Grange Park

[Hipster Duck]

I agree with Chuck. Landlords in GP are milking their investments in properties which, despite the rise in land values, still extract the greatest income through student rentals. This is a pretty good deal for a slumlord because they can spend the absolute bare minimum to maintain the structure while collecting absurd rents. Let's say a bay and gable duplex can be subdivided to house 8 students, each paying $500/month (or whatever the highest price is that they don't ask questions) and, voila, instant cash cow.

Immigrant Chinese renters are an even sweeter deal: you can cram in even more of them than you can students and due to the legal status of their residency, language and cultural barriers they won't raise a fuss or run to the Ontario Rental Tribunal.

 

[simply Dan]

When Tridel was building 152 St. Patrick (on the corner at Dundas) about 10 years ago, they tried to purchase the small properties on the south side of Dundas between St. Patrick and Mccaul, but the owners wouldn’t sell. Once Tridel had excavated the parking garage for the new building, the owners changed their minds and tried to persuade the developer to reconsider, buy them out and build a larger building on the land. Tridel basically told them to get lost and completed the building without the additional land. Now the owners are stuck with nobody willing to buy out their little decrepit stores.

 

[King of Kensington]

Initially, the Grange area was an elite neighborhood. But the wealthy began migrating further and further from the downtown and abandoned the area, as was common in the late 19th century in many cities. After 1900 it had become a working class, immigrant, heavily Jewish neighborhood. It became "Chinatown" in the 1960s when the Jews had moved north, the old Chinatown was demolished to make room for City Hall and when immigration restrictions against non-whites were removed.

Today it seems it can be split into two parts - the Chinatown part west of Beverley, which gentrification seems to haved skipped over, and the more yuppie part east of Beverley, which is more downtown condo yuppies and some OCAD types plus some gentrified houses on Henry St.

 

[prosperegal]

I've heard that some Jews are moving back to the so-called "old neighbourhood" one which their grandparents would have lived in back in the day. Do you think Chinese Canadians, ones who grew up in the comforts of a 3000 sq ft home in Markham would do the same in the next few years?

 

[Spoonman]

plus some gentrified houses on Henry St.

It's interesting ... I've noticed that once you pass Cecil St. and the Russian Orthodox church while walking north on Henry St., the general upkeep of the houses and front lawns improves dramatically.

 

[King of Kensington]

I've heard that some Jews are moving back to the so-called "old neighbourhood" one which their grandparents would have lived in back in the day. Do you think Chinese Canadians, ones who grew up in the comforts of a 3000 sq ft home in Markham would do the same in the next few years?

Perhaps. There's definitely been a Jewish "back to the city" movement over the past few decades, but it's more centered in the Annex than Grange Park.

 

[King of Kensington]

It's interesting ... I've noticed that once you pass Cecil St. and the Russian Orthodox church while walking north on Henry St., the general upkeep of the houses and front lawns improves dramatically.

Maybe it's essentially "Huron-Sussex" at that point.

 

[Chuck]

I doubt that Jewish people are moving back to the city any more so than other ethnic/religious groups. In general, many young adults who grew up in the suburbs are moving back to the city because it's much more interesting than living in the suburbs. I made the move, and so did many of my friends. Having said that, many of my friends, including myself, also happen to be Jewish. Mere coincidence!

 

[King of Kensington]

Apparently the Jewish population south of St. Clair has doubled in the past two or three decades.

 

[urbandreamer]

It seems to me that many of my Jewish friends are buying homes in the BLO area (Bloor and Ossington.)

 

[King of Kensington]

the BLO area (Bloor and Ossington.)

That's a new term for me!

 

[King of Kensington]

It's interesting ... I've noticed that once you pass Cecil St. and the Russian Orthodox church while walking north on Henry St., the general upkeep of the houses and front lawns improves dramatically.

I did that walk today (albeit walking south) and you're right. But I don't really think of anything east of Beverley as being "Chinatown." I noticed the street sign for Henry was recently changed to Discovery District. The Chinatown BIA covers Beverley to Augusta, College to Sullivan - which sounds about right to me.

 

[Torontovibe]