Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

torontowest91 said:
wasn't it supposed to be a restaurant one day?
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Yes, I am told that that remains the plan but assume Osmington will go for any tenant who pays rent!
Sauga89 said:
I would love to see a staircase like that added to the Great Hall. You could also add twin ramps on either side for accessibility. Instead of those stairs leading down you could have escalators tucked away behind the stairs leading up to the east/west wings and down to the moat.

I'd rather put a new concourse up in the wings for legacy VIA services instead of an Apple store. Then you could free up the existing concourse for GO, and put retail in the existing alcoves.
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It's a heritage building, it may not be 'perfect' but it's not going to be changed.
 
DSCToronto said:
It's a heritage building, it may not be 'perfect' but it's not going to be changed.
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Even if you used marble for the staircase and attempted to match the aesthetic? You could even re-use the existing balcony railing in the staircase railing. I would call that a small tasteful addition which respects the historic character, and enhances the space. I'd like to hope the federal historic sites board would agree.

It would also potentially drive more foot traffic through the Great Hall, so that people could better appreciate the space.
 
Johnny Au said:
I once ate a spicy crispy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A. It's woefully mild to me and not even crispy.

Next time, better find a chicken sandwich restaurant that actually makes spicy chicken sandwiches and does not promote hate.
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There is Mighty Bird in Union station which makes a pretty good sandwich and as far as I know doesn't promote any hate. I think the main guy is the guy behind Amano and Union Chicken (Michael Angeloni, who seems to be doing quite well for himself).
 
Call off the beaver!! Somethings happening at the pole

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What is behind the white boarded up wall in the grand hall? It has been there forever, what will become of it?
 
vatche said:
What is behind the white boarded up wall in the grand hall? It has been there forever, what will become of it?
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One page back:
nightstreak said:
It's deceptively large because of the space behind where the ticket booths were.

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It's almost 8000 square feet when you include the balcony above that it has access to.
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torontowest91 said:
wasn't it supposed to be a restaurant one day?
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DSCToronto said:
Yes, I am told that that remains the plan but assume Osmington will go for any tenant who pays rent!
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WB62 said:
Call off the beaver!! Somethings happening at the pole

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Might want to keep the beaver on a standby retainer.

The machinery on site seems to be preparing the ground for installing bollards on either side of the pole. The pole itself is untouched.

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The clearest evidence that the pole isn’t coming down is that there are still wires attached. Those would have been removed prior to excavation one would think.

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If they install the bollards, that pole is going to be there for the long run unless they plan to demolish newly installed bollards at some later date.
 
nightstreak said:
Might want to keep the beaver on a standby retainer.

The machinery on site seems to be preparing the ground for installing bollards on either side of the pole. The pole itself is untouched.

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The clearest evidence that the pole isn’t coming down is that there are still wires attached. Those would have been removed prior to excavation one would think.

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If they install the bollards, that pole is going to be there for the long run unless they plan to demolish newly installed bollards at some later date.
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I agree that, based on a visit, they appear to be working on bollard installation rather than pole removal. The fact that it has wires is not a major drawback to removal, they appear to be unused.
 
The Pole™ has a little brother. The concrete pole on the right is also decommissioned and connected to nothing.

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It seems like this song and dance about pole jurisdiction isn’t new. The Fixer did a story on a similar issue in 2015. Toronto Hydro assumed the entirety of Toronto’s 200,000 poles back in the early 2000s but weren’t thorough about documenting the inventory. We should reach out to Jack to do a follow up story about orphaned poles.

 

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I mean the installation of the bollards around the hydro pole would all make sense as per the Toronto way of doing things:
  • Install/construct a permanent solution,
  • Then hack the solution to remove something that wasn't thought about before,
  • Then patch it up with some temporary hack measure,
  • Then let that temporary measure stay in place for another 5-10 years before doing anything about it,
  • Finally get around to implementing the 2nd permanent solution.
All nicely rinsed and repeated like clockwork all over the city.
 
Disclaimer: I’m getting a gut feeling to clarify the jokes in this thread about felling the pole are actually just that before anyone takes them seriously. The pole is heavier than it looks, possibly 2000lbs and could seriously hurt or kill someone if tampered with. Who knows who is on the internet nodding “yeah!” while getting a chainsaw from their shed.

If we want to get that pole taken care of, let’s make some noise so it gets noticed. I’m emailing Jack from the Fixer. If a bunch of us reach his inbox, he’ll probably decide to cover it.


What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer or call us at 416-869-4823 email jlakey@thestar.ca . To read our blog, go to thestar.com/news/the_fixer . Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.

Jack Lakey

Jack Lakey What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email jlakey@thestar.ca or follow @TOStarFixer on Twitter.
 
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