Toronto Concorde Corporate Centre Redevelopment | 159.36m | 47s | Fengate | Core

marcus_a_j said:
So they are proposing to demolish two office buildings (7 and 9 storeys?) with zero office replacement?
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So, my understanding of this proposal is that yes, all on-site office space would be demolished and not replaced.

For clarity, the report identifies 2 on-site offices at 12-storeys (the HQ of Home Depot Canada) and at 4 storeys.

The McDonald's HQ fronting Wynford is not part of this proposal.
 
The Home Depot complex is two buildings, the ESRI Canada Building is one. Losing both with no replacement is ridiculous.

With a two roads only in and out of here, traffic is going to be a mess. Not that I really care what happens to folks in their cars, just that mathematically, this is setting things up for disaster. Yes, yes, 'Crosstown', yes, yes, 'Ontario Line' - I'm skeptical that either of those will do anything to really lure folks out of cars in this part of the City in the foreseeable future.
 
ProjectEnd said:
The Home Depot complex is two buildings, the ESRI Canada Building is one. Losing both with no replacement is ridiculous.

With a two roads only in and out of here, traffic is going to be a mess. Not that I really care what happens to folks in their cars, just that mathematically, this is setting things up for disaster. Yes, yes, 'Crosstown', yes, yes, 'Ontario Line' - I'm skeptical that either of those will do anything to really lure folks out of cars in this part of the City in the foreseeable future.
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I'm inclined to agree. This area (Concorde/Wynford) is quite isolated. Limited to Wynford to Don Mills and the same to Eglinton to go anywhere else.

Eglinton, as yet, is not an urban-feeling or walking street. Even if one were highly optimistic about achieving that on the lands west of DVP, this site is east of DVP.
The site is isolated from the next node to the east (Bermondsey) by the East Don Valley. It offers a single, small-scale grocer in immediate walking distance,
and the Loblaws (superstore), which is again, the other side of the DVP.

At 600m-800M from the Crosstown, this pushes the limit of the MTSA definition.
The distance to the O/L is a whopping 1.5km.

A parking ratio 0.42 spaces per unit certainly seems ambitious. (as in low relative to what I imagine demand would be.

Allowing the usual caveat that developers work with what they own; to me, it would make more sense to consider residential intensification on Wynford at Don Mills, and leave this area office.
Of course, I would have argued against all the residential that's gone in here already for the reasons outlined above; it would appear that that metaphorical horse has left the barn.
 
Northern Light said:
I'm inclined to agree. This area (Concorde/Wynford) is quite isolated. Limited to Wynford to Don Mills and the same to Eglinton to go anywhere else.

Eglinton, as yet, is not an urban-feeling or walking street. Even if one were highly optimistic about achieving that on the lands west of DVP, this site is east of DVP.
The site is isolated from the next node to the east (Bermondsey) by the East Don Valley. It offers a single, small-scale grocer in immediate walking distance,
and the Loblaws (superstore), which is again, the other side of the DVP.

At 600m-800M from the Crosstown, this pushes the limit of the MTSA definition.

The distance to the O/L is a whopping 1.5km.

A parking ratio 0.42 spaces per unit certainly seems ambitious. (as in low relative to what I imagine demand would be.
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You can bet there will be a frequent service Wynford bus serving that street and Concorde Place (carved off of existing routes that currently head to Line 1 and Line 2) as soon Line 5 opens. Not that it would solve all traffic issues related to this proposals… but do remember that buses exist, and that our dense, frequently served network of them is one of the reasons that Toronto's subway is so well patronized.

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this area technically falls outside of the city's office replacement policies as it is greater than 500 metres from a rapid transit station.

Which lends to question why such significant densities are apparently justifiable.

Honestly the suburban 416 and 905 office vacancy rates are quite high and this office space isn't super transit accessible, or even that accessible by car given the DVP congestion - I imagine they struggle to keep it leased up, and I won't miss it that much.

I do question if the level of density contemplated here is even remotely reasonable for this relatively isolated location however. The amount of density planned around here between this and the Don Valley Hotel redevelopment make me think the area needs a more comprehensive think through how it should develop to make sure residents have adequate access to services without having to get in a car.
 
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For all the reasons already mentioned, I hope this area gets a robust pedestrian and cycling network.
 
Here we go again, over intensifying an area with only 2 entry/exits points. Where have we seen this story play out before 🤔.

I'm relatively young and all that, but I sure as hell wouldnt be walking to the LRT stop from Concorde Gate. Bus service will help alleviate pressures to an extent, but it wont solve the issues we're going to see here.
 
Amare said:
Here we go again, over intensifying an area with only 2 entry/exits points. Where have we seen this story play out before 🤔.

I'm relatively young and all that, but I sure as hell wouldnt be walking to the LRT stop from Concorde Gate. Bus service will help alleviate pressures to an extent, but it wont solve the issues we're going to see here.
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It's a 10 minute walk to Eglinton (not unlike many streetcar 'suburbs' in the inner city). Also, there's an existing bus line that goes right on Concorde Pl. This area will be very well served by transit.
 
it's a 10 minute walk from a surface transit stop, and nothing else really other than a few neighbourhood retail units. Is that really the spot for 7,000 people to live (10,000+ once including the DVP Hotel redevelopment)?

I don't think people don't think there shouldn't be any density here, just that this development as proposed is actually one of the larger projects in the city for unit count and it's not exactly in an "excellent" location that you would expect for such a project. If any of those people want to do much of anything other than go to work on the LRT they are looking at getting in a car and driving, be it to access retail, groceries, community facilities, etc.

Scale this back to 1,500 units and we may be discussing a more appropriate project for the location if you ask me.
 
innsertnamehere said:
it's a 10 minute walk from a surface transit stop, and nothing else really other than a few neighbourhood retail units. Is that really the spot for 7,000 people to live (10,000+ once including the DVP Hotel redevelopment)?

I don't think people don't think there shouldn't be any density here, just that this development as proposed is actually one of the larger projects in the city for unit count and it's not exactly in an "excellent" location that you would expect for such a project. If any of those people want to do much of anything other than go to work on the LRT they are looking at getting in a car and driving, be it to access retail, groceries, community facilities, etc.

Scale this back to 1,500 units and we may be discussing a more appropriate project for the location if you ask me.
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Exactly this.

Add to the fact that there's virtually no retail present except for 1 plaza serving the entire Concorde Place community makes this another recipe for disaster. I dont know how many times we have to go through this same exercise, or in how many ways they need it spelled out for them for the city to finally realize this kind of development pattern needs to come to an end.

It doesnt work, it's flawed, and it's broken. The density load combined with the lack of neighborhood amenities and retail is a bad combination, plain and simple.
 
On the other hand, the site isn't completely in a cul-de-sac thanks to Wynford Drive connecting through the area (and planned extension through the former Celestica site), and there is direct access to the DVP.

The challenges noted above are real, but I think there is a real opportunity to intensify the area. This application will undoubtedly go through several more revisions. Hopefully there is some thought to how the pedestrian experience can be improved on Wynford Drive to connect with the Crosstown.
 
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