News   Jul 12, 2024
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News   Jul 12, 2024
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Midtown Toronto

Interestingly, Google Maps has updated and decided upon the borders of Midtown for us.

Apparently it now ranges from Marlee Avenue in the west to Bayview Avenue in the East and from Lawrence Ave in the north to Bloor Street in the south and includes Rosedale, Summerhill, the Annex among other places.
 
Now if only they would update their satellite imagery for Toronto. It's nearly 4 and a half years old! Winnipeg has had bird's eye view for over a year. What's with the delay in updates for Toronto? Of course there doesn't seem to be any way to contact Google and find out what the deal is.
 
YE station pedestrian dispersal network should be a legible gateway of distinction

I don't think any additional underground retail areas are needed, other than what's already there at YE centre & the subway tunnels. Also YE centre is expanding already, and there is already a lot of retail on Yonge north & south.

Glad you raised underground retail in conjunction with the YE subway tunnels.

I prefer to think of this space as the YE transit 'dispersal' area rather than subway tunnels. According to the projection I foresee, the Yonge Eglinton Urban Growth Centre will accommodate an additional population of 23,000 within fifteen years, equivalent to the existing population residing between Yonge-Mt.Pleasant and Keewatin-Merton in 2006 (figure from City of Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles).

Much of this population we want to see as being transit- rather than car-oriented, and frankly it will have to be. YE's arterial road network is tapped out at rush hour and this condition is unlikely the expand. So most people will be going down the 'hole', which should be recognised as YE's principal 'gateway' – the new, new thing giving YE its future recognition.

At present we endure a choice between either accessing transit through the crappy tunnel routes or crossing the rush hour congested YE intersection at grade. As we move forward into the future's population forecast, and recognising that the subway station is southwest of YE whilst the majority of the future population will reside east of Yonge and again north of Eglinton... it requires a principal pedestrian flow path to accommodate this movement.

There is a tremendous amount of space which will be open-cut to install the LRT station, a train-stable and switch, which it is then planned to simply backfill!. The overall length of open-cut will be in the neighbourhood (no pun intended) of Henning through to Dunfield.

Some challenge this gateway dispersal concept citing insufficient height traversing under the Yonge-Eglinton intersection, which I agree is a critical constraint. However, you if you use the stairway to grade within the southwest station entry, it involves 25-steps each rising 6", accumulating to an overall 12.5-foot difference between levels. Within this, a 9-foot high channel will be available, which can then then flare out to a greater height beyond the intersection.

There some who question the collision with underground services theat we presently dodge under. When the cut is opened up to its 21-meter depth, equivalent to condo excavations today, the services issue will be seen as a relatively minor part of the whole equation, worthy of relocation within the excavated void.

Besides practically accommodating the increased flow of population, and besides providing a gateway experience in this dispersal people... there is the further opportunity for local retail to treat the flow-through of transit commuters traversing through Yonge Eglinton as valued foot-traffic supporting additional retail enterprises. The broader the local retail offering, the less need for those living at Yonge Eglinton to seek destinations further afield. I consider this an astute win-win. On this basis, in this location, I do believe that another layer of retail below that at grade is a most appropriate, beneficial and desirable ambition to achieve.

Cheers

T
 
Toronto’s Art Deco district? Take a walk along Eglinton Avenue West
http://spacing.ca/toronto/2014/01/28/art-deco-eglinton/

One thing I really like about midtown is the abundance of brick walk-up apartments (up to 5 or 6 stories) from the early half of the 20th century. They aren't just on Eg West but all over midtown from St Clair to Lawrence.

These Forest Hill apartments are beautiful:
http://goo.gl/maps/B1vJX

Near Yonge & Lawrence:
http://goo.gl/maps/Dzw0E

An Art Deco apartment complex on Bayview:
http://goo.gl/maps/vrAOh
 
This is apparently a City of Toronto project on improving Midtown:
http://midtowninfocus.com/

Check out the presentations, there are some great ideas: extending Dunfield road north the break up the huge blocks, adding bike lanes and big trees, adding public squares along Yonge.
 
I like their 'Parkloop' idea for Roehampton and Broadview.

Redpath looks nice as well.

That was a heck of a disjointed presentation though.
 
Did you know Sunnybrook Plaza on the NE corner of Eg & Bayview is the first strip mall in Toronto, and I believe the first in Canada? Now there are strip malls all over suburban Toronto, housing delicious restaurants from cultures around the world. I learned that in a History of Toronto class at U of T.

This has been a Canadian Heritage moment :)
 
Yep and I heard riocan has plans to redevelop it
 
Did you know Sunnybrook Plaza on the NE corner of Eg & Bayview is the first strip mall in Toronto, and I believe the first in Canada? Now there are strip malls all over suburban Toronto, housing delicious restaurants from cultures around the world. I learned that in a History of Toronto class at U of T.

This has been a Canadian Heritage moment :)

Very interesting! I did not know this.

As "neighborhood"ly as this plaza is, I'd be looking forward to seeing how it gets re-developed.
 

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