The metro/parking lot is being developed. It's a lot smaller than it was originally!
|
|
|
Liberty Village
- Thread starter junctionist
- Start date
Torontovibe
Senior Member
I think you're wrong.
If you build inappropriate condos and create an area that's as generic as any other, you will not attract outsiders to your area or even keep the local residents engaged in the Village. Most people want to hang out/socialize and shop in nice areas. If you're going to market an area for shopping, nightlife and dining, you have to offer something worth wild. I think most of those new condos do more to push people away, then attract them. They don't help create the cachet of the historic, industrial village. All they add to the area is density, which is a good thing but they should contribute so much more.
I thought the whole point of creating Liberty Village was to develop a charming, beautiful neighbourhood that mixes historic buildings with attractive new buildings, creating a unique, inviting environment. That isn't what's happening right now. (for the most part) Liberty Village seems to be developing just like any other generic neighbourhood, even though it obviously isn't just a regular Toronto neighbourhood. This is basically the cusp of downtown Toronto and should not be designed like a suburban residential housing complex. If the new condos were well designed, beautiful buildings with a good mix of uses, we might have ended up with an amazing urban experience, instead of the blandness of East Liberty Village. What a bland mess that turned out to be. Cars outnumber people 10 to one.
Yeah, we know, sadly just another missed opportunity in a city of perpetual missed opportunities.
androiduk
Senior Member
Application: Zoning Review Status: Not Started
Location: 14 STRACHAN AVE
TORONTO ON M6K 3N8
Ward 19: Trinity-Spadina
Application#: 12 149287 ZSV 00 ZR Accepted Date: Apr 4, 2012
Project: Non-Residential Building Sign
Description: Proposal to erect and display a ground sign containing two sign faces each at 18.85 square meters, at the northerly frontage of the property. **Liberty Village**
Location: 14 STRACHAN AVE
TORONTO ON M6K 3N8
Ward 19: Trinity-Spadina
Application#: 12 149287 ZSV 00 ZR Accepted Date: Apr 4, 2012
Project: Non-Residential Building Sign
Description: Proposal to erect and display a ground sign containing two sign faces each at 18.85 square meters, at the northerly frontage of the property. **Liberty Village**
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Liberty Village view from Queen-West (Sudbury St. and Joe Shuster Way)
christiesplits
Senior Member
I have been making comments on individual Liberty project threads, so thought it would be more useful to vent over here.
Where did Liberty "go wrong?" I can't hold back my frustration about how disappointing the architecture and planning of Liberty Village has become. Where do we place the blame?
1. An inept city planning department? Up until now, was the city untested in brownfield and heritage development? Why did Distillery work (relatively speaking) and not Liberty?
2. Developers turning a fast buck through cost cutting? One only has to walk by Vibe or the townhomes immediately adjacent to notice the shoddy detail and attention to detail - from the precast to the signage.
3. Consumers indifferent to high design standards? Is this a problem contained to Liberty or an entire generation of 30-something professionals who could care less if their balcony undersides are painted?
Where did Liberty "go wrong?" I can't hold back my frustration about how disappointing the architecture and planning of Liberty Village has become. Where do we place the blame?
1. An inept city planning department? Up until now, was the city untested in brownfield and heritage development? Why did Distillery work (relatively speaking) and not Liberty?
2. Developers turning a fast buck through cost cutting? One only has to walk by Vibe or the townhomes immediately adjacent to notice the shoddy detail and attention to detail - from the precast to the signage.
3. Consumers indifferent to high design standards? Is this a problem contained to Liberty or an entire generation of 30-something professionals who could care less if their balcony undersides are painted?
christiesplits
Senior Member
http://www.blogto.com/city/2012/10/central_prison_chapel_to_get_a_restaurant_makeover/
Central Prison chapel to get a restaurant makeover
Central Prison chapel to get a restaurant makeover
S
shlammed
Guest
rdaner
Senior Member
I am at a loss as to which projects these belong to so will place them here with some general streetscape pics. I saw a ton of pedestrians walking around and plenty of shops and restaurants. The area gets more interesting as you move west where there is more piecemeal development, older buildings and greater connection to the surrounding area. All in all it seems to be working for a large number of young, upwardly mobile people. It isn't the Annex but I wouldn't say it is a disaster; more of an unfinished but promising longterm project. My sense is that this area is on the right track and the residents will be able to make the grandual, small scale changes that bring warmth and character to any newly constructed area, if allowed. Photos taken 28 February 2013.
Last edited:
nrb
Active Member
Walking in Liberty Village is like taking your life into your own hands. I can't believe how many times I've nearly been run over by some dick in a mercedes/bmw/lexus who thinks they don't have to stop at a sign. The road system is a disaster, let alone the all the bizarre acres of surface parking in a massively urban environment. There are a lot of pedestrians because there are a lot of people living there, not because it's a nice place to walk around.
The architecture is a hilariously bad mishmash of cheap styles for the condos and great old loft conversions used as offices.
The architecture is a hilariously bad mishmash of cheap styles for the condos and great old loft conversions used as offices.
Torontovibe
Senior Member
Anybody who is happy with the architecture, planning and design of Liberty Village, has really low standards. If you're happy with 3rd rate, that's exactly what you'll get. Is there anybody out there that loves green glass/spandrel? lol The traffic there is also way too fast moving and dangerous, for pedestrians to feel safe. The worst is trying to cross Strachan Ave, at East Liberty. I always have problems crossing there. I can't wait until that site gets a proper crossing light.
The plans for the area east of Strachan Ave do look pretty good, so let's hope that comes to fruition. That outdoor pool looks incredible, with the bridge and platform. That will do more to change the bad image of Liberty Village, than anything to the west. I'll be very happy to see that Metro parking lot gone but I wish the whole complex would be redeveloped, with the metro rebuilt into a residential tower. A stylish hotel wouldn't hurt the district either.
The plans for the area east of Strachan Ave do look pretty good, so let's hope that comes to fruition. That outdoor pool looks incredible, with the bridge and platform. That will do more to change the bad image of Liberty Village, than anything to the west. I'll be very happy to see that Metro parking lot gone but I wish the whole complex would be redeveloped, with the metro rebuilt into a residential tower. A stylish hotel wouldn't hurt the district either.
RC8
Senior Member
Yesterday a moron in an Audi SUV almost hit my bike there. I was making a left turn, signalled and all by the stop sign, and then this idiot comes out of nowhere from the left at full speed (wasn't even visible when I started pedalling forward) and refuses to yield as he should to any vehicle. I managed to break just in time to avoid the imminent collision.
The only reason why Liberty Village is a failure so far is because it was built as a car-centric destination. Surface parking everywhere, no bike lanes, awful sidewalks, little on-street retail, and fast moving through traffic.
Thankfully all of this - with political will - can be corrected in the future, still.
DarnDirtyApe
Active Member
I like that there's a place for upwardly mobile post-Cityplace, ex-905'ers to congrate so I can avoid it like the plague. The first that it's totally isolated from the rest of the city is a plus in my mind...
Landscape design ftw
New Member
metroTO
Active Member
I would easily take Cityplace over Liberty Village anyday.
Yes, Cityplace lacks the retail that LV has, but the urban planning, open spaces and level of architecture is far better than LV. Retail will eventually catch up when all the roads and transit are connected and more people move in. The location is very central being within walking distance to King West, the waterfront and the Entertainment District.
LV just feels like a hot mess of 905-like condos crammed into a congested and clausterphobic-feeling neighbourhood. Though feeling a little sterile, CP is definitely easier on the eyes than LV.
junctionist
Senior Member
I prefer the diversity of businesses generating economic activity like creative industries in addition to retail and restaurants in Liberty Village over CityPlace's vertical subdivision with a few token restaurants and shops. But if LV didn't have the warehouses and old urban fabric and was entirely comprised of the 21st-century development on the east side of the neighbourhood, it would be worse than CityPlace. The architecture of the new development in Liberty Village is consistently unambitious and underwhelming, if not offensive, with blatant cost-cutting in the materials.
Last edited: