HowarkRoark
New Member
A great addition to the neighbourhood. It's a bit sketchy right now but a development like this is the first big step towards elevating the profile of the area.
Toronto 1293 Bloor West | 104.6m | 28s | RioCan | Kirkor Architects
- Thread starter smably
- Start date
AlbertC
Superstar
Current view of that corner:
abovegrade
Active Member
Completely disagree, I like neighbourhoods that embrace their grittiness. This area is an art hub, one of the last remaining truly 'alternative' areas in the city and it's just going to be another sterile block where there are no unique businesses and creatives are pushed out for condos nobody can afford.
Koops65
Senior Member
??? If nobody can afford them, how do they get sold out so quickly?
smably
Senior Member
Well that's a bit melodramatic. We're hardly in danger of losing the fine-grained retail on Bloor. This is replacing a bank branch, not exactly the pinnacle of "alternative" culture. Any rental units will have to be replaced under the city's rental replacement policy.
The neighbourhood is in a long-term population decline thanks to shrinking household sizes. Just look at this sea of red:
The only green areas on that map are the areas where apartments are being built. Everything else is being hollowed out.
Preserving the current built form in amber and slamming the door on anyone who can't afford a single-family home isn't going to help anyone. We need more people and more housing options if we want the neighbourhood to survive and thrive. I hope we don't lose the grit and character (I liked it enough and was fortunate enough to be able to buy a house just down the street), but the status quo isn't an option.
Undead
Senior Member
Investors pulling equity from their existing units for down-payments on new ones.
HowarkRoark
New Member
"Alternative"? There's literally a strip club two doors down. No thanks. If you don't like the neighbourhood improving you're free to make a high enough offer to buy the land from RioCan.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
This weekend...
Towered
Superstar
Club Paradise (strip club).
jcam
Active Member
Is the hollowing out of the red a result of empty nesters holding onto their single-family homes after the kids move away? Or larger families moving away and being replaced by smaller ones? Because it's not like housing is being torn down and not replaced.
smably
Senior Member
Household sizes are declining across Canada and there are a few factors at play here. Families are smaller across the board and there are more people living alone, but also affordability in the city is so bad that I imagine a lot of people have to move farther out to start a family. You're right that the physical nature of the neighbourhoods is the same as it always was, more or less, so it's mostly an invisible phenomenon. We have roughly the same number of houses, but way more empty bedrooms.
Edited to add: there's already some discussion about this topic in the Toronto population thread.
Population of Toronto (Including Census Counts)
The trend of population loss in "mature" neighbourhoods, both in the cities, and in built out suburbs, appears to have been not limited to Toronto. Calgary and Edmonton had a similarly pronounced trend as well. However, this has been much less pronounced in Vancouver. Winnipeg, Montreal and...
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abovegrade
Active Member
Yeah - Bohemian. Kind of like Kensington. Full of unique people thrifting in vintage shops, working in nearby art studios etc. MOCA is nearby and there are so many local shops and creative businesses that I frequent. I just want them to stay and I worry they will just be gentrified out. The area has a Montreal ( Plateau-Mont Royal ) vibe. Not many places are truly left like this in TO, when there are condos the reality is we always get generic street-level offerings.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
No disagreement, @abovegrade, and retail activation is something the City certainly has the power to address. But they don't. Planning sees it's MO as protecting existing homowners from 'impending doom', not trying to get the best result out of something (a new development, for example) that is almost assuredly coming. They've got carrots, they've got sticks. They're just busy playing in the mud.
smably
Senior Member
If you want to give feedback on the architecture and retail on offer here, you'll have your chance soon. There is a public meeting scheduled for Tuesday the 27th at 6:30pm. RSVP here:
www.eventbrite.ca
Community Open House for 1293 Bloor Street West Development Proposal
Join us for our public open house to learn more about the proposed development and provide your valuable feedback!
www.eventbrite.ca
HowarkRoark
New Member
Landsdowne is nothing like the Plateau in Montreal. Where is the Parc Lahaie? Where is the L'Avenue? Where are the colouful houses and murals?