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Areas that have seen less gentrification than expected

K

King of Kensington

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While little of the old city of Toronto has been untouched by gentrification (save those areas that were historically affluent already) - what are some pockets of the city that seem less gentrified than you'd expect?
 
Gentrification is defined as "a trend in urban neighborhoods, which results in increased property values and the displacing of lower-income families and small businesses."

So what results in "decreased property values" and lower-come families or people moving in? Slumification? The gradual decay of a populated area into slums.

If homeowners do not take care or maintain their homes, it could help turn an area into a slum.
 
Chinatown East, at Broadview and Gerrard, comes to mind. Funny, especially considering that homes immediately north (and increasingly south) are hovering over six digits.

Other areas that come to mind are the retail strips in East York along the north-south streets like Pape Village, Donlands Village and Old East York Village (Coxwell). Most retailers and restaurants are still mom and pop.
 
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I'd view a good deal of the eastern reaches of downtown (from Moss Park up to around Wellesley or so) as a zone where whatever Crombie-era gestures t/w gentrification (and they were quite significant, in that Cabbagetown-era way) were nipped in the bud when the shelter presence and crack epidemic became too much to bear in the 80s/90s. Thus, all the sandblasted Victorians with barred windows and gated front yards...
 
This may surprise people, but I'd say the area just west of Bathurst between Dundas and Queen. Yes there are "hip" stores all along Queen and housing prices aren't exactly cheap. You'd think the residential streets would be attracting the hipster-yuppie Queen St. set en masse, but there are far more Chinese immigrants living on say, Markham or Claremont than your stereotypical "Queen West" types.

It's really closer to Trinity Bellwoods Park that housing prices are higher and the demographics change.

ETA: On the east side of Bathurst, Denison and Augusta. But that can be explained by the Alexandra Park location.
 
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I might even go so far as to claim that Miller-era nodes/signs of gentrification in the former boroughs was impaired by the Ford era reopening old urban-suburban cultural-divide wounds...
 
UserNameToronto said:
Really interested in this thread. Agree that East Chinatown seems to refuse to gentrify!

It reminds me of this article: The Factors Inhibiting Gentrification in Areas with Little Non-market Housing: Policy Lessons from the Toronto Experience

http://neighbourhoodchange.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/11514483047301273596.pdf
Click to expand...

Interesting piece. As it predicts, South Riverdale/Leslieville has really taken off. It's been slower in Little Portugal, however, where the Portuguese presence remains:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...gals_death_have_been_greatly_exaggerated.html
 
Both the Gerrard India Bazaar through to the Danforth/Coxwell area. It's actually a place I never expected much gentrification because it's so difficult to access, both by transit and driving, and has bad housing stock that needs uneconomical teardown work to really upgrade. I still put it up as a great example because those areas have been hyped for at least 10 years as "the next hip neighbourhood," probably solely due to the proximity to the Beaches, and it's never panned out.
 
Jonny5 said:
Both the Gerrard India Bazaar through to the Danforth/Coxwell area. It's actually a place I never expected much gentrification because it's so difficult to access, both by transit and driving, and has bad housing stock that needs uneconomical teardown work to really upgrade. I still put it up as a great example because those areas have been hyped for at least 10 years as "the next hip neighbourhood," probably solely due to the proximity to the Beaches, and it's never panned out.
Click to expand...

Kind of like how we've been hearing that Corso Italia is the "next Annex" for nearly a decade?
 
Are there any payday loan shops near King & York? Guess King & Bay or King & York could be considered gentrified if there aren't any. King & York is, after all, a former "suburb" of the Town of York.

201426-king-york-1834.jpg
 
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