Costco (42-46 Overlea Boulevard) Demolition of Heritage Building, Former Coca-Cola HQ

[Skeezix]

??? No, I'm not going to give myself "a shake".

Of course this sort of use is eventually going to locate in the centre of the City (glad you recognize this as the centre of the City and what that means in terms of traffic expectations). It's a legal use, and IIRC (I haven't gone back and read the Planning reports) this use is permitted on this site in the City's new by-law, subject to getting the necessary performance standards. Also, the transportation and parking assessment would have been updated two years ago, when Council approved this project, and would have taken future development into account.

It's a major retail use in the middle of a commercial/employment district, on a major arterial which links two other major arterials. I'm finding the traffic-related hand wringing to be fairly unconvincing here. This type of use is legal, is going to locate in the centre of the city, and this is a good location for it.

 

[Skeezix]

Again, there are only three ways out: the two ends of Overlea, and Beth Nealson. Once you've made turns off of those, the options start expanding again.

It can take multiple lights at rush hour to make it onto Don Mills from Overlea. The bridge is only 4 lanes, so they'll never allow separate bus lanes on that, so all the Don Mills buses get held up way longer than they should. And yup, the people in that neighbourhood badly need rapid transit access to the city at large.

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But are the intersections not functioning at appropriate levels? What do you mean by "longer than they should"? How much of that traffic on Overlea is generated within Thorncliffe Park? I suspect most of it isn't. The buses are obviously an issue which could be managed - lack of political will to do so is not an excuse to sterilize land.

Overlea is a very busy street, in the middle of an area designated and designated/zoned for uses which generate high traffic demands, and where many of those existing high traffic uses have been withering on the vine for years. People need to adjust their expectations.

 

[interchange42]

I'm not arguing that the Costco should not go ahead—I don't want any land sterilized here—I'm only saying that traffic issues should be acknowledged here, and that a Relief Line staton in the middle of Thorncliffe Park before we're all immobilized by advanced age would be a worthwhile goal!

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[Skeezix]

I am not sure how traffic issues have not been acknowledged. They constituted the vast majority of the planning debate. If you mean here in this thread, personally I would say that the concerns have been somewhat overstated/exaggerated, at least in the comments here and in the recently posted article. I do acknowledge that Thorncliffe Park has horrible access, though. Although it's largely politics, not Costco or any other potential development along Overlea, that prevents that from being improved at least from a transit perspective.

And we are both singing from the same hymn book on the Relief Line station, which they ought to have started building yesterday.

 

[interchange42]

Yup, it's just politics. Development should proceed, but infrastructure should be built to support it and improve the area and local quality of life as a whole.

Councillors Fragedakis, Burnside, Minnan-Wong (shudder), Robinson (sigh), and Carroll (don't leave!) should all be screaming constantly and in unison to get their section of the Relief Line put on the front-burner. Phase 1 should go all the way north to Eglinton, and that would help everyone to the north along Don Mills too.

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[Skeezix]

The longer Fragedakis is in office, the more likely I am to put her in your shudder/sigh column.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Let's get a reality check,...

- Thorncliffe Park residential stock mainly consist of rental units in Apartment-In-Park rental towers that they basically stopped building in the mid-1970s! 40 years ago! Only one new apartment building around 25 years ago (west of East York Town Centre)
This recent GoogleEARTh image looks almost like same aerial photo of area 40 years ago found here: http://jpeg2000.eloquent-systems.com/toronto.html?image=ser12/s0012_fl1975_it0098.jp2

- There hasn't been ANY high-density development in Thorncliffe Park area (area bounded by DVP, Milwood, railway, including Wynford-Concorde west of DVP) in 25 years!
- Thorncliffe Park has high demographic of lower income, immigrants, english-second language, etc,... more dependant on transit VS driving
Thus, AM Peak-Time traffic OUT from local residents haven't changed much in the last 40 years, more likely decreased!

During last 20 years, area north of Thorncliffe Park, industrial area east of Laird south of Eglinton has converted from heavy industrial to commercial retail (shopping). Thus, the high AM Peak-Time traffic IN to nearby heavy industrial area has shifted to more scattered throughout the day. All those heavy trucks (volume) that used to go from Laird Dr to Millwood Rd to Overlea Blvd to DonMillsRd to DVP (inlcuding Coke trucks) have decreased significantly,....

Within the last 10 years, there's been a few high-density developments OUTSIDE Thorncliffe Park (3 condo towers on Eglinton east of Brentcliffe Rd and 2 condo towers on Leslie north of Eglinton).

IF there's increase in local traffic congestion within Thorncliffe Park, then that traffic must be from outside the area trying to access DVP at DonMills (VS Eglinton which is gridlock on DVP usually); it's NOT local traffic that's the issue! Likely from all the new developments in Midtown. Also Eglinton Crosstown construction divert traffic to surrounding areas,... as would Eglinton Connect if it goes ahead.

Traffic for Thorncliffe Park Costco will be shopping traffic - scattered throughout the day with minimal impact on AM Peak Time (what traffic engineer focus on); this is much better than the previous Coke bottling distribution centre usage of the site that had high AM Peak-Time traffic IN (workers) and heavy truck traffic throughout the day.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Walked by over the weekend to finally take some pics!
Southwest corner. Sping 2018!
View attachment 124270

Forget about Costco Opening in Spring 2018,..... now promising end of Feburary 2018.

"The supervising contractor says the new Costco is on schedule to open in February on Overlea Blvd barring very bad weather. Work continues furiously at the site through the weekend. Expectation is that the store will open, fully-stocked and ready for business toward the end of February."

Image and news item from the South Bayview Bulldog: "Furious actitiviy on Overlea at Costco site, EYTC additions"
http://bayview-news.com/2017/11/furious-actitiviy-on-overlea-at-costco-site-eytc-additions.html/

 

[kotsy]

Costco rocks!

Just picked up a Sony 60" 4K HDR TV for less than $800 on Black Friday. What a time to be alive!

 

[jje1000]

Does anyone know what happened to the Coca Cola sculpture out in front? I guess Coca Cola took it back?

It would be nice to see it re-erected somewhere in Toronto.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Does anyone know what happened to the Coca Cola sculpture out in front? I guess Coca Cola took it back?

It would be nice to see it re-erected somewhere in Toronto.

Oh, you mean this oversized "Coca-Cola" sculpture by Walter Yarwood ("Painters Eleven"),.... since it's oversized, Costco will sell it,... I'll be waiting for the "*/.97" clearance price.

You're right,.... "The sculpture sits in the landscaped plaza between what were the two primary buildings on site. It remains the property of the Coca-Cola Company and is not the property of the current owners of the site.
" from page 14 of City doc as is image showing sculpture in below grade "pit" square
https://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Toronto/City Planning/Community Planning/Files/pdf/4/42 Overlea - Heritage Impact Statement.pdf

From the South Bayview Bulldog news:
"The Walter Yarwood Coca Cola sculpture will be retained in its present position in a small square on Overlea. The square now sits below grade and Costco proposes to raise it and the sculpture to ground level for ease of access to the building ."
http://bayview-news.com/2015/03/cos...-1965-coke-office-building-in-new-store.html/

The latest rendering shows the PrivatelyOwnedPublicSpace with benches centering around a raised tree with plaque,... I think that's where the "Coca-Cola" sculpture will end up,.... it's likely only pictured as tree since it's owned by Coca-Cola and not property owner. Guess where I'll be eating my $1.50 Costco hot dog with Coke,....

https://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Toronto/City Planning/Community Planning/Files/pdf/4/42 Overlea - Perspectives.pdf

 

[Fidlefadle]

Didn't get around to posting these but they were taken last weekend. Western entrance has been filled in, new sidewalk, parking lot, continued work on structure. It also looks like they are re-aligning the center median on Overlea to create a dedicated left turn lane

 

[Fidlefadle]

Local news covering work on the intersection:

http://bayview-news.com/2017/12/call-it-costco-corners-as-lights-mark-entry-to-store-parking.html/

 

[kotsy]

Huge New Costco Opening in Mid-Town Toronto Next Month

 

[ticky]

Any word on the opening date?