Yonge and Bloor public square would be 'amazing'
Jul 27, 2009 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Even the mayor agrees: the corner of Yonge and Bloor would be an ideal location for a public square.
"It's an amazing site," says David Miller. "It would be a remarkable place for a square. That corner needs investment."
Specifically, His Worship was referring to the empty southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor, razed last year to make way for an 80-storey hotel/condo tower that has since fallen victim to the recession.
Deputy premier and Energy Minister George Smitherman, whose riding includes the corner, also likes the idea.
"It's an awfully prominent spot in our city," he says, "And we've seen what Yonge-Dundas Square did for that corner. That was a bit of a precedent."
Smitherman suggests trucking in sand to create an urban beach, as Paris does on the banks of the Seine.
Of course, there are no plans for anything more ambitious than another condo. It won't be as tall and most likely won't have a hotel, but it will be a condo. Word is that the deal to sell the land must be finalized by today. Observers say the site, said to have cost about $75 million several years ago, would now fetch between $50 million and $55 million. That's still a lot of money, but given the impact a square could have at this critical intersection, it may be worth the price.
The truth is that Yonge and Bloor, like Yonge and Dundas before it, has seen better days. Though it hasn't become a dollar-store haven, it could use some help. Yonge, north and south of Bloor, has started to feel tacky and neglected. Though far from seedy, Bloor is lined with third-rate buildings that take much and give little. Bloor and Yonge is coasting on a reputation gained long ago of being Toronto's most fashionable intersection. By any objective standard, it is relentlessly ordinary.
What's needed is a top-to-bottom remake, but that's not going to happen. To start with, the towers on the northeast and southeast corners should be demolished, along with the Bay store and the clothing shop on the southwest corner. Until the buildings on the southeast corner were torn down, the highlight there was a hamburger joint.
So much for Toronto's most elegant shopping district.
Let's not forget that Bloor between Avenue Rd. and Church St. is undergoing a major facelift. Trees will be planted, new paving put down and street furniture installed. The idea of the massive project, funded by the local business improvement association and the city, is to give an important retail and cultural precinct an identity worthy of its status. So it's no surprise someone wants to build yet another condo in the area.
But unlike a condo, which can go almost anywhere, a civic square needs a special location. Bloor and Yonge is one of few such sites.
As Miller rightly points out, however, "Toronto doesn't have a tradition of public spaces." And, Smitherman adds, "I'd have a hard time finding the public resources to bring a square to life."
The mayor is holding out for a "magnificent building on the site."
That's as unlikely as a square.
No doubt a condo will appear. Like dozens before, it will be tall, square and made of glass. By the time the dust settles, Bloor and Yonge will look just like any other corner in the city.
As both Smitherman and Miller make clear, investing in a square would benefit Toronto enormously, and despite its cost, it would be money well spent.
chume@thestar.ca
http://www.thestar.com/gta/columnist/article/672165
