News   Dec 05, 2025
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Parking - Catch All

The east end of The Esplanade parking garage renovation started last month.
It looks like they are redoing the joints between the precast sections of concrete and removing the painted white lines.
I’m not sure if they are replacing and concrete or just resurfacing/sealing the concrete decks.

The West end is not open yet but it looks like it should be open this year.
West End pictures
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East end pictures
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I’m not sure what this old repair was all about.
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Just like painting a new car, The repaired sectioned peels.
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Only a few spots like this.
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I’m not sure if these types of cracks are off any concern or will just be sealed up.
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It looks like they sealed cracks in the past.
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5th level below the open deck.
IMG_3175.jpeg
 
The east end of The Esplanade parking garage renovation started last month.
It looks like they are redoing the joints between the precast sections of concrete and removing the painted white lines.
I’m not sure if they are replacing and concrete or just resurfacing/sealing the concrete decks.

The West end is not open yet but it looks like it should be open this year.
West End pictures
View attachment 685451

View attachment 685450

View attachment 685449

View attachment 685448

View attachment 685447

East end pictures
View attachment 685452

I’m not sure what this old repair was all about.
View attachment 685453

Just like painting a new car, The repaired sectioned peels.
View attachment 685454

Only a few spots like this.
View attachment 685455

View attachment 685456

I’m not sure if these types of cracks are off any concern or will just be sealed up.
View attachment 685457

View attachment 685458

It looks like they sealed cracks in the past.
View attachment 685459

5th level below the open deck.
View attachment 685460
From the TPA's last meeting (June 2025), The West side is supposed to be finished "in September 2025" so I assume it will open shortly and the work on the west side is about to start:

"Car Park 43 is a 42-year-old, six (6)-level parking structure with 2008 spaces in the St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood. The garage includes an eight (8)-storey Toronto Community Housing building above the structure. Car Park 43 consistently remains as one of the top five (5) highest revenue-generating garages across TPA’s portfolio, delivering gross revenue of $4.57 Million in 2023, and $3.66M in 2024 despite partial garage closure due to construction. In 2022, TPA initiated an emergency project valued at $4.3M to replace the heavily deteriorated steel stairs with new concrete-filled galvanized steel pans. This project was completed in June 2023, mitigating immediate public safety concerns. In 2023, TPA launched a two-stage SOGR program at Car Park 43 to address critical structural and system deficiencies across the facility. Stage 1, initiated in 2023, focused on the west side of the garage and included full waterproofing and asphalt replacement, concrete restoration, and complete drainage system upgrades. This phase remains on track for completion by September 2025.

Following completion of Stage 1, Stage 2 has now commenced to rehabilitate the eastside of the facility. The scope of work mirrors that of Stage 1 and includes concrete repairs, waterproofing replacement, and drainage system upgrades, ensuring a comprehensive restoration of the entire garage. ...... The project is scheduled to start in July 2025, with construction completion scheduled by Q4 2027.

SEE: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2025/pa/bgrd/backgroundfile-257108.pdf
 
A couple of items of note from the latest TPA agenda:

The first, is that Cllr Saxe has done something that seemed almost impossible...........she's brow beaten TPA into increasing parking rates in her ward (modestly), and to extending paid parking hours (as opposed to free) to midnight on the weekends from 9pm in many popular areas.


Streets affected include Spadina, Bathurst and College among others.

I'm not going to post all the detailed charts, follow the link for that.

But what I found interesting is that they published the utilization rates for on-street spaces affected.

@TwoWheelPoli will be among those who may find this useful as it suggests where parking could be curtailed with minimal impact.

Here's an example piece:

1760019997640.png

Look at all that heavily used parking between Bloor and Dupont!

What I would like to see:

This exact type of exercise and data for every transit route with parking in every ward.

Also, I'd like to see a study or a pilot on demand management where the City raised rates to Vancouver or Chicago levels ~$10 per hour in spots, and see how much usage declines and how much of that is offset financially by the higher rates.
 
Now, this next item from the agenda will be of interest to @HousingNowTO and could easily go in the Affordable housing thread.

TPA is set to begin publishing utilization rates for all of its off-street parking lots on a quarterly basis, starting in November, through the City's Open Data Portal.

We've already had this information come out, but seeing closer to real time info, consistently, without having to ask will give a clearer path to advocating repurposing or resizing many lots.

 
20 Charles has an average utilization of 26%? Why the hell did GreenP put a large expansion on it a few years ago?

Good question! I assume it was busier.

Just to check the data, the latest aerial pics shows the roof deck completely empty of cars.

1761076744338.png


In the photos here, they don't have the entry screen w/occupancy rate.

Based on area precedent here, this is 50s to 70s site.

It does have the added complication of sitting directly over the subway tunnel. But that's very manageable.
 
On the subject of 2 Church's utilization rate, this is the 2024 aerial photo of its roof deck:

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Just going to idly stare at the 16% number for 2 Church's 2,000 parking spots for a few more minutes.
Half of the garage has been closed for the last while for rehabilitation. I'm not overly surprised by the occupancy rate, which would be doubly effected by WFH and the Gardiner construction. That garage mostly lives off people driving downtown to their office jobs and parking once they get off the Gardiner. It's a triple-action problem.

A garage that size is never going to have a completely stellar occupancy either.

I do think that the city could do a better job of advertising the 2 Church garage though. It's a huge garage in a prime location sitting relatively underutilized because a lot of people simply aren't aware it exists as it doesn't have frontage on a major route.
 

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