WaterGarden (Yonge St. & Arnold Ave, Minto, 6s, P+S)

[Klieg]

Apparently Minto is planning to build a 6-storey condo just north of Yonge Street & Arnold Avenue in Thornhill. It looks like they'll be using the old Mitsubishi dealership as a sales office.

I'm not sure if the Mr. Lube on the corner will be staying or not, but the Thornhill Village Plaza to the north will be torn down as part of this development.

It'll be interesting to see what this building will look like, as it's going to be right in the middle of "Historic Olde Thornhill". As such, the developers would probably have had to make some design concessions to help it blend into its surroundings.

Here are some pics I took of the site:

Looking West on Yonge


Future Sales Office Behind Mr. Lube


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Thornhill Village Plaza

[Towered]

What a depressing area.

[renvel]

It should be nice addition to the area though...

[Edward Skira]

What a depressing area.

Perhaps along this stretch of Yonge but most of the area behind is quite wealthy.

[junctionist]

What a depressing area.

To me, it looks like banal suburbia. However, when I think of Yonge Street, the name evokes a street that's consistently urban with buildings built right up to the sidewalks even in North York. Here it looks like suburban arterial x, which is not the image that usually comes to mind. But in really, it's fully expected in the suburban context.

[taal]

To me, it looks like banal suburbia. However, when I think of Yonge Street, the name evokes a street that's consistently urban with buildings built right up to the sidewalks even in North York. Here it looks like suburban arterial x, which is not the image that usually comes to mind. But in really, it's fully expected in the suburban context.

Yes north of Finch (just about) that changes to a more typical suburban setup. But it's changing, slowly, overtime. In Toronto, a couple projects just north of finch are pushing NYCC up a little.
World on Yonge (massive development under construction now) a little north of steeles. Hopefully we'll see a lot more, and we know of the large proposal at Hi-way. What I'd really like to see is Toronto develop many of the strip malls between Finch and Steeles - and completely redevelop centerpoint mall.

[investican]

What a depressing area.

This area is "Olde Thornhill". The area is very wealthy. I spend everyday driving or stopping at locations on yonge from finch to hwy 7 and this part of yonge has been the only party without anything major--except for World On Yonge and there was a 3 year battle for the rezoning of these properties which when did, was sold to Minto for 13.700.000$ it also includes a parcel on Arnold Ave which will have townhomes snuck between a custom home and the back of the former (2 month) Kia Dealership[purchased for 3.000.000$ about a year ago] and Mr. Lube.

I've been waiting for the acquisition and re-development of the Tim Hortons plaza @ Yonge/John with the small house/office building adjacent it, for quite some time.

--And as a tidbit, theres a BELL Building on Yonge St across from the Tim Hortons building that just seems to be such a bastard of a location--as with the one on Finch Ave, just east of Yonge St--

[CN Tower]

What a depressing area.

What an ignorant comment.

This project is a welcome addition to this empty strip of an otherwise highly desirable neighborhood.

[Klieg]

It's worth pointing out that there are a number of mid-highrise buildings along this stretch of Yonge that have been there for years, some featuring the much-coveted "retail at grade", so it's not all decaying strip-malls in the area. There have been multiple proposals to redevelop the Yonge/Arnold site, but none of them went anywhere (until now, I guess).

[Towered]

I don't know the area at all - my impression was based entirely on the pictures that were posted, which did indeed show a depressing stretch of Yonge, whether or not the areas behind it are wealthy or not. Streetscapes like that can't be re-developed quickly enough.

[Klieg]

Looks like the architect for this project is Page & Steele. In other news, the "Mr. Lube" and former car dealership will not be part of the building site (which is odd, since Minto's using the dealership for a sales office, but I digress).

Here's Minto's proposal for the site:

[NYk Drne]

I drive by this area daily, had noticed the sign for the development, but did not pay much attention until now.

Further to the discussions in April, just to the south there was the development at Yonge and Clarke, stacked townhouse condos on the top of retail. In the 90's when it was built much was made of "new urbanism" for this development. I forget the name of the project, but at the time a lot was made of the retail-residential combination. It was considered to be quite innovative. Arnold Avenue is a couple of blocks to the north of that development.

West of Yonge along Arnold there are million-dollar plus homes that look like transplants form Forest Hill or Yonge south of 401 and as Investican pointed out, Olde Thornhill is just north of all of this.

[Disparishun]

Right. This site is at the southernmost boundary of the Old-Thornhill dead zone in which development has been highly restricted. There are the Skyrise twin 20-storeys at the southeast corner of Yonge and Clark, then the mixed res-retail strip that runs halfway up, until it peters out at a park and Thornhill P.S., which serves as the buffer for Arnold which then has the strip mall making way for the WaterGarden on the north side.

It's hard not to think that the Mr. Lube is being hung onto until they think they can do something with it. Just another part of the giant land bank that the various car dealerships and so on seem to constitute running north along Yonge from Drury a little bit, but especially from Steeles, on the Vaughan (west) side. Compare to the trend towards seniors' condos all along Steeles' Vaughan (north) side, wherever there aren't strip malls -- although unfortunately there is no connectivity between them.

[investican]

The parcel's that Minto purchased was bought after approvals.
The Ex-Car Dealership--then turned into a kia dealership, for like a month--was purchased by another party prior to Minto purchasing the property.
The collapse of the new Kia dealership's business plan was sort of a blessing for Minto. Any car dealership in here doesn't last long so Minto would have a sales office adjacent to their site.
As for the Mr. Lube location + the former Kia/now sales office site will probably be a second phase of this development--whether or not its Minto or someone else.

[Edward Skira]

I forget the name of the project, but at the time a lot was made of the retail-residential combination.

I believe it was called Central Park due to the fact a small park is found in the middle of the development.