Goodbye condos, hello Bloor-Yonge Square?
Ah, 1 Bloor E., we hardly knew ye. It seems like just yesterday we were freaking out over your ambitious 80-storey ascent and the possibility that your 600-plus units worth of residents would have Bloor station bursting at the seams. And then we were lining up for days on end in order to get on the ground (or any) floor of this final housing-bubble foray. Remember that — how real estaters were paying folks to camp out in mid-November in order to secure an opportunity to make down payments on units worth $500,000 to $8 million?
Well now that 1 Bloor is officially just a big vacant lot, and one which happens to be up for sale, the Toronto Public Space Committee is supporting an idea that the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor be turned into a place where people don’t need to have ludicrous reasons to hang out for hours on end: a public park.
While it’s a pretty big public space dream, even by TPSC standards, Bloor-Yonge Square would be a welcome addition to the neighbourhood. There have already been a couple of preliminary designs for the space, and, according to the Star, the TPSC will be holding a full-on design competition in the future. For now there is a Facebook group and an online petition to rally support.
A public square at Yonge and Bloor may be the polar opposite of massive intensification, but if done right, it could also be a far more iconic attraction than the city’s tallest skyscraper.
http://www.eyeweekly.com/blog/torontonotes/article/71107
