Bathurst Manor

[salsa]

After 50 years, the Bathurst Manor plaza has closed down for good last July. There was a development proposal here for midrise building and townhouses since 2006, but that application hasn't gone anywhere. So for the next few years the plaza will simply be left abandoned, or perhaps demolished.

http://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/bathurst-manor-plaza-to-close-forever



I visited a few weeks ago and saw that a plywood fence was being erected around the plaza. It was still possible to get in at the time, so I was able to do one last visit. Seeing an abandoned plaza with no more people, business or vehicles is not something I'm used to experiencing in Toronto. In some neighbourhoods in the US, I can only imagine what it must be like having hundreds of blights like all over the place.

 

[ShonTron]

I wrote more about it here, during the plaza's last days:

https://seanmarshall.ca/2016/07/29/farewell-to-to-bathurst-manor-plaza/

 

[King of Kensington]

Interesting to see how this area that was considered "state of the art" suburbia in 1960 is now old and shabby. Montreal's Cote St. Luc, that city's main postwar middle class Jewish area, is rather similar.

The Jewish population in Bathurst Manor, while still significant, is on the decline. Younger generations have departed to Thornhill or to gentrified neighborhoods south of St. Clair.

 

[Frank Heisler]

Maybe state-of-the-art in the 50s, but not 60s. It's interesting how a number of articles lamented it's decline, pinning it at the mid-2000s but I remember it started turning to junk in the mid 90s.

There's also the timing of the demographic change in the area that people seem to get wrong. When I first got to Mackenzie CI in 1991, it was about 80% jewish. Most of those kids graduated before me because by 1995 when I graduated, it wasn't anywhere near 80%.

CHAT wasn't a good indicator because people got bussed in, and even CHAT looked derelict and abused until the mid 2000s.

Interesting to see how this area that was considered "state of the art" suburbia in 1960 is now old and shabby. Montreal's Cote St. Luc, that city's main postwar middle class Jewish area, is rather similar.

The Jewish population in Bathurst Manor, while still significant, is on the decline. Younger generations have departed to Thornhill or to gentrified neighborhoods south of St. Clair.

 

[Stam]

I agree that the boarded up plaza is an eyesore and needs to be developed but there is actually a large amount of Jewish people moving back because it is near schools, synagogues and in a great central location with TTC access. Some houses look shabby and need to be updated and some houses are small mansions depending on the street they're situated on. Other than the plaza it's a great area to move into and live in.

 

[PMT]

From insidetoronto.com:

Ward 10 town hall gets sneak peak at latest Bathurst Manor Plaza plans

 

[picard102]

The people at that Town Hall were incredibly childish and rude. If this site sits derelict it's entirely their fault. They don't want any change.

 

[salsa]

Demolition of the plaza is well underway.