Toronto Celebration Condominiums at Bridlewood | ?m | 11s | Malibu Investments | P + S / IBI

Renderings

From the June 2009 Working Group Meeting ~

source: http://www.mikedelgrande.ca/bridlewoodmall.htm

Original proposal was 38 + 32 + 26 + 20 + 10 + 3x7s

Revised proposal is now 33 + 29 + 26 + 20 + 10 + 3x7s

Master Plan
Click to Enlarge


View east along Bridletowne Circle


Urban Plaza Proposed at the Northwest Corner of Warden + Finch
 
thanks for digging up these renders. I voted in favour of the development on Mike Delgrande's website. Nothing like out of towners skewing the results! Seriously though, this is how Toronto needs to build more often. The designs and materials might not always be the best but the increased density is how this city must grow.
 
I might argue that the development shown above is not ambitious enough. Bridlewood Mall these days is surrounded by a sea of empty parking spots (especially on the Warden side). I think the parking capacity of Bridlewood can easily be handled by underground parking or a parking structure where surface parking is shown on the site plan. That could free up some more space on the site for, say, a continuous mid-rise facade all along Warden.
 
I might argue that the development shown above is not ambitious enough. Bridlewood Mall these days is surrounded by a sea of empty parking spots (especially on the Warden side). I think the parking capacity of Bridlewood can easily be handled by underground parking or a parking structure where surface parking is shown on the site plan. That could free up some more space on the site for, say, a continuous mid-rise facade all along Warden.

I agree. I used to go to this mall a few years ago(i liked the burger place:p)

It was always dead. All the stores empty and nobody walking around. The price choppers had some people and the library was dead for 80% of the time.

Obviously, the mall will receive a new face-lift and with the new towers we will see much more people, new tenants--but i can't help to feel that maybe they could of done more with the site. Even still keeping the mall there and fixing it up.

And it would of been nice if the gas station piece was in this development.
 
Future development can always take place...the condos and mall expansion are really only altering the north and south ends of the block. If the whole shebang was done at once, with like 3000 units, it'd likely be heavily slashed, anyway, and risk additional community opposition and interference by the OMB. Between the mall expansion and the net removal of about 30 parking spaces, the lots definitely won't be "dead."
 
I've always been a tiny bit miffed by Don Mills' redevelopment, particularly the way it's been handled by Cadillac Fairview and in the way it's been slowly compromised over the years like a death from a thousand paper cuts. However, the Bridletowne area was never the same kind of pure product, so I have no problem at all with seeing it practically destroyed to make it better down the road.

Well, in some way, the mall itself is more of a "pure product" than Don Mills was, i.e. it was an enclosed mall from the start, because that's the way they built such stuff in the 70s. That's not to say it's a cherishable "pure product", except maybe to sentimental-hoser dead-mall fetishists who grew up in the nabe. OTOH the nature of the nabe is such that you certainly can't expect a "McNally Robinson" type of Zoomeropia retail nucleus here...
 
While I very much support intensification; and see little redeeming about the current mall, I do have an issue with the proposal.

The same issue as I have in Don Mills. This is too large a block to be all in private hands.

There are no through roads, nor even a pedestrian/bike route.

I want to see at least 1, if not 2 or 3 new side streets punched through from east to west, linking Bridletown to Warden.

I also want those streets to be publicly owned roads, not private.

That way someone living on the west side of Bridletown would have a quicker short-cut walk to the Warden Bus, open 24/7. The areas would be more pedestrian friendly, and less monolithic.

I would also add that I certain want to see the remaining surface parking go away, but I'm more amendable to that change being phased in over time for reasons outlined by other posters.

But this proposal is not suggestive of future through streets as I see that a major shortcoming even in phase I
 
Well, in some way, the mall itself is more of a "pure product" than Don Mills was, i.e. it was an enclosed mall from the start, because that's the way they built such stuff in the 70s. That's not to say it's a cherishable "pure product", except maybe to sentimental-hoser dead-mall fetishists who grew up in the nabe. OTOH the nature of the nabe is such that you certainly can't expect a "McNally Robinson" type of Zoomeropia retail nucleus here...

Comparing mall to mall only, maybe, but I meant the whole neighbourhood, too. Bridletowne was always a cheap knock-off of Don Mills. Not without some intrinsic value, mind you, since it probably always had more age/income/ethnic diversity as well as more sheer density, but it never did have the kind of character that Don Mills did/does. People will oppose the Bridlewood redevelopment for the usual reasons of crowded schools and crowded buses and blocked views and acrophobia, but I wonder if anyone will oppose it on the grounds that Don Mills' redevelopment was opposed, that it will alter the Bridletowne area's character in terms of aesthetics and personality, that what exists now is worth keeping. Much of the Don Mills opposition was coincidental with the area's demographic turnover as original residents aged and began moving on in large numbers, but the Bridletowne redevelopment likely won't be seen in the same sort of shark-jumping light and may not lead to any further changes.
 
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There are no through roads, nor even a pedestrian/bike route.

I want to see at least 1, if not 2 or 3 new side streets punched through from east to west, linking Bridletown to Warden.

I also want those streets to be publicly owned roads, not private...

I agree completely. I'm really worried that the popularity of new urbanism/intensification just becomes a justification to fit taller (and more profitable) buildings into the same old suburban streetscape. The result is that the only thing that really gets intensified is the number of cars on the road.

I'm actually pleasantly surprised by this development, but I'm not going to be fooled into thinking this represents some kind of post-suburban city building. Urbanization doesn't mean building higher, it means building closer together. Just like taking the roof off a mall doesn't make it Queen Street West (in the case of Don Mills centre).
 
City Planning Status Report

For consideration by Scarborough Community Council on January 12, 2010:

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2010/sc/bgrd/backgroundfile-25785.pdf

Appears that the application has been further scaled down:
  • Original proposal (April 2008) = 38 + 32 + 26 + 20 + 10 + 3x7s
  • Revised proposal (June 2009) = 33 + 29 + 26 + 20 + 10 + 3x7s
  • Current proposal (Nov 2009) = 25 + 23 + 23 + 19 + 10 + 3x7s
 
Without the 30+ storey height, it's amazing how likely it is that these towers will disappear into the neighbourhood, even with 1200 units still proposed. A bit of partial street wall will enclose views along Finch, but the changes as a whole won't be particularly dramatic or destructive.
 
http://www.buzzbuzzhome.com/celebration-condos-at-bridlewood

Rendering from BuzzBuzzHomes.

celebc.jpg
 

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