South Core

[Waterloo_Guy]

Strange that there isn't already a threat for this part of town.

What do you think the practical boundaries are of the south core? Clearly the North, South, and West ends are somewhat obvious, but how far East can this area really extend? Is the office space at 1 Yonge too far East of Union Station for companies looking to move to the south core?

 

[ksun]

Ideally it would go as east as Yonge st.

1 Yonge is a bit far from Union (850m) but not too bad.
I think the subway needs to extend beyond Front st to Harbour st someday to make the area south of the railtrack/Gardner more accessible. Right now they are building all the connections underground or above-ground but it still requires too much of a walk.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

I wonder if it will be possible for 1 Yonge to lease out all that office space they've proposed, especially when they are competing with better locations.

 

[taal]

I wonder if it will be possible for 1 Yonge to lease out all that office space they've proposed, especially when they are competing with better locations.

I think it'll be a big challenge but doable in the long term, places like East Bayfront, on the other hand have it much much harder.

You can likely continue the path to 1 Yonge, though it is quite a long walk.

 

[JasonParis]

I think the subway needs to extend beyond Front st to Harbour st someday to make the area south of the railtrack/Gardner more accessible. Right now they are building all the connections underground or above-ground but it still requires too much of a walk.

That won't happen. The QQW and eventual QQE streetcar lines, plus the expanded PATH, should be able to adequately handle the influx.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

I wonder if the office proposed at 1 Yonge is because the City wants mixed use. It wouldn't surprise me to see it removed from the final proposal. It just seems to me that the attraction of the south core is a tightly bound cluster of office space close to the south entrance to Union. Building a big, expensive office tower that far east sounds impossible to me.

 

[ehlow]

It's an exciting & interesting neighbourhood to watch grow out of nothing rapidly.

Places that did not exist a few years ago like Maple Leaf Square aka Jurassic Park have already become recognized public spaces for fans during the Raptors playoffs.

The growth that's taking place here is incredible, the amount of brand new skyscrapers. Once Union station and the waterfront projects finish up, it should a very popular area due to proximity to the lake.

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

No kidding

 

[ksun]

It's an exciting & interesting neighbourhood to watch grow out of nothing rapidly.

Places that did not exist a few years ago like Maple Leaf Square aka Jurassic Park have already become recognized public spaces for fans during the Raptors playoffs.

The growth that's taking place here is incredible, the amount of brand new skyscrapers. Once Union station and the waterfront projects finish up, it should a very popular area due to proximity to the lake.

I certainly hope so but don't hold my breath on it.
The area south of Union should be made more pedestrian friendly. The highway and the railway will always be an obstacle, or at least serve as an disincentive for people to visit that area. It is just not attractive.

 

[nfitz]

I certainly hope so but don't hold my breath on it.
The area south of Union should be made more pedestrian friendly. The highway and the railway will always be an obstacle, or at least serve as an disincentive for people to visit that area. It is just not attractive.

The highway? How is it an obstacle? It's easy to cross under. Crossing Lakeshore and Harbour Street takes forever. Perhaps we can elevate Lakeshore as well, to improve access to the lake. The railway is more of an obstacle, but west of Yonge to Spadina there are plenty of crossings. Need some between Yonge and Jarvis.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

I certainly hope so but don't hold my breath on it.
The area south of Union should be made more pedestrian friendly. The highway and the railway will always be an obstacle, or at least serve as an disincentive for people to visit that area. It is just not attractive.

I think it's becoming very pedestrian friendly. The tracks are no longer an obstacle; that's history. And removing the ramps on the expressway will help too. And don't forget that this is the path to the waterfront, so I think it will get a lot of pedestrian traffic.

 

[ehlow]

There's already tons of pedestrian traffic along the waterfront, even though Queens Quay and the surrounding area is a big construction zone.

Edit: I'm expecting ksun will reply to this post with something like "but it's NOTHING compared to China"

 

[taal]

Other then the lack of street level retail ... this area has a fairly pedesterian freiendly built form throughout !! Very wide sidewalks ... trees / nicely finished sidewalks (not just plain old concrete.

 

[Waterloo_Guy]

The part of south core north of the expressway is developing a nice feel to it, but I'm worried that the area south of the expressway will feel cheap and less impressive.

 

[Beatrice Honeypot]

Does anyone know what the yellow lions with crowns spray painted on the sidewalk refer to? They say, "it's coming." What's coming? Can we expect a lion-based monarchy?