wyliepoon
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Hey, City Hall, uphere!
Adam McDowell
National Post
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The city, as we've seen in the past couple of weeks, has a growing appetite for market-style alternatives to grocery stores.
First we learned City Hall has begun to approach market stall operators with the idea of setting up a mini-St. Lawrence Market in Union Station (it's just one of many suggestions now in circulation for revitalizing the city's rail hub). Gloria Lindsay Luby, the city councillor sowing the idea at City Hall, said she was inspired by New York's Grand Central Station, which includes space for 13 high-end food retailers that hawk fresh victuals to commuters. "There was lovely fish," Luby said. "We could transfer part of the activity from St. Lawrence Market to Union Station, so people could grab fresh fish on their way home."
Then on Tuesday, a $55-million plan to remake the Don Valley Brick Works included a space for an organic market (as well as a new Jamie Kennedy restaurant).
These are great ideas. The slow food movement is building fast, and Torontonians' hunger for fresher food can only be expected to grow in future years.
So why not think bigger? How about another St. Lawrence-calibre market at the southwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton -- now the site of an ugly, decaying and disused TTC bus terminal. The transit commission owns the land, and it should be issuing a request for proposals regarding its redevelopment next year.
Today, residents of the bustling intersection are faced with a single choice for groceries on the commute home: a crowded, overstrained Dominion in the Yonge Eglinton Centre. Several condo highrises are either planned or under construction within a few hundred metres of the site. The new residents will bring their bellies with them, and the strain on Dominion will only get worse.
The Yonge-Eglinton Centre Review, a 2006 draft study from the city's planning division, suggested the corner be used for residential or commercial development with street frontage no higher than six storeys. The diagrams show towers sitting atop a podium. A market would fit nicely within the podium, and the developer would still have plenty of floors reserved for condos and/or professional offices.
This scheme has the endorsement of those who worked on the study. "I think that's an interesting idea," says James Parakh, a senior urban designer with the city. "The mix of uses is something that would be supported by the plan." Project manager Joe Nanos enthuses, "I think it's a great idea." Furthermore, the planners suggested a market could be set up at the abandoned terminal as an interim use. North Toronto, lovely fish could be closer than you think.
Hey, City Hall, uphere!
Adam McDowell
National Post
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The city, as we've seen in the past couple of weeks, has a growing appetite for market-style alternatives to grocery stores.
First we learned City Hall has begun to approach market stall operators with the idea of setting up a mini-St. Lawrence Market in Union Station (it's just one of many suggestions now in circulation for revitalizing the city's rail hub). Gloria Lindsay Luby, the city councillor sowing the idea at City Hall, said she was inspired by New York's Grand Central Station, which includes space for 13 high-end food retailers that hawk fresh victuals to commuters. "There was lovely fish," Luby said. "We could transfer part of the activity from St. Lawrence Market to Union Station, so people could grab fresh fish on their way home."
Then on Tuesday, a $55-million plan to remake the Don Valley Brick Works included a space for an organic market (as well as a new Jamie Kennedy restaurant).
These are great ideas. The slow food movement is building fast, and Torontonians' hunger for fresher food can only be expected to grow in future years.
So why not think bigger? How about another St. Lawrence-calibre market at the southwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton -- now the site of an ugly, decaying and disused TTC bus terminal. The transit commission owns the land, and it should be issuing a request for proposals regarding its redevelopment next year.
Today, residents of the bustling intersection are faced with a single choice for groceries on the commute home: a crowded, overstrained Dominion in the Yonge Eglinton Centre. Several condo highrises are either planned or under construction within a few hundred metres of the site. The new residents will bring their bellies with them, and the strain on Dominion will only get worse.
The Yonge-Eglinton Centre Review, a 2006 draft study from the city's planning division, suggested the corner be used for residential or commercial development with street frontage no higher than six storeys. The diagrams show towers sitting atop a podium. A market would fit nicely within the podium, and the developer would still have plenty of floors reserved for condos and/or professional offices.
This scheme has the endorsement of those who worked on the study. "I think that's an interesting idea," says James Parakh, a senior urban designer with the city. "The mix of uses is something that would be supported by the plan." Project manager Joe Nanos enthuses, "I think it's a great idea." Furthermore, the planners suggested a market could be set up at the abandoned terminal as an interim use. North Toronto, lovely fish could be closer than you think.