Toronto's waterfront reimagined

[Eug]

For the past several years, Toronto real-estate developer Peter Freed has been watching the revitalization of the city’s inner harbour inch slowly forward, and he has not liked much that’s happening by the water’s edge. “It’s a typical, boring, Canadian version of what could be,†he told me. “There’s nothing earth-shattering about it, nothing globally impressive about it.â€

But unlike most Torontonians who dislike the painstaking handiwork of Waterfront Toronto – that’s the Crown corporation overseeing the renewal of the industrial harbour lands – Mr. Freed has taken the time to contribute something new to the discussion of the inner shoreline’s redesign.

His idea, unveiled last week, is grandiose. It’s more extravagant than anything proposed so far by the urban planners and architects working for Waterfront Toronto. And it’s certainly the most unusual harbourfront scheme anybody’s come up with since local people began to think about uniting the city and Lake Ontario 200 years ago.

Mr. Freed suggests throwing a linear green park over the railway corridor that runs across inner-city Toronto (not a bad notion, in my view). This park, with its biking, jogging and rollerblading paths, would then connect, probably at the foot of Bathurst Street – this is where the proposal gets interesting – with an immense boardwalk jutting out into the harbour just east of the island airport. The boardwalk, perhaps 50 feet wide, would bend around the harbour in a great arc, meeting the linear park again somewhere on the east side of downtown. (Mr. Freed hasn’t decided where this eastern connection might take place.)

 

[andomano]

I see a few problems;
people may not be willing to walk the distance to get to the patios and restaurants.
no mention of ferry access to the islands?
people near the end of the runway may get an unexpected hair cut by the q400s.

 

[Archivist]

I'm also much less impressed than JBM is by the scheme. Logistical considerations aside, as depicted, it would be a long, hot and fairly uninteresting walk along this pier - and where, exactly, does it connect to the islands? Freed indicates it would touch the islands at various points along the way, but the illustration doesn't show this.

Can you imagine walking after an event with, say, 40,000 other people all the way along the boardwalk from the entertainment complex to the foot of Bathurst at 10:00 pm on a summer night suddenly turned chilly? In shorts and sandals because it was warm at 5:00 when you dressed for the event? Then waiting for a streetcar in the crowds for 40 minutes? Can you say "I'm never going out there again unless it's at gunpoint?".

I'm more intrigued by the greenspace over the railway tracks - a nice diversion from the also-silly decking the Gardiner ideas we've had recently.

 

[Eug]

Yeah, the main part I like is the covering of the railroad tracks.

Well, maybe also some sort of pedestrian connection to the island, including bike lanes. I'm not sure why it'd have to be an arc though.

 

[yyzer]

some of JBM's article is missing.....

In this vision, the pedestrian walkway out into the water is supplied with restaurants, cafés and places for picnicking. At the point where the arc swings closest to the Toronto Islands and farthest from the mainland, Mr. Freed foresees “a huge entertainment space ... for symphonies, concerts."

"Statue-of-Liberty-size statues of people from all races and cultures, from Toronto’s past or whatever” stand in the water near the concert podium. “This is the only way for Toronto to take full ownership of its waterfront, by putting you right in the bay,” Mr. Freed said. “It doesn’t have to be overwhelmed with programming. It could be nice places to eat, walk, run, sit down and enjoy the view.”

Also in this scenario, the Toronto Islands would no longer be accessible only by the ferry and water taxis that run from the foot of Yonge Street. The boardwalk, Mr. Freed said, could touch the islands at various points, opening foot and cycling traffic from the mainland for the first time in more than a century.

Mr. Freed has not presented his idea to city officials or to anyone at Waterfront Toronto, nor has he sat through any of the intense public planning sessions that have been going on throughout most of the past decade. “This is a fresh concept that has been in my head,” he said, “and I thought we could throw it out there for some debate, to see if it can catch wind with the forces that be.”

The developer has anticipated some immediate objections to his plan – the way it would seem to block the passage of the island ferry, for example, and interfere with the free manoeuvring of pleasure craft in and out of the harbour and commercial shipping to the Redpath Sugar refinery. His reply: The boardwalk would rise at its western and eastern extremities to allow boats to pass unobstructed, and other accommodations would be made for Great Lakes ships. “There is nothing that could not be worked out here. People flew to the moon in a space ship, so I’m sure we could figure out how to get a ship or two in and out of the sugar plant. If we can’t we should all be embarrassed.”

My own problems with this controversial scheme include all the ones I just mentioned, plus an aesthetic consideration. The small lagoon framed by the archipelago of islands and the dense fabric of the downtown towers is, as it stands, one of Toronto’s most attractive natural features. I can’t see how filling it with an enormous boardwalk and with towering statues would enhance the beauty of this expanse of water or the already fine views of the city from the islands.

Logistics and aesthetics aside, however, the notable thing about Mr. Freed’s proposal is that a private citizen, on his own initiative, took the trouble to make it. We should hope that other people in the city will follow his lead, and launch similarly ambitious waterfront ideas into the public debate about what’s to become of Toronto’s Lake Ontario edge.

 

[Tewder]

The one element I do like is the round central 'island'. It would be fine without the boardwalk as a monumental statue/fountain with light show. It would provide something to look at at night and would be a visual focus for the waterfront/inner island area.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

There isn't realy anything THAT new about this proposal - various elements has cropped up in the West8/DTAH; Foster + Partners Central Waterfron Competition schemes. Remember the Maple Leaf floating deck in the middle of the harbour? Or the "sail towers" linked by extra long boardwalks?

Having a monumental fountain a la Lake Geneva is nice, but it is probably something best seen from the shore than up close and personal. Personally I am more interested in having a continuous high quality boardwalk/bridges linking both ends of the Toronto Islands to mainland.

AoD

 

[bAuHaUs]

How about something like this...connect all of the new islands with ped bridges...almost like Venice....the outer islands will protect the inner harbour activity.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Or to push the idea even futher - instead of having a stand alone boardwark "arc" - why now have it close to the inner edge of the islands, connected to "floating" houses, commercial and public facilities that radiate towards the mainland off that circulation spline?

AoD

 

[Urban Shocker]

Spring has sprung. The most hare-brained self-promotion since Les Klein's plan to put a linear park atop the Gardiner expressway.

A remaindered design from the let's-be-like-Dubai era?

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Absolutely anything other than boats that blocks the view from the water's edge to the leafy islands is an absolutely terrible idea.

 

[GraphicMatt]

These sorts of man-made structures in the middle of the lake would make more sense if we didn't already have some pretty kickass manmade islands in the middle of the lake.

It is definitely time for pedestrian access to the island, though.

 

[wyliepoon]

Those renderings remind me somewhat of the proposed over-engineering of the Lake Michigan lakefront in Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago in 1909. Check out that arcing breakwater.

*****

I'm not a big fan of this (Toronto) proposal. The solution to Freed's perceived problem of a boring central waterfront is to fix up the current waterfront, and not to create a whole new waterfront that, for various reasons noted above, most likely will result in failure. I personally think that the Inner Harbour should be off limits to any development, commercial, recreational, or otherwise.

For the past several years, Toronto real-estate developer Peter Freed has been watching the revitalization of the city’s inner harbour inch slowly forward, and he has not liked much that’s happening by the water’s edge. “It’s a typical, boring, Canadian version of what could be,” he told me. “There’s nothing earth-shattering about it, nothing globally impressive about it.”

Someone who calls the central waterfront "boring" has clearly not seen the waterfront on a nice summer weekend or evening, and is ignorant of new and upcoming developments along the waterfront.

 

[Observer Walt]

Just plain weird!! I would not have expected this from Freed, who has contributed so much to the city.

 

[urbandreamer]

He's trying to sell more condos. Good front page Globe real estate press.