Toronto Bloor Street Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Bloor-Yorkville BIA | architectsAlliance

[JasonParis]

I hope they wait until after TIFF to start ripping up Bloor. Good news anyway!

The Bloor-Yorkville B.I.A.'s jurisdiction is from Church on the east to Avenue Rd on the west. So I'd imagine the project will include Bloor from Avenue Rd to Church St.

For the record, here's a B.I.A. map...

 

[drummer]

Thanks for the map.
I read somewhere construction would start Fall 2007 and Bazil International (1 Bloor East) would also donate 2 mil $ to help this project.

 

[isaidso]

This is what was proposed for Bloor:

Not bad, but Canadian cities need evergreens too. Toronto in the winter looks so much worse than summer and it's not just the cold and gloomy skies. The biggest difference is the complete absence of trees in bloom. No flowers and no greenery.

I'm not suggesting scrapping deciduous trees and flowers, but to compliment them with a dense line of evergreens. In the dead of winter, they'd be a welcome sight.

Lots of sculpture, public art, more attractive street lighting, and perhaps water features should be part of the refurbishment. Trees, flower beds, and resurfaced sidewalks are only part of the solution. I realize the issue the BIA would have with public seating such as benches, but that massive rock in Yorkville is an interesting compromise.

 

[jozl]

I think this proposal is at least seven years old I wonder if it's been reworked. It would be nice if there were sections in T.O. that had brightly colored retractable awnings averhanging the sidewalks. We have such a long winter yet our street scapes and walkways are designed as if we have the same climate as a southern city. Gimme shelter!
That said, I've been looking forward to the Bloor Street improvement for a long time.

 

[casaguy]

Wanted to dust off this thread...

Has any work actually been done yet?

From the aA website:

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The stretch of Bloor Street West between Church Street and Avenue Road is the city’s premier shopping district. The Bloor-Yorkville district is also home to a collection of the city’s best hotels, which will soon include another aA project, the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences. Over the past four years, the district has witnessed the restoration and expansion of several cherished cultural institutions. The Bloor Street Transformation will provide a much-needed upgrade to the quality of public space in the Bloor-Yorkville precinct, in keeping with its cultural and economic stature.

Improvements include widened granite sidewalks, public art, new lighting and street furnishings, and continuous planting areas with mature trees, shrubs and flowers in raised beds. Project design was completed in joint venture with Brown + Storey Architects. Construction begins in 2007, for completion in 2009.

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^I somehow doubt once the 1 Bloor retailers go in they'll want those trees covering up their signage.

^Someone must have an idea about how to dress up that huge bare wall on the Bay.

 

[299 bloor call control.]

i heard they were starting after the film fest? i got a notice in my apartment about them commencing sewer work between avenue and church int he next couple weeks... i assume this is timed with the streetscape improvements

 

[khris]

I love the water fountain. And those huge trees in front of Holt's. Those will cost A LOT of money if they are actually going to buy them mature.

 

[Mystery White Boy]

They need trees all over downtown. That's what makes New York City so great. There are trees eveywhere. And large, healthy ones. Ours are a joke. They're dying or dead and are too small.

 

[adma]

It takes time to create "large, healthy" trees. And droughtlike weather conditions help explain the current prepondrance of dead/dying/too-small (and the younger they are, the weaker they are to withstand a drought)

 

[khris]

Well it is hard to plant trees above a subway line, so I'm not sure how they're doing that.

 

[lordmandeep]

They need trees all over downtown. That's what makes New York City so great. There are trees eveywhere. And large, healthy ones. Ours are a joke. They're dying or dead and are too small.
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you did not go to NYC or did not go south of 42nd street or outside midtown...

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Late this week there is blue fencing up along the curb on the south side of Bloor street from about Balumuto street all the way over to Avenue Road. Don't know what that's all about, could be the beginning of construction in the south lane?

 

[Mystery White Boy]

you did not go to NYC or did not go south of 42nd street or outside midtown...

I went all over. They have trees everywhere. In Uptown they're larger and there are more of them but they still have trees on basically ever street and various species. Even Ginkos.

 

[Mystery White Boy]

It takes time to create "large, healthy" trees. And droughtlike weather conditions help explain the current prepondrance of dead/dying/too-small (and the younger they are, the weaker they are to withstand a drought)

They're also not planted in good foundations and are neglected.

 

[salvius]

I went all over. They have trees everywhere. In Uptown they're larger and there are more of them but they still have trees on basically ever street and various species. Even Ginkos.

I want pictures. I'm a regular visitor to NYC, and I cannot, for the life of me, imagine where this wonderful tree cover downtown is.