Bloor-Annex BIA Street Revitalization

[Patch]

Happy to see that these four corners in the Annex will be getting some DTAH love! Expected to be completed in 2019.

Not sure if the below info has been shared somewhere else (If yes, mods please feel free move and/or delete). Found at http://www.bloorannex.ca/revitalization

Robert Street:

Major Street:

Brunswick Ave:
Personally, I've always hoped that the south side Bloor/Brunswick would be turned into more of a central "Annex Square" (something along the lines of Streetsville Square). There's enough space here to provide some nice seating and even a small stage, and the laneways could easily be used to redirect traffic and temporarily close the street. Although perhaps it's not as needed now with the spaces coming at Mirvish Village...

Howland Avenue:

 

[Northern Light]

Happy to see that these four corners in the Annex will be getting some DTAH love! Expected to be completed in 2019.

Not sure if the below info has been shared somewhere else (If yes, mods please feel free move and/or delete). Found at http://www.bloorannex.ca/revitalization

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Robert Street:

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Major Street:

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Brunswick Ave:
Personally, I've always hoped that the south side Bloor/Brunswick would be turned into more of a central "Annex Square" (something along the lines of Streetsville Square). There's enough space here to provide some nice seating and even a small stage, and the laneways could easily be used to redirect traffic and temporarily close the street. Although perhaps it's not as needed now with the spaces coming at Mirvish Village...

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Howland Avenue:

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Absolutely excellent.

Love the designs.

Well thought out.

Good tree selection.

Good effort to improve tree planting conditions.

Looks inviting.

The perennials/grasses also look good, one or two may be challenged, but I'll view the full set of choices optimistically.

 

[Patch]

And a couple updates from DTAH's twitter... looks like some of the work has begun!

 

[CapitalSeven]

Sad chuckle at the "future tenant" at Major St. When I lived in the Annex more than 25 years ago we called that storefront the "doomed location" because everything that opened in it closed shortly after.

 

[JasonParis]

It's amazing how I never realized just how bad the streetscaping was in The Annex until I had something to compare it to.

 

[adHominem]

Glad to see they're replacing the above-ground tree planters with continuous tree pits, not just because they're better for the trees, but because the planters really impact the amount of usable sidewalk. Space for walking traffic through the Annex has always been far short of ideal given the volumes of pedestrians.

 

[salsa]

Happy to see that these four corners in the Annex will be getting some DTAH love! Expected to be completed in 2019.

Not sure if the below info has been shared somewhere else (If yes, mods please feel free move and/or delete). Found at http://www.bloorannex.ca/revitalization

View attachment 164669
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Robert Street:

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Major Street:

View attachment 164680

View attachment 164675

Brunswick Ave:
Personally, I've always hoped that the south side Bloor/Brunswick would be turned into more of a central "Annex Square" (something along the lines of Streetsville Square). There's enough space here to provide some nice seating and even a small stage, and the laneways could easily be used to redirect traffic and temporarily close the street. Although perhaps it's not as needed now with the spaces coming at Mirvish Village...

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Howland Avenue:

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Are they gonna replace all that bicycle parking that will be removed for those parkettes?

 

[Miscreant]

Wow--amazing. Lived in this hood since '06 and still love it everyday. Great to see that it's getting touched up.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Nice project, but if the BIA doesn't step up and assist with maintenance you'll see the following within weeks of completion: accumulated litter in the shrubs by the benches, scratched up seating surfaces and tagged benches and stone surfaces. Fingers crossed though. The track record of that BIA, based on my years walking through there, does not give me confidence.

 

[Avenue]

A few questions:
1. They are replacing well used Bixi stations and bike rings on Brunswick, Robert, Major, Howland etc with 'parkettes' (how groundbreaking). Where are the bikes supposed to go?
2. Those bike rings (again, where are they even supposed to go?) look really badly designed. The classic City of Toronto rings work well because they can cater to most types of bikes. The ones in the renders look like "design for the sake of design".

 

[Patch]

A few questions:
1. They are replacing well used Bixi stations and bike rings on Brunswick, Robert, Major, Howland etc with 'parkettes' (how groundbreaking). Where are the bikes supposed to go?
2. Those bike rings (again, where are they even supposed to go?) look really badly designed. The classic City of Toronto rings work well because they can cater to most types of bikes. The ones in the renders look like "design for the sake of design".

1) The bike rings look to be included based on the below plan. Might even be more rings than what is currently there (except on Howland). In terms of the bike station, not sure of the plans but there is plenty of room they could shift the station to.

2) Those bike ring designs aren't 100% going to happen but I would definitely welcome some playful bike ring designs as long as they don't reduce functionality.

EDIT: you can also see the total amount of new bike rings they'll be adding in this plan:

 

[Avenue]

1) The bike rings look to be included based on the below plan. Might even be more rings than what is currently there (except on Howland). In terms of the bike station, not sure of the plans but there is plenty of room they could shift the station to.

Well, they didn't include any actual bike rings in the renders. Maybe that should be addressed. Either way by my count there seems to be significant reductions in bike parking spaces in the proposals.

 

[Patch]

Update via the Bloor Annex BIA Site and their Instagram

There have been some small revisions to the renderings (as seen below) and further details released:

• Construction of the parkettes is expected to start in late 2019, and is expected to last 18 months (including City works on Bloor St)
  • "Pop ups" and space activations at the future parkettes are being planned prior to construction
• The City will be removing 35 existing planters along Bloor St and replacing with in-ground trees in 2020.
• Deadstok Reclaimed is currently crafting benches from Douglas Fir beams salvaged from the Honest's Ed's demolition.
• Robert Cram is creating the public art "chair models" made out of quarried granite blocks.
• A mural by Komi Olaf (Afrofuturistic muralist) is planned for Spring 2019. It will be at the rear of the Brunswick House as seen in the image below. Described as " A sophisticated, yet playful depiction of the blues music scene which flourished at Albert’s Hall"
• General Bike Lane improvements will be made including physical barriers where possible.

All in all - pretty great project!

Proposed Mural

Howland Ave

Brunswick Ave

Major St

Robert St

 

[pman]

Hey, they’ve made the crappy hydro poles and wires disappear! In the renders, anyway.

 

[salsa]

August 13th