2nd Downtown: Yonge-Sheppard vs. Yonge-Eglinton

[DENTROBATE54]

really? NYCC more elitist than Y/Eg? I have thee exact opposite impression. Y/Eg is like Lawrence Park's downtown.

Y/Eg has a vibrant street life and culture, not only near the intersection but extending up to Blythwood, east past Mt. Pleasant, over to Avenue Rd and south around Davisville. It's a happening place 24/7. Even at 3 a.m. there's always a bar or nightclub or theatre you can go chill out in. You've got high-end chains in the mall, but also there's numerous novelty stores, restaurants catering to every pallet, and also familiar fast-food joints right at the corner.

I worked in the area once as well and our office overlooked the intersection. Always made the ambience in the office that much better, people-watching the hustle-bustle below. Sometimes they're be street preformers doing some crazy acrobatics or singing too, and the subway's central to it all. It's really the kind of place where people from all walks of life can get together and mingle (office drones, condo rez, commuters, tourists, locals, etc. chatting each other up in the local Starbucks, BK). In a lot of ways it reminds me of Yonge-Dundas.

NYCC's nice to look at from an artitectural standpoint, but the vibe there, maeh! Too professional, too upscale, too formal, too impersonal. Empress Walk's the only place I frequent when I'm in that area. Everywhere else is $$$ or cold gestures as if saying "You're not supposed to be here". It's not as cosmopolitan as Y/Eg either. That poster awhile back mentioned the limited variety of cultures represented in NYCC... so true. Lastman's Square is not bad for killing some time on a mid-summer's afternoon with a good book, though.

Yonge & Eglinton is very clearly more exclusive and elitist than North York Centre...claiming otherwise is a bit ridiculous.

To each his own. Maybe I don't see it that way because the exclusivity is so subtle @Eglinton. A single building can have condo suites on the upper floors but office and retail space below. Hence everyone's forced to comingle in a way. NYCC folk just seem more standoffish to me, but whatever.

 

[samsonyuen]

Just saw the sign yesterday of Boston Pizza opening up where an independent resto-bar used to be, at Eglinton Ave. just east of Yonge.

We're catching up to NYCC! Bring on the Moxies and Milestones... Throw in a Kelsey's and Casey's and we'll catch up with Mississauga.

 

[Jonny5]

And, any other quasi-second downtowns that look ready to spring up? Someone said in a Dufferin Mall thread that it could also become a western downtown. That'd be interesting, as it make Toronto less N/S focused.

I believe a great location with the untapped potential to be one is the Dundas and Bloor area. Redevlopment here is going to happen, it's already started actually. The city just needs to push for high density and not lose it to lowrises and townhouses. If they made the best possible use of the land, it could be another Y+E.

It's already a major TTC transit hub, Dundas West Station and a bundle of bus and streetcar roots from all directions pull in here. GO has an very underused station on the corner and Blue 22 or it's successor project will almost certainly have a station there.

The key would be to have a major and high density redevelopment of the Loblaws/Zellers plaza to the south. It's a massive space and there could be a lot put in there. The giant hulking Catholic school on the south-west corner could hopefully be buldozed and a new school opened somewhere close-by. I wonder how it's enrolment is doing and if they still need all that space? They have a big track field too.

The north east corner has The Crossways, which isn't going anywhere, but north of that is another big parking lot for a Price Chopper and Shoppers.

The south-east corner has an unremarkable low-rise office building which could be toppled.

The north-west corner is already being condoized.

Intensification is going to happen here, just the scale is up in the air. It depends on how much they city is willing to knock down and rebuild, especially on the south east side, and how much local residents would object to completely transforming the area.

 

[mrjun18]

Sorry to bring up an old thread...but how does everyone feel with the Yonge/Sheppard vs Yonge/Eglinton debate today?

• Yonge/Eglinton is getting a quite a few condos being built as well as the crosstown which opens in 5 years.
• Yonge/Sheppard has had some good development (Hullmark, Emerald, etc) and there is potential for a huge development of the Sheppard Centre. Not too much in the transportation development, but Tory announced today the intersection is a hotspot for easing congestion.

Is one intersection the clear-cut '2nd downtown' winner now compared to before? What do y'all think?

 

[junctionist]

Yonge and Eglinton is experiencing so much residential growth that it's hard to see it as a second downtown. Yonge and Sheppard has a large group of office towers, a hotel, a large civic centre, a major performing arts venue and one of the city's biggest and best libraries. It's also more diverse in terms of ethnicity and income. Yonge and Sheppard is more like a self-contained downtown core than Yonge and Eglinton. The former City of North York put in an impressive effort to build a downtown from scratch, and we're reaping the rewards to this day.