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

It seems that the Preservation Board has withdrawn its recommendations to designate the office building and enter into an heritage easement with Costo. From what I've seen Costo was going to integrate the office building into their new entranceway. Does anybody know why the Preservation Board withdrew it?
 
Sherrie74 said:
Passed by on bus a few hours ago and plant is basically gone. Was in such shock I failed to check on the office building. The Coke bottle is still there and it would be nice if it remained as what was there in the past. I wont get into the debate of the proposed Costco other than traffic will be hell and not sure how the community will feel about it.
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My parents built a 12,000 sq. ft. factory on William Morgan Dr. in 1967 which we owned for almost 30 years so I have fond memories as a kid of driving by the bottling plant when it was in full production. I continue to drive along Overlea on a daily basis as my Mum lives in the area.

Since Coke has move out and they've been unable to find anyone to rent the existing offices or bottling plant in many years, I can't say I'm sad to see it torn down and welcome the news of a Costco. It sounds like they will keep the front of the Coke building and it would be nice if they also kept the sculpture, which I've always loved.

As for traffic, I don't think it's going to be a big problem. According to a friend (a long time area resident) who's been following this project from the beginning, the amount of traffic with a Costco is expected to be less than it was when the Coke plant was in operation. People forget (or don't know) just how many Coke trucks were coming in and out of the plant back in the day.

I would much rather see a Costco employing lots of people than an abandoned factory and office building. Besides, I would no longer have to drive to Scarborough or Etobicoke to do my shopping.
 
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A friend of mine who lives in the area really does not want the Costco because of the traffic. She has been following it closely and said it "failed a traffic study" so not sure what that means. Traffic is bad there all the time, I used to live nearby and it is worse now.
 
donoreo said:
A friend of mine who lives in the area really does not want the Costco because of the traffic. She has been following it closely and said it "failed a traffic study" so not sure what that means. Traffic is bad there all the time, I used to live nearby and it is worse now.
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Traffic is worse anywhere in the city in comparison to what it was 5 years ago. To me that is not a valid concern.
 
Well, Overlea Blvd. traffic is especially bad. They need a Relief Line subway station in the middle of all that.

42
 
Traffic on Overlea Blvd and Don Mills Road suffers from a funnel effect,... traffic converge to use these major arteries to cross the valley or use the DVP.

BTW, take a look at the traffic congestion throughout Toronto, the majority of Toronto would "fail a traffic study"!

A costco is the lesser of 2 evils. The area is already a shopping district with the East York Town Centre mall across the street. By adding more retail space (ie Costco) instead of condo or offices, the traffic that's mainly added is not added during peak time of AM or PM rush hour. Whereas, condos and offices would mainly add to AM and PM rush hour traffic congestion.
 
Any word on this? With Target closing the retail landscape in that area just shifted a bit.
 
Nothing going on at the site as of two weeks ago when I last drove by.

The one thing that would really improve traffic in the area would be the Redway bypass that John Parker, former Ward 26 councillor was promoting. It would run from the Bayview extension at Nesbitt to the Loblaws off Millwood Rd. The important part would be an extension of it that would skirt the Don Valley's side and connect to the Leslie/Eglinton intersection, essentially turning it into a four-way. It would allow all the traffic heading to and from the Bayview extension during rush hour to bypass Leaside and Thorncliffe Park and get to Leslie/Eglinton without hitting any traffic lights. The new W26 councillor, John Burnside, has taken it up as a cause according to his twitter feed when he was elected, but I don't think it is even in proposal stage at this point. Maybe someone knows more about it?
 
vietbo1 said:
http://www.bayview-news.com/2015/03...-1965-coke-office-building-in-new-store.html/

looks like Costco will be keeping parts of the building
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Nothing really new in that neighbourhood news article,... same stuff was posted here last Summer by GreenLeaf & AlvinofDiaspar in post # 61 to 63 confirming the frontage of old Coca-cola office building would be saved (Interchange42 been campaigning for that since Dec 2013),.... so that says a lot about the quality of posters here. AlvinofDiaspar posted links found here:

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2014.PB33.5
http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/c...nnel=490452cc66061410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

The Drawings and Studies Submitted from May 2014 already confirmed Costco intention of preserving part of the old Coca-cola office building.
http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/c...nnel=490452cc66061410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

Which was revised again last November. Only change I could find is staff parking spaces went from 128 to 124 spaces - hopefully, Costco will be hiring more local staff who can walk or cycle to work! Come on, just build the new Costco already,... I got some shopping to do!!! ;p
 
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