Just wanted to let people here know that I saw that truck doing its thing on the private parking lot, just west of Albert Standing Park. This is located SW of Beecroft Rd and Sheppard Ave W.
Does this mean anything?
Does this mean anything,... definitely,.... maybe!!!!
First of all, this whole post is just pure speculation,... and I'm sure some readers will be saying this BS has more validity than some of the regular stuff I post! Anyways,....
What we do know is a drill truck was taking soil samples throughout the lot at 4800 Yonge for about a week in early February,...each day there was 3 guys taking and testing samples with a large duffle bag full of sample testing kits (it might be the condition for a development application or land sale),... so lets say it takes a week or 2 to get all the test results in and analyzed,... assume everything looks good in that there's no major environmental cleanup required and water table level are fine,... remember subway turning tunnel takes up about a 1/3 of the property - restricting how much parking they can have on-site unless they dig really deep! Lets say everything at 4800 Yonge tested fine,... so what's next phase? Test that private parking lot on Sheppard just west of Albert Standing Park,... why?
It could be pure coincidences, that the owner of the private parking lot on Sheppard (where hand cursor is on attached photo) just west of Albert Standing Park decided to have his lot tested as well,... again, it might be condition for another development application or land sale,...
That private parking lot on Sheppard just west of Albert Standing Park is a very very interesting piece of property,.... during the previous municipal election, the property owner also owns a number of other properties along Sheppard West allowed part of the property in question to be the campaign office of the unsuccessful candidate,... who in-turn was very pro-development - endorsed high density development along Sheppard West and pro-Sheppard West Subway,... it was a very ugly dirty campaign, especially towards the end. When the yellow drill truck was there, what happened to all the cars that usually park there during the day??? Technically, that property may not be properly zoned for commercial parking,.. but it seems the property owner is letting his "friends" park there,... lots of friends,...
Anyways,... this is where it gets interesting,... there's a number of property investors who for lack of a better term,... "play monopoly" in NYCC,... some of the better monopoly players accumulate adjacent lots to build up larger parcel of land,... the lots in question seems to be of this type,... I suspect its actually consists of a few adjacent lots along Sheppard immediately west of Albert Standing Park and also a few adjacent lots on Bogert as well. Once they manage to accumulate a decent size parcel of land they could develop on that land themselves or usually they just sell to a big developer. The big developer could acquire those large lot for development or for Section 37 community benefit purposes.
Another property investor brought up most of the west side of Bonnington,... this is where Doris Avenue service road could be extended south of Sheppard to Avondale. Property investor has offered to sell to city but city has refused to buy at that price,.. so property investor/developer proposing a development to force the city hand,... city has already acquired a couple of properties on Bonnington as part of Section 37 from HullmarkCentre.
Anyways,... If it's the same truck doing the drilling and testing,... it's probably the same company hiring them,.. at two different but relatively close sites. It's not likely the developer will develop a building at 4800 Yonge that somehow goes through the Nestle Building and over Beecroft Road and over Albert Standing Park to another new building on the site in question,... though that would be an interesting development that'll make EmeraldPark look normal!
In addition, that lot west of Albert Standing Park is west of Beecroft and thus outside of the North York Secondary Plan area,... thus, no large 100m high development allowed,... only 4-5 storey max on Sheppard West. Thus, likely usage there is Section 37 parkland "donation". It's likely that this lot would be used as the 4800 Yonge Street development's Section 37 community benefit "donation" to the city for park land expansion of the existing Albert Standing Park.
When Nestle Building was built in early 1990's, Section 37 benefits included such land "donation" for the extension of Beecroft Road south of Sheppard to Poyntz and creation of Albert Standing Park, closing off Bogert Avenue between Beecroft & Frizzle Rd along with Frizzle Rd between Bogert & Sheppard and converting those land to parkland (see aerial map from 1983 VS 1992 when Nestle building under construction). As such, Lansing United Church became,... the church-in-the-park. The current Albert Standing Park really acts as a parkette instead of a park,... no room for children playground,... just sitting area and water fountains - one has been disabled and is now a large growing pot! Note: Albert Standing Park is just on the other side of Beecroft Road from the Nestle building development, so office workers from Nestle building can enjoy this Section 37 benefit as well as the local community.
1983
http://jpeg2000.eloquent-systems.com/toronto.html?image=ser12/s0012_fl1983_it0050n.jp2
1992
http://jpeg2000.eloquent-systems.com/toronto.html?image=ser12/s0012_fl1992_it0050n.jp2
In addition, the EmeraldPark development Section 37 includes rebuild of Lansing United Church (just south of Albert Standing Park) to include Community Centre facilities as part of density and height transfer,.... again, this Section 37 benefit at Lansing United Church is just on the other side of Beecroft Road from the EmeraldPark development.
Will the Section 37 benefits for 4800 Yonge Street also be just on the other side of Beecroft Road?,... as in an expansion of Albert Standing Park???
So why drilling and testing soil at both sites? 4800 Yonge drilling for water table to figure our how deep parking level could go and how many parking spots economically (so they can determine office VS condo mix) and drilling at potential Section 37 site west of Albert Standing Park because city certainly don't want land requiring expensive environmental cleanup.
The OMERS land at 4800 Yonge was originally to be Nestle Building twin tower and up-zoned for commercial office but stalled and the project did not proceed. If in fact the developer of 4800 Yonge is now preparing Section 37 benefit package for the city, is that Section 37 package for building an office tower as originally planned and zoned for OR do they require further up-zoning? Keep in mind, Section 37 community benefits are only required when development requires zoning changes. The more zoning changes the more section 37 benefits.
Keep in mind,... usually when developer goes to City Planning with development application,... the city will determine the Section 37 benefits it wants. So has the 4800 Yonge developer already approached city planning,... or are they preparing Section 37 proposal based on the original Nestle Twin Towers from more than 20 years ago?
Does this mean anything,... definitely,... maybe more than just maybe! We're just little ants watching the big boys play monopoly,....