Toronto Galleria On The Park | 143.86m | 42s | Almadev | Hariri Pontarini

AHK said:
Unfortuantely - I would think it very unlikely that CP would sell the North Toronto Sub to Metrolinx - it is part of the CP trans-Canada mainline - connects all points east of Toronto, plus the Finch / Markham Road yards, to Ontario west of Toronto, western Canada, and the United States. A railway company would just not be willing to surrender control of such a key element of their network, even if they retained running rights over that segment of track.
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Let's hope the missing link would take care of that.
 
There's an open house event on Saturday, Oct 15, 2016 from 11:30am-3:30 pm at the Galleria. I'll be out of town though and won't be able to attend.
 
Residents say 42-storey tower too high for Galleria mall property
Residents learn about proposal at open house Saturday at Dufferin and Dupont mall

Lisa Rainford
It's the size of a residential tower, not the project itself, that those who attended an open house Saturday, Oct. 15 to discuss the redevelopment of the Galleria mall take issue with.

The project, christened ‘Reimagine Galleria’ by Freed Developments, ELAD Canada, and designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, is comprised of 13 buildings ranging in height from seven to 42 storeys, within seven blocks. It includes a new three-storey community centre, an enlarged park, and new road that would run diagonally from Dupont Street to Dufferin Street.

At its centre would be a plaza boasting a variety of retail businesses. The mixed-used project would bring more than 3,400 residential units to the property.

“I appreciate the scale of the ambition, but I hope the scale of the buildings don’t compromise the integrity of the neighbourhood,” Matt Park, a nearby Davenport Village resident, told The Villager during the open house at the shopping centre in the Dufferin and Dupont streets area.

Andrea Nesbitt, at the open house with her daughter, said she accepts that change is necessary, but takes issue with the height and density of the development.

“I agree it has to be done. Am I against 42 storeys? Absolutely,” Nesbitt said. “I know (the property) was zoned for 17 storeys and then rezoned for 26.”

The more than 3,000 units applied for will bring thousands of new residents to the area, who will want to take public transit, she pointed out. The Dufferin bus is already beyond capacity, she said.

“After dropping my daughter at school the other day, I arrived at the bus stop at 7:50 a.m. and finally got on a bus at 8:25 a.m.,” Nesbitt said.

Fatima, a local resident who asked that her last name not be used, said she has no problem with the style of the project.

“It looks beautiful, but it’s too big,” she said. “We need to think about the aging population; we need to think about traffic. There are already lots of accidents that happen in the area.”

She called the development seemingly “pompous” and “ambitious.”

Michael Conway, of Hariri Pontarini Architects, said the goal was to create a diversity of buildings within the project. It is hoped that the development will include retail on the ground and second floors, with retail offices and artist studios. At this point, the residential mix will include one-, two,- and three-bedroom units.

Davenport Councillor Ana Bailao acknowledged that “everyone has a lot of feelings about this place.”

“We all use it in our daily lives,” she told the dozens of residents who were at the open house around 12:30 p.m. “We know that change is about to happen. How we manage that change is crucial.”

There is an opportunity for both city and community building with this project, to create “something special here,” the councillor said.

“It needs to be done with all of us at the table. The next few months will be really important,” Bailao said.

For further details and to provide input into the project, contact the councillor at www.anabailao.com
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I think the local residents do have a point here. Is this the right place for a 42-story condo?

Galleria Mall is pretty ugly but it is still used by the local residents. This development dramatically changes the neighbourhood.

It doesn't appear that there are any public transit improvements on the agenda to make it more feasible either.

Does the city even have a master-plan of where it would like to see high rise development? Or do we just let developers swallow up land wherever they can and propose high buildings whether they make sense or not?
 
I'm surprised at 42 stories. But not opposed. I used to live just up the hill from this. And sure the duff bus sometimes takes forever and then there are like 7 in a row and nothing for the next 10 minutes. But it's pretty easy and quick to walk up to the st Clair street car or down to the subway. If people can't walk 5 minutes then they will have to wait 7. This project is gorgeous and would really help this entire neighbourhood out, which currently feels like an industrial neighbourhood of Guelph or Kitchener. If 42 stories is what it takes to have such a good project come to fruition then I'd say sure. But honestly we all know it will end up 36-38
 
Here's a rendering showing the whole project, including future projects in the Lansdowne/Dupont area (poor quality, sorry for that):
galleriaaerial.jpg


From what I've heard during the open house, most residents are concerned about the height, transit, the duration for this to be completed (10/15 years), want more affordable housing to be included in the project, and seemed OK with the redevelopment scheme overall. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it for Ana Bailao's speech.
 

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Having a look at the plans on Sat, a few red flags for me.

Having the diagonal road connecting at both ends will become a main drag and short cut than the current way for traffic. There is talk that the Dupont intersection could be one way only and still under review. Dufferin St will be come 5-6 lanes wide to deal with left hand turning with the sidewalk being shifted to the west. Should widen the east side sidewalk at the same time.

Too many parking spots and needs to be reduce to 50% of less regardless of retail being there.

Have no issues with height and did live across the street next to the fire hall as a kid.

Transit will be a bitch and this bring up the idea that been floating around for decades of having streetcars on Dufferin St in mix traffic. The line would run as phase II from Dupont to Dufferin Gate with Phase I being from Dundas to Queen. When the Dufferin bridge was build, provision was made for tracks in the road that was fill in with asphalt that could be dug out when time came to build the line. Don't think Metrolinx is doing this for the current expansion. Phase III going north of Dupont has to be underground to St Clair due to the grade. Same will happen north of Rogers Rd to North of Eglinton.

The ward councilor is/has/will make a motion to split the 29 route into 3 different routes when the Crosstown Line opens in 2021-22. One route would run from Dupont south to service this development. A 2nd route would run from Eglinton south. The 3rd route would run as is. A possible 4 route would only run north of Eglinton. She also wants the Dupont to be split as well with one route running east from Dufferin St. The plan does call for a transit stop on the diagonal road near the north-south road. One thing the ward councilor as well other councilors need to do, is ride the 29 at various times of the day as well the weekend to understand how the line operates and where are the current bottle neck are. Not going to be cheap splitting routes without adding more service. 29 is a rollercoaster line from end to end with a lot of peaks and valleys along it.

At some point, the City and TTC needs to deal with Dufferin ridership as buses have or about to reach their max point even with artic buses getting down to 90 seconds Headway.

2 things that needs to be be added on the south side and not clear if it been plan for, but there needs to be an out door rink there as well the dirt bike area that are there today. Even a skate board area is needed.

To do some of these things will require the developers kicking in more money for section 37 to get the extra heights.
 
People seem to forget about GO's plans for a possible Midtown GO line. They could put in a GO train station at Dufferin & Dupont in the future. Having those highrises would be a good reason to have one. (After the Davenport Diamond Grade Separation is completed. See link.)

See link.

go-midtown-map.png


Don't forget that, in most cases, Dupont was industrial because of that railway.
Dupont Dufferin.jpg
 

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I like the block layout. I do wonder about the proposed density here with high perimeter base buildings with many tall towers above it.
 
How many proposed and built TOD developments in Toronto never had the "T" materialized? I prefer the build it first and they will come approach for this city.


W. K. Lis said:
People seem to forget about GO's plans for a possible Midtown GO line. They could put in a GO train station at Dufferin & Dupont in the future. Having those highrises would be a good reason to have one.

See link.

go-midtown-map.png
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W. K. Lis said:
People seem to forget about GO's plans for a possible Midtown GO line. They could put in a GO train station at Dufferin & Dupont in the future. Having those highrises would be a good reason to have one. (After the Davenport Diamond Grade Separation is completed. See link.)

See link.

go-midtown-map.png
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Talking to the Transport person whom I work with in the past, they been looking at running some kind of shuttle bus service around the area to service the RER station once it came on line at Bloor Station. Not your usually TTC service by using cut away buses or something alone that line. It needs to be run by someone else than TTC, since TTC cost too much to do this.

If and when the Crosstown Rail (CP) Line comes on lines, there needs to be a station at Dufferin as well other transit corridors. Thats still a few decades away at this time.
 
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