Toronto Eighty One Wellesley | 97.53m | 28s | Aragon Properties | Core Architects

Demolition of historic Toronto house has locals fuming

According to property records Wellspring sold the property to numbered companies. Company administrators listed include Shi Hong Zhang, and James Kan, both of Markham. Neither returned the Star’s calls.

Wong-Tam says she was powerless to stop the demolition because there’s no policy requiring the city’s building department to notify councillors or anyone when owners of a property zoned commercial apply for a building permit — as was the case for Odette House.

That’s different from a residential property, where the local councillor must be notified, Wong-Tam said.

She plans to meet with the city’s chief building official, chief planner, and city solicitor in a bid to “close that loophole’’ so a scenario like the one that ended Odette House won’t happen again.
More......http://www.thestar.com/news/article...historic-toronto-house-has-locals-fuming?bn=1

Historic Village house demolished
Ward 27 councillor wants to close a zoning loophole Ward 27 councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has blamed the City of Toronto for the sudden demolition of a historic house in the Church and Wellesley Village on Jan 18.
The wrecking ball came down on Odette House at 81 Wellesley St, an 1800s-era building that was home to the Wellspring cancer support centre for about 20 years.
“My heart is broken," says Wong-Tam. "This is difficult to swallow because it wasn't arson. It wasn't an accident.”
Wong-Tam is also angry. She says the surprise demolition has revealed a loophole that seems to give developers an opportunity to snatch properties not designated heritage, possibly turning them into condos or parking lots.
http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/Historic_Village_house_demolished-11430.aspx
 
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Register123 said:
Perhaps the community should fight tooth and nail against any sort of proposal here, tie it up as long as possible just to make it difficult for the owners to reap a profit from their actions.
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Oh we will! You can be sure of that.
 
Register123 said:
Perhaps the community should fight tooth and nail against any sort of proposal here, tie it up as long as possible just to make it difficult for the owners to reap a profit from their actions.
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what would be the point of this... just to have yet another boarded up lot on Wellesley...?
the building is already gone... hopefully it gets replaced with something tasteful.
 
MileHigh said:
what would be the point of this... just to have yet another boarded up lot on Wellesley...?
the building is already gone... hopefully it gets replaced with something tasteful.
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Yea lets reward the bastards. There wasn't even a proposal. And of course it'll be another glass crap investor tower.
 
Could someone clear this up for me:

I understand that demolition applications for 'listed' heritage properties can be 'reviewed' by Heritage Preservation Services, but does that give HPS the right to refuse a demolition permit?
 
sorry i wasnt around so could you elaborate?
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From the blog of Jennifer Smith:

"Sewell and Jacobs had a shared background as activists and community organizers, and they worked closely together even before Sewell was elected Mayor. He told a memorable story of the two trying to stop a developer from demolishing a group of houses near Dundas and Sherbourne to make way for two thirty story towers.

"A hoarding went up around the site, and I decide, my goodness, we've got to do some organizing! So we got a whole bunch of people out there on a Monday and a Tuesday and a Wednesday and a Thursday - we actually had about a hundred people out there on the street at about six-thirty in the morning so we confronted those workmen when they came, and in fact every day they went away."

"And then on Friday we again were out there, strong as ever - Jane was there, every day. And all of a sudden we look over the fence on that Friday, and we saw that in fact the workmen were beginning to tear down the porch on a house... And I turned to Jane and I said, "Jane, what do we do now, they're starting to tear down that house!"

"Well", she said, "if you're going to tear down a property in Toronto, you have to have a hoarding around it. So if we want to stop the demolition, we've got to tear down the hoarding." And I said, "Aw, Jane, now wait... now that's starting to break laws."

"Look, John" she says, "you want to stop the demolition? Tear down the hoarding."

"So I got everybody together and said, "Ok folks, were going to tear down the hoarding." We tore down the hoarding, the workmen went away, I called David in the Mayor's office who at that point was negotiating with the province to see if we could buy the site. We bought the site from the province, and that became CityCorp's very first non-profit housing project."

When they tore down the hoarding, Robert Fulford says, in his book Accidental City, "By the time the wrecking crew arrived, the houses to be demolished stood exposed to the street. Apparently the union agreement did not allow demolition workers to replace the hoardings. The houses were saved for the moment, and that temporary reprieve won by Jacobs and her fellow demonstrators eventually turned into a permanent pardon."
 
http://thetorontoblog.com/2012/06/16/development-plan-in-works-for-81-wellesley-east/

Development plan in works for 81 Wellesley East?

16 Jun 2012


Condo proposal coming? Almost six months after the contemptible demolition of an historic mansion on Wellesley Street East infuriated a city councillor and residents in the downtown Church & Wellesley neighbourhood, activity on the site suggests a development proposal for the property may finally be in the works.

For at least three days this past week, a crew and drilling machine could be seen working on different parts of the now-vacant lot at 81 Wellesley Street East. An area resident said he was told that the crew was taking soil core samples — a procedure which is often a precursor to property redevelopment.

Neighbourhood residents suspect that a developer will soon file an application with the city to erect either a condo or apartment building on the site — an application they have been expecting ever since the two buildings that once occupied the property were suddenly destroyed during the winter. Now, they’re nervously awaiting word about just how big and tall any proposed new building might be. (A city planner told me last winter that the site is suitable only for a low-rise or mid-rise building, and is not large enough to support a highrise condo tower. However, many area residents fear that a tower is exactly what’s in the pipeline.)
 
androiduk said:
Workers and a couple of backhoes on site.
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Workers and Ho's? That is news?

That strip has always had that kind of trade going on... OH!!!! Construction Workers. Now I get it. :D

Still can't believe they didn't save the house for a James-Cooperesque revival. What a grand entranceway it would have made for a future Condo Tower.
 
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open house for 81 wellesley

looks like the developer is having an open house on tues for neighbours. marriot coutyard. 7-8:30
 

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