Salsa's first photo, right part shows the original Avondale community formed about 16 years ago on the old MacleanHunter land; about 6 high-rise, 3 mid-rise and townhouses to transition into the older single residential neighbourhoods. That transition have been messed up over the years as Tridel Avonshire moves high-rise development further east along highway 401, Menkes' Savvy Cosmo project moved original North York Center Secondary Plan boundary from Bales Ave to Tradewind Ave. Now you that second block (Bales Ave, Tradewind Ave, Avondale Ave, Glendora Ave) with mid-rise Flo condo about to go,....
Most of these condos are 1-bedroom condo units, but they house an average of 2.5 people in each unit; both Avondale Park and Avonshire Park are full of kids throughout the day. The old Avondale Public (Elementary) School was over-capacity and many local condo-kids had to be bused out of the area for school. During the time when Toronto District School Board (TDSB) finances was under lockdown by the Province, the Avondale Community Condominium Association was successful in convincing Province to allow TDSB to sell un-needed properties to raise the $11.5million needed to rebuild Avondale Public (Elementary) School. Total construction time was supposed to be 2 years starting in Summer 2015.
Salsa's second photo shows the imcompetency of the city! The elementary students of Avondale Public (Elementary) School and it's Alternative School already spent the previous school year commuting to Bayview Middle School (just north of Bayview Village) but all that's been done is demolishing the old school and clearing the site,... a whole year for that!!!! Demolition permits were issued on time last summer but building permits from the city have been delayed (still not issued when I last checked about 2 months ago),.... applied for almost 2 years ago and expected last year,.... so the completion of the new elementary school will likely be a year late!,... instead of opening September 2017, more likely September 2018. In other words, Avondale elementary school students will spend 3 years instead of 2 years commuting to a temporary elementary school 2km away.
Also in Salsa's 2nd photo is the TDSB Oakburns depot/facilities (between Avondale Elementary School and Tridel's Avonshire),.... old school serving as maintenance depot with lots of white trucks. That site will eventually become a local high school and should be ready when some of the younger kids going into the new Avondale Public (Elementary) School gets to high school,... by around 2015,... well, that's the current plan anyways.
Note: Salsa's second photo also shows local Councillor John Filion's former home,.... second house from the left on south side of Avondale,... the 1.5 storey green vinyl siding house. If you're a cynic, you'll see the strong transition of the original Avondale condo-townhouse developments (high-rise along 401 and Yonge Street transitioning to mid-rise then townhouses closer to the older single residential neighbourhood),.... and then how that transition got messed up recently by Tridel's Avonshire and Menkes' Savvy-Cosmo,... after the councillor moved.
Now due to traffic congestion, Yonge subway capacity issues, lack of school space, etc,... there's lots of resistance to future developments not just from the single residential houses but also from residents in the condos; this makes it tougher for development in southern part of NorthYorkCentre,... not just from city planning stages but also from potential buyers shying away,.... thus developer trying their luck northward where there's less local resistance (especially in ward 24).
Note: Directly north of Tridel Avonshire are the old Oakburns low-rise apartments,.... site have approval for redevelopment about 5 years ago but stalled,... a-la ConservatoryGroups' Pearl2-PearlPlace.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]