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North York City Centre

M

Mislav

Guest
What do you guys think about North York City Centre (Yonge St. in between Sheppard and Finch)? The first few times it seemed alright but after working there for 3.5 months, I've come to realize how shallow and overly commercialized that area is. I think my main concern is that there is an artificial insertion of high rise condomiums in the middle of suburbia - you have Yonge St with a seemingly urban appearance but go one side street east or west and you'll be surrounded by bungalows. Any ideas on what can be done to urbanize the area a bit more?
 
I know what you mean, the bungalow thing is really jarring.

As for Yonge, I always have a feeling that it still has to grow into what is gradually surrounding it. It is getting there, but will it ever get to be like the stretch of Yonge between Eglinton and Bloor? (Yeah, I know that's pushing it).
 
It's still a work in progress - there's several construction sites right on Yonge and there will be more in the next few years. As bizorky says, give it a few years for the buildings and the retail to ripen. As long as development stays within the ring roads, it may always feel kind of shallow and the commercial buildings are also not as continuous as strips of Yonge farther south. Oh, and the stretch between Empress and Finch is not at all over commercialized...not yet anyway. I suspect you're working south of Empress otherwise you'd notice the glaring difference between almost non-stop chain stores and almost non-stop independent/Korean stores.
 
you have Yonge St with a seemingly urban appearance but go one side street east or west and you'll be surrounded by bungalows.
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I find that so typical of Toronto. It not only happens in North York Centre, but a lot of Yonge Street down to Bloor, and also along Bloor and Danforth heading out from Yonge-Bloor. The main street is a strip of urbanity, but once you get off of the main street it's all single family housing. You would expect more density than that along a subway line.
 
go one side street east or west and you'll be surrounded by bungalows
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True, but more and more of them are being torned down making way for luxury townhomes and behemoths.
 
Keeping the single family dwellings outside of the ring road was the trade off North York Council made with the ratepayers in return for the ability to proceed with NYCC. Personally I would have preferred that Willowdale and Senlac be the ring roads.
 
Senlac is already a "ring" road, even though it's Beecroft and Doris that are officially designated as such. Even during rush hours, going along Senlac saves an enomorous amount of time, although it gets mighty congested during the school months.
 
What I meant was for the border of NYCC to be Senlac and Willowdale rather than the current ring roads. Rezone the entire area for higher density uses. Start with townhomes at Senlac and get progressively higher and denser as you approach Yonge.

When I lived on Hounslow I used to take the Senlac bus all the time.
 
That would be a tough sell. I'd rather see Sheppard from Yonge to Senlac lined with more midrises, sort of what's happening east from the Allen.
 
Totally would have been a tough sell. Had this part of town developed in the 50's and 60's it may have grown out more like Yonge and Eglinton.

Who knows what may happen in the coming decades. No reason to think that when all of NYCC is built out that they might not try for a second ring.

Agreed to midrises on Sheppard. Finch would be a good candidate as well.
 
I find that so typical of Toronto. It not only happens in North York Centre, but a lot of Yonge Street down to Bloor, and also along Bloor and Danforth heading out from Yonge-Bloor. The main street is a strip of urbanity, but once you get off of the main street it's all single family housing. You would expect more density than that along a subway line.
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True but I find that areas like Greentown & the Annex have that neighbourhood feel. I guess it's due to the fact that the density is properly distributed where as in the NYCC you have 30-40 storey condos on one street and only a block down you'll find yourself in a maze of bungalows.
I'd rather see Sheppard from Yonge to Senlac lined with more midrises, sort of what's happening east from the Allen.
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Agreed. I prefer the idea of midrises distributed over a greater area as opposed to what I mentioned above. But there's no reason why it should only be limited to Sheppard. Ideally I would like to see some side streets do that sort of thing.
 
During the duration when I lived off Senlac a few years back, till now, Finch Ave W has had a lot of mixed mid-rise build-up in a suburban type of way (dental, medical offices, pharmacies, townhomes, etc).
 
True but considering how close they are to Finch station they could easily be 8-10 storey buildings rather than the 2-3 they are now. And for some reason they are only allowed on Finch west. They are not allowed on Finch east of Willowdale.
 
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