Toronto Toronto Coach Terminal Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | CreateTO

AlbertC said:
I'm curious if any education institutions look into expanding their spaces as part of this future project. The block along Edward Street, between Elizabeth and Chestnut would also be opened up towards redevelopment. I had a friend who years interpreted the Coach Terminal lands in his graduate thesis as having potential for collaborative learning spaces for U of T, Ryerson, and OCADU students.
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Interesting notion.

I'm inclined to think Ryerson would not want to go west of Bay Street; it's also a fair reach for OCAD.

All 3 campuses already sprawl.

With the exception of Medical (and related) sciences, I'm not sure it makes sense for U of T to grow its academic buildings off-campus.
U of T also just committed to the enhancement/partial replacement of Med Sci at its current location.

I always assumed when the Faculty of Dentistry decided it needed to replace its aging space in that area that it would relocate back towards main campus.
In respect of the above, I thought the Dentistry site might end up as off-campus housing; given that U of T has that even further south, just behind City Hall; and remains short of what it needs.

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Expanding the research facilities of hospital row could certainly be argued for; though UHN continues to have a fair bit of space on Elizabeth, in the form of open space on the west side, and both surface parking and a parking garage to the east.

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Hmmm, the floor plate potential of the non-heritage portion of the bus terminal (main complex) is almost 25000ft2; that would have strong institutional and commercial appeal.

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Edit to add, in light of my comments above, I decided to measure the floor area of the Dentistry complex............it's 54000ft2! Wow. I've walked past it a bunch of times, I never really perceived the scale of it!
 
There are plenty of great suggestions.

I was expecting the city would either sell the property or redevelop with affordable housing in mind. Aren't those the most likely scenarios?
 
TorPronto said:
There are plenty of great suggestions.

I was expecting the city would either sell the property or redevelop with affordable housing in mind. Aren't those the most likely scenarios?
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Certainly both are very possible.

Combining both could make sense too; ie. a commercial developer builds what they want on 1 part of the site in exchange for affordable housing on the other.

But lots of other options could tempt.

Including those above.

Also, if you ignore the commercial value; downtown is very short of park space, and these are large sites. Converting one to a park could also make sense.
 
While this does fall outside of the flight paths, it's directly behind City Hall and will therefore be subject to the ridiculous 'view corridor' policies enacted in 2018:

1623332033407.png


So while Shibuya Hikare:
Shibuya_Hikarie_%E2%85%A1.JPG

Source: Wikipedia

Or Hysan Place:

800px-Hysan_Place_Causeway_Bay_NOV13.jpg

Source: Wikipedia

Are both very cool ideas, Planning is likely not going to evaluate this site along those ambitious lines.
 
ProjectEnd said:
While this does fall outside of the flight paths, it's directly behind City Hall and will therefore be subject to the ridiculous 'view corridor' policies enacted in 2018:

View attachment 326631

So while Shibuya Hikare:
Shibuya_Hikarie_%E2%85%A1.JPG

Source: Wikipedia

Or Hysan Place:

800px-Hysan_Place_Causeway_Bay_NOV13.jpg

Source: Wikipedia

Are both very cool ideas, Planning is likely not going to evaluate this site along those ambitious lines.
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Nothing says elitism like passing a law that makes sure everyone near the place you work at can see it. Don't they realize just how stuck up they look when they make it so nothing can block the view of where they work?
 
Redflorist said:
Nothing says elitism like passing a law that makes sure everyone near the place you work at can see it. Don't they realize just how stuck up they look when they make it so nothing can block the view of where they work?
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It's about what appears behind the City Hall, not in front of it (besides, there are no windows on the northern end of City Hall). Also the councillors' offices are actually in the podium - their views are already blocked by the surrounding buildings.

Now I don't have a huge issue with judiciously protecting *some* view corridors in a relatively conservative manner (I would probably want a narrower cone than what the city enacted in this case).

AoD
 
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Redflorist said:
Nothing says elitism like passing a law that makes sure everyone near the place you work at can see it. Don't they realize just how stuck up they look when they make it so nothing can block the view of where they work?
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Cities around the world protect 'view corridors'.

It's in no way unique to Toronto.

It's done to protect the City brand, and to make tourists happy when they snap photos.

You protect the iconic buildings and natural landscapes.

Toronto, frankly, has done less of that than many places.

The Gardiner and the Railway Berm before that took away most iconic views of the Lake from North-South streets.

Toronto has relatively few iconic buildings and views for a City of our size, it hardly seems unreasonable to protect the few that we do have.

New City Hall is one those iconic buildings in this City.

Allowing people to see it from a distance, or to take a picture without another building photo-bombing in the background doesn't seem so unreasonable to me.

All such policies can be argued.

How much protection? From how far? What if the intruding building were itself iconic or perhaps complimented the original?

There is no absolute right/wrong here. But certainly the idea itself isn't elitist.
 
Northern Light said:
Cities around the world protect 'view corridors'.

Its in no way unique to Toronto.

It done to protect the City brand, and to make tourists happy when they snap photos.

You protect the iconic buildings and natural landscapes.

Toronto, frankly, has done less of that than many places.

The Gardiner and the Railway Berm before that took away most iconic views of the Lake from North-South streets.

Toronto has relatively few iconic buildings and views for a City of our size, it hardly seems unreasonable to protect the few that we do have.

New City Hall is one those iconic buildings in this City.

Allowing people to see it from a distance, or to take a picture without another building photo-bombing in the background doesn't seem so unreasonable to me.

All such policies can be argued.

How much protection? From how far? What if the intruding building were itself iconic or perhaps complimented the original?

There is no absolute right/wrong here. But certainly the idea itself isn't elitist.
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I stand corrected and disregard my previous comment. I'll look into it more.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
The Japanese community in Toronto is extremely diffuse geographically (I don't think it is centred anywhere near this area of town in any case); the JCCC is up at Wynford Drive and Japan Foundation is up at 2 Bloor East. Shibuya? If only!

AoD
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There has been one Little Japan gesture of sorts in the terminal in recent times: part of the concourse space repurposed as a kitchen for Uncle Tetsu.
 
Northern Light said:
Toronto, frankly, has done less of that than many places.
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Seriously. Ottawa has a 100+ page document about view corridors of Parliament Hill. It's why every building on Rideau St is 27 stories high, or why downtown Ottawa is so incredibly flat. Toronto is relatively chill about this kind of thing.
 
TossYourJacket said:
Seriously. Ottawa has a 100+ page document about view corridors of Parliament Hill. It's why every building on Rideau St is 27 stories high, or why downtown Ottawa is so incredibly flat. Toronto is relatively chill about this kind of thing.
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We have a lot of less that is worthy of rigidly applying view corridors to be frank. DC is another excellent example, for good or ill.

AoD
 
TossYourJacket said:
Seriously. Ottawa has a 100+ page document about view corridors of Parliament Hill. It's why every building on Rideau St is 27 stories high, or why downtown Ottawa is so incredibly flat. Toronto is relatively chill about this kind of thing.
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Campeau's fights with Mayor Whitton in the 60s over Place de Ville are some fun reading on this. He won in the end (and rightly so).
 
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