Over the course of a year, over a thousand news items pop up on UrbanToronto's front page, and of that group, there are always going to be stories that cause more excitement than others. This past year, like others, the announcement of a large new development proved to be a reliable attention getter, as can be seen below in the stories that placed twentieth, fourteenth, eleventh, ninth, fifth, and first. Updates of ongoing highly-anticipated developments were big too, as were those for big openings.

Connecting the dots on a major new Toronto Development from August.

Rendering for 45-141 Bay Street redevelopment, image courtesy of Ivanhoé Cambridge.

There were other stories that grabbed attention though too, like number 2, our annual April Fools story where we look to make people think as we poke a little fun. This year's April Fools story looked at the sorry state of the concrete around the base of the CN Tower, suggesting the whole tower might get a new brick veneer over the concrete, and other horrible ideas. Within a couple of months, a nice job of covering up the stained concrete had been completed.

2 CN Tower to be re-clad in time for Pan Am Games from April.

3 Grab Your Camera: Toronto’s Best Skyline Vantage Points from April.

4 Downtown Toronto Growth Watch 2014 from January.

5 RioCan, Allied, and Diamondcorp Reveal Major Toronto Redevelopment from January.

6 Canary District : Toronto Gets a New Neighbourhood 2016 from March.

7 Landmark Mirvish+Gehry Development Approved by City from July.

8 Council Greenlights Many New Developments Across Toronto from September.

9 Allied REIT Proposes 48-storey Union Centre at York and Front from March.

Transportation stories are always popular on UrbanToronto, and there are a whole slew of them bubbling just under the 30th place mark that we cut-off at below, but one which rose all the way to 10th place was one of our stories on CityRail, our name for what eventually came out in the provincial Liberal's platform as GO RER, and which also appeared as SmartTrack in John Tory's platform. Whatever name the beefed up version of the current GO system takes in a few years, we want to see the conversion from a strictly a commuter rail system to a regional express rail system handled properly, so we will continue to offer ideas on this topic as 2015 progresses.

10 CityRail: Getting The GTA Moving from January.

Galleria and park at The Well, image courtesy of RioCan/Allied/Diamond

11 Sam Mizrahi Reveals A Few Details of Bloor-Yonge Redevelopment from October.

We all love visions of Toronto's future, and one vision was so compelling, that repeat visits over a full year after the story originally appeared propelled the following article all the way to 12th place in 2014.

12 Stunning Rendering of Toronto’s Future Skyline from December, 2012.

13 New Signage Atop TD Centre Generating Controversy from December.

14 Application Submitted for Skyscraping Towers at CityPlace from October.

15 Smaller But Taller Mirvish+Gehry 2.0 Reboots Proposal from May.

Say what you will about comparing Toronto to other cities, but in 16th place is another story that was from a previous year but which continued to garner a huge number of clicks long after it was posted.

16 Toronto now Fourth Largest City in North America from March, 2013.

17 New Office Tower Stacking Plan Shows What’s Available in Toronto from February.

18 Approval Recommended for Two Major Office Towers from August.

19 Downtown Toronto North Growth Watch For in 2014 from January.

20 First Renderings Appear for Cadillac Fairview’s 156 Front West from February.

Rendering for Union Centre, image courtesy of Allied

21 Bloor Yorkville and Surroundings Growth Watch For in 2014 from January.

22 Bone Structure Brings Innovative Home Design to GTA from February.

23 Redevelopment Proposed for 60 Acre Celestica Site from August.

24 Malls in The GTA Growth to Watch For in 2014 from January.

25 Changing Panorama from the Manulife Centre from June.

26 High-Res Renderings of 156 Front West Reveal New Details from February.

27 New PATH Link Opens to RBC Waterpark Place from October.

28 Luxurious Spaces and Amazing Views: Touring the Delta Toronto from September.

29 Yonge and Eglinton Growth to Watch For in 2014 from January.

30 New GO Bus Terminal Slated for 45 Bay Development from September.

Some of the other most popular stories are those that looked at what growth to expect in various parts of the city over the course of 2014. If you liked those stories, you will be happy to hear that now that we have completed our look back at last year, we will be getting going on 2015's expected growth stories soon.

Thanks for visiting UrbanToronto as part of your daily routine. We look forward to another fascinating year!

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