking lots or around back walls. The wall along Weston Road is unfortunate, but St. Clair is lined with storefronts. The wall isn't that bad since they broke the long block into 2 with the internal street grid that makes it easy for people in the surrounding subdivisions to walk to the stores. The Stockyards Centre is superior to the Home Depot's blank wall along St. Clair or Canadian Tire's parking lot. It is a step in the right direction. Now we're starting to see mixed-use condo development with the Lloyd Avenue project.

I think the suburban-style redevelopment of the Stockyards with big-box stores and subdivisions in the 90 and early 2000s was a regrettable mistake that created problems like congestion. But you're wrong that the Stockyards district is single-use even after the redevelopment: there's housing, retail, restaurants, auto shops, studios, offices, and several major industrial uses on the fringes. The Stockyards may be more diverse today than 50 years when it was mostly slaughterhouses.

If you really want to see something interesting, check out 500 and 530 Keele Street. A large factory is now home to dozens of startups and studios for artists. Some are messy and amateur; some are the beginnings of successful new businesses. The Canada Bread factory on Cawthra now has a craft brewery along with other commercial tenants. So does 100 Symes Road. The historic Art Deco Symes Road Incinerator is to be restored and converted to office or studio space. The Stockyards has seen the worst suburban-style redevelopment, but we're starting to see some really interesting things happening.

 

[RogerB]

But you're wrong that the Stockyards district is single-use even after the redevelopment: there's housing, retail, restaurants, auto shops, studios, offices, and several major industrial uses on the fringes. The Stockyards may be more diverse today than 50 years when it was mostly slaughterhouses.
.

Lifestyle malls are the classic lipstick on a pig. They attempt to attract the shopper looking for the authentic main street experience. Unlike real main streets (St. Clair), lifestyle malls tend to be single use, very low density, auto centric with a surplus of free on site parking (1700 spaces) and insular, with the bulk of the people found on private internal streets/ paths.

Just because a suburb contains more than one use within a larger area, does not make it mixed use. Having blocks and blocks of 100% commercial developments, across an arterial from other blocks of all residential development, is typical of zoned development.
What you look upon as a better box, I consider another major missed opportunity. It fills in another huge area, contributing to a huge oversupply of retail sprawl in an isolated sparsely populated zone, requiring customers to drive in from an ever expanding catchment area.
Expect any urbanization to occur in the few remaining blocks that have not been bought by box stores, Trinity Group or turned into townhome subdivisions.

 

[57&92]

Yes....our understanding is that it fire and construction (frame vs fireresistive) for a 4 storey structure. They are going with the cheaper frame construction that in The Ontario Building Code doesn't allow 4 storey living space.
They didn't know this when they sold to the public? Really?
Contact me Paul.....there have been apparently a number of complaints to the Building Dept already

 

[junctionist]

Lifestyle malls are the classic lipstick on a pig. They attempt to attract the shopper looking for the authentic main street experience. Unlike real main streets (St. Clair), lifestyle malls tend to be single use, very low density, auto centric with a surplus of free on site parking (1700 spaces) and insular, with the bulk of the people found on private internal streets/ paths.

People step out their doors and get off streetcars and walk to the stores at the Stockyards Centre, which isn't like what you describe. St. Clair in the Stockyards area has never had the pedestrian activity that it does now.

Just because a suburb contains more than one use within a larger area, does not make it mixed use. Having blocks and blocks of 100% commercial developments, across an arterial from other blocks of all residential development, is typical of zoned development.
What you look upon as a better box, I consider another major missed opportunity. It fills in another huge area, contributing to a huge oversupply of retail sprawl in an isolated sparsely populated zone, requiring customers to drive in from an ever expanding catchment area.
Expect any urbanization to occur in the few remaining blocks that have not been bought by box stores, Trinity Group or turned into townhome subdivisions.

It concentrates retail in a walkable area. The Stockyards district isn't a suburb; it's a fairly small urban area.

 

[PaulyC]

Hey all,

Just curious as to what everyone’s thoughts on the progress of this development?
Recently received a letter stating the new date of completion is late May 2015.
Interested to hear thoughts, do you think this development will be completed by this date based on the current progress? (if you've seen the current progress of course)

Thanks,

Paul

 

[tommygun85]

Hey all,

Just curious as to what everyone’s thoughts on the progress of this development?
Recently received a letter stating the new date of completion is late May 2015.
Interested to hear thoughts, do you think this development will be completed by this date based on the current progress? (if you've seen the current progress of course)

Thanks,

Paul

I go by fairly often to see what is going on. It looks like they are done with all of the concrete work and are now framing the units and are up to the 2nd floor levels. My guess is that they should be done by May but it could be delayed again if they are unable to finish before the winter. Best case scenario would be that they start doing the interiors during the winter with all the walls and roofs completed before then.