St. Lawrence Market makeover urged
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/523585
St. Lawrence Market makeover urged
TheStar.com - GTA - St. Lawrence Market makeover urged
TIME FOR CHANGE
Proposed timeline:
2009: Design competition
2010: North Market is demolished; parking garage construction begins; farmers move to temporary location
2013: Building is completed
2014: Temporary market is turned into city park
Proposed four-storey building would replace lacklustre North Market if council approves plan
October 24, 2008
Patti Winsa
Staff reporter
The bunker-like structure that has served as the northern half of the St. Lawrence Market for four decades may soon be replaced by a grand new building that's finally a fitting match for its southern neighbour.
City staff are recommending a redevelopment plan for the St. Lawrence Market North at Front and Jarvis Sts. that includes a new four-storey building with two levels of underground parking. The first floor, reserved for the farmers' market on Saturday and the antique market on Sunday, will be available for other markets, or even exhibits, the rest of the week.
A second-floor mezzanine, as well as the third and fourth floors, will consolidate the city's traffic courts from their current locations in Old City Hall and University Ave.
Council will vote on the plan in early December if the city's executive committee endorses the proposal when it meets next month. Projected costs won't be disclosed publicly until then.
The new building will be a "good anchor for one of the city's most important historical precincts," says Councillor Pam McConnell.
"It's important that we get it right," adds McConnell, who represents the area (Toronto Centre Rosedale) and sat on the committee that created the development plan. "That's why five years of planning and debating and financing have gone on."
Formed at the request of council, the committee included representatives from the North, South and antique markets, the local BIA, the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association and an arm's-long-list of city staff.
McConnell says the current North Market building "has come to its functional end." Built in 1968 as the market's temporary home, the building has improper drainage and washrooms that need updating. Electrical cords hang from the ceiling.
If redevelopment is approved, the city will launch an architectural competition in January. An independent jury will choose the winner, a process that could be completed in three months.
Vendors will be moved to a temporary market behind the South Market in what is now a parking lot.
One of the most contentious debates for the committee was parking, which took years to resolve. Members couldn't agree on how traffic should enter or leave the new parking garage, which the Toronto Parking Authority has put money aside to build. "It's not a question of the parking, but that the access to the parking could affect residents," says Jorge Carvalho, supervisor of the St. Lawrence Complex, which includes St. Lawrence Hall and the North and South Markets. "If you live right next door to the entrance to a parking lot, you don't like it."
Members finally agreed that access to and from the garage would be off Jarvis.
The new garage will also help the South Market, a "destination market," says Carvalho. "When the market lost the parking lots around it (to development), it really affected business significantly." The market proposal was also held up by an 11th-hour bid by local developer Paul Oberman, who owns property on the southwest corner of Front and Market Sts. and who would like to build a large LCBO outlet similar to the one at Summerhill. But parking issues have also hindered redevelopment in that corner.
Oberman proposed leasing the entire market complex for 99 years and building a new two-storey building. The developer also discussed jacking up the South Market to build a parking garage underneath.
McConnell says she was willing to look at any proposals that would improve the complex, but in the end city staff rejected the plan. "Ninety-nine years is a long time," she says. "Essentially it would have meant privatization."
