Toronto Emerald Park Condos | 128.92m | 40s | Bazis | Rosario Varacalli

[Edward Skira]

Thanks for the info and welcome to the forum @constructo

 

[Bill123]

@pipolchap theres food to eat now, Rico Food has opened

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

And now the rest of the story. The Poyntz Ave. entrance connection from Emerald Park to the subway is being constructed by Bazis Inc., not the TTC. As part of this development, Bazis removed an existing open TTC stairway entrance and constructed a direct pedestrian entrance, connecting the development and the subway station. The construction of the main development commenced in 2011 and the demolition of the open TTC stairway entrance occurred in 2014.

The delays in completing the tunnel connection are a result of the developer experiencing delays in securing a road occupancy permit from the City to construct the tunnel connection within the Yonge Street right-of-way, slowdowns in construction including installation of conduits within the subway station (work that needs to be scheduled during TTC non-operating hours), and most recently the developer has encountered issues with their consultants regarding the installation of the ventilation damper in place of the open stairway. This damper will form part of the ventilation system for the station.

The developer expects the connection should be open by the end of October 2016. The customer information signs in the station have been updated to show this date. I'll believe an October opening when I see it or new signs will go up stating an early 2017 opening. Good work, Bazis. A 9 month project now taking over 2 years.

TTC is providing support to the developer to help get this entrance open.

There's really only so much that can be blamed on city staff; yes, city departments tends to be under-staff which cause longer processing time but all the other developers in NorthYorkCentre goes through the same thing,... yet, their delivery and workmanship isn't compromised like at EmeraldPark. Since Bazis EmeraldPark and Tridel HullmarkCentre (right across Yonge Street) went through all their sales, development proposal, approval, construction, similar delivery dates, etc,.. at about the same time; I've always compared the progress of Bazis EmeraldPark to Tridel HullmarkCentre.

So speaking of pedestrian subway tunnel,... Tridel HullmarkCentre SouthTower was delivered on time in November 2013, used part of previous pedestrian subway tunnel and new part didn't require road lane closure,... Tridel HullmarkCentre NorthTower required pedestrian subway tunnel which had to be redesigned likely because original was too close to the northbound Yonge to eastbound Sheppard subway turning tunnel,... since this pedestrian tunnel is at the base of the NorthTower, construction of the NorthTower was delayed for a year to November 2014 and yet they completed their larger project way before Bazis EmeraldPark (WestTower opened in March 2015 but retail and office not really completed until Spring 2016)

EmeraldPark was basically Bazis' first major project in Canada, yes, they did CrystalBlu previously but that little condo was hardly a success nor their following 1 Bloor East project (forced to sell land and lost about $20+million),... EmeraldPark was Bazis first mix-use project in Toronto involving retail mall, office component, unconventional skinny leaning towers and pedestrian subway tunnels,.... and for the stuff they never built before in Canada, they seem to be learning as they went,.. not just layout and design but also city standards. Most city staff I talked to absolutely hated having to work with Bazis on EmeraldPark,... why? Bazis was constantly cutting corner and redesigning everything at the last minute,.... including stuff that required CommitteeOfAdjustment zoning changes,... like all those zoning changes for the Metro supermarket space and loading docks in January 2015 when delivery was supposed to be in Fall 2015,... gee, I wonder how they missed that delivery!
- Construction up to 8th floor then realized, the WestTower has about 5 feet of extra allowable height for residential (somebody at Bazis can't do simple math!),... can't squeeze in another floor without cutting a couple of inches off everyone's ceiling height,... but hey, let's cut about 8" off everyone's ceiling height from 8th floor to top so Bazis could squeeze in not 1 but 2 extra floors of profit,... err, I mean condos.
- 1st floor retail food court in west end had it's washroom facilities shrunk down to 1 toilet due to a redesign to expand the loading docks; now the public washrooms are in the east end hidden "between" the 1st and 2nd floor in the not visible mezzanine level which is only accessible by elevators and emergency stairway,... good luck finding the washroom when you have to go!
- first site plan shows original design for 1st floor layout, second shows results,... food court washroom became loading docks, Yonge Street frontage stores elongated, TTC entrance elevator and stairs layout switched around,....

In hindsight, I would say the old street-level stairway entrance was closed too early, it likely could have been kept operational if the new pedestrian subway tunnel was built in two phase, first connection to EmeraldPark and second phase as replacing the street-level stairway. But by far the most fustrating part is walking by everyday for the last 2.5 years of closure and 90% of the time seeing absolutely nobody on-site working on the subway entrance or pedestrian tunnel.

From the photos LilianChan (and how does she keep on coming up with these blueprints,... I'm afraid to ask!) posted a couple weeks ago and what I see today (top of steps of stairs now have rubber safety steps), everything looks finished,... just needs a bit of cleaning. This is basically the same situation Tridel HullmarkCentre was in for both their SouthTower and NorthTower entrances,.... and then the TTC comes in for their final inspection,.... and it'll takes another 6 months to satisfy the TTC,.. thus, I'm still comfortable with my prediction for February 2017 opening.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

The underground TTC pedestrian tunnel under the city right of way seems to have built to TTC specification. The component on EmeraldPark property apparently didn't have to be built to TTC specs,.... but the the long term durability of dry wall only at a subway entrance is highly questionable. Yes, it's cheap and so is Bazis,... but over the long run, the constant repair and closure for constant repair won't benefit the developer or the community at all.

Anyways, here are images of the "TTC Subway Entrance" at GibsonSquare,... note: it's not even a real TTC Subway entrance it's just a connection from their street-level to P1 parking level where they will have a direct connection (under construction now) to NorthYorkCityCentre which already has direct connection to TTC NorthYorkCentre subway station,... this isn't a traditional TTC style entrance but it looks classy and durable - post# 420 on GibsonSquare thread
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...es-rafael-bigauskas.4157/page-28#post-1133257

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

The subway connection continues to be moving at a snail’s pace. Since the last update, they’ve managed to tile a few floors and stairs (still not complete), add the steel vent cage in the subway tunnel, and install a few signs. I don’t know about anyone else, but the tiles their using in Emerald Park are hideous

Hmmm,... the EmeraldPark TTC subway entrance funky grey tiles look familiar,.... now, where have I seen them before,.....

Ahhh,... yes, that's right,... inside the GibsonSquare pedestrian entrance for their P1 public parking level,.... which will act as a "subway entrance" since it their P1 parking level will have pedestrian tunnel (under construction) connection to NorthYorkCityCentre which has direct TTC subway connection for NorthYorkCentre station.
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...es-rafael-bigauskas.4157/page-28#post-1133257

I wonder if they got the same contractor/designer, or they just shop at the same Tiles-R-Us store,.... or were these tiles design recommended by CityPlanning Urban designers or something,....

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Photos from last week of LansingUnitedChurch Community Centre construction,... directly west of EmeraldPark and being paid for by some of the Section37 Community Benefit money from EmeraldPark. Tentative completion date of the city-church community centre is in 6 months - April 2017. Then they'll focus on completion of the renovation of the church sanctuary - some of which has already started.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Work progress on the Emerald Park subway connection is approaching the speed of light. Nothing happens for two weeks. Someone shows up and puts frog tape on. Nothing happens for the next week. Someone shows up and paints the walls. Nothing happens for the next two weeks... It has pretty much been like this ever since they started digging.

In any case, did anyone figure out the exact reason for why the LCBO did not end up serving cold beer ?

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Work progress on the Emerald Park subway connection is approaching the speed of light. Nothing happens for two weeks. Someone shows up and puts frog tape on. Nothing happens for the next week. Someone shows up and paints the walls. Nothing happens for the next two weeks... It has pretty much been like this ever since they started digging.

In any case, did anyone figure out the exact reason for why the LCBO did not end up serving cold beer ?

Why are you looking for a cold can of beer? Did you recently toss yours away???? At a Blue Jays game???? Enquiring minds want to know! ;p

Metro owns the entire 2nd floor and LCBO store which is on 2nd floor with Yonge frontage was to be operated by Metro as an enclosed market station format; thus, if Metro is even still in the picture, their future position on EmeraldPark is clearly in doubt and now seems to be reduced to bailing or renting out (or maybe even whatever legal actions they can take against the developer),... the weird part about the supermarket area is where you go up the escalator and expect to see huge rolling doors that opens to the supermarket area,.... there's no door, it's just built as a huge wall - which shows they don't expect to open anything there anytime soon,..... and until there's a clearer picture the LCBO store (which has folding metal doors) remain stalled,... even though the LCBO store has been fully constructed since Spring 2015,.... just no stock and staff.

EmeraldPark LCBO still not on LCBO list of opening soon stores which list store opening 3 months out,... thus it won't be open this year and will miss this busy holiday season. With state of Metro at EmeraldPark, the LCBO store will likely miss next year's holiday season too.
http://www.doingbusinesswithlcbo.com/shared/storeopenings/FutureStoresMap.shtml

 

[WillTo]

I don't understand this food court.

There are 16 tables for 18 food units?

 

[NorthYorkEd]

I've given up on the LCBO ever opening here. I'm wondering if they might have their eye on the Sheppard Centre renovation across the street. Maybe they want to see if they can get in over there?

I feel bad for the honest, hardworking food/retail tenants at EP who probably feel like they are caught in a bad situation (similar to the Aura project downtown). I dunno. Maybe things will improve once the project actually completes.

 

[lead82]

I doubt it. Perhaps over time the food court will fill up or other small businesses will fill up the space. I think it will stay empty or under-utilized for years to come.

 

[Bill123]

Looks like the food court is attracting some tenants to the mall. The Oulahen's have managed to lease 3 units near the food court to an Emerald Pharmacy & Rehab. Interesting how a rehab AND pharmacy can fit into 3 cubicle units. Perhaps they will have the rehab on the office floor?

Building management have put up a huge vinyl sticker on the North facing side of the building advertising units, very good marketing, many more will know there is a mall here.

Edit: Holy Snack has also opened. It's a combination of freshly made drinks, Vietnamese sandwiches and desserts.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Biweekly update on the subway connection: nothing happened !

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Vinyls up also on the south side, advertising same message I believe.

These vinyl sticker ads Bill123 and Aaro mentioned are huge,.....

This is the north side ad right beside the new TimHortons which has approximately 25 feet ceiling,... so this ad is about 25 feet high,...

And this is the south side ads at the EmeraldPark subway entrance,....

 

[Uncle Meat]

Is this intentional ?