Towered
Superstar
Let's hope they FINALLY resolved the issue over acquiring the school at the corner. That ugly dump needs to be destroyed.
Toronto 2280 Dundas West | 127.5m | 38s | Choice Properties | Hariri Pontarini
- Thread starter smably
- Start date
vic
Senior Member
This was on a local FB group yesterday. Not my commentary....
Northern Light
Superstar
The above is quite disappointing..........
Sigh.
As of now, no new docs in the AIC.
Sigh.
As of now, no new docs in the AIC.
vic
Senior Member
One thing about leaving the school property as-is is that access to the rest of the site is blocked from Bloor. Anyone walking to the stores from the Junction Triangle has to go the long way around via Dundas. The road connection to Bloor would have made that better for pedestrians (and to a lesser extent, cyclists).
Maybe some other kind of always-open shortcut could be made, even without a full road.
Maybe some other kind of always-open shortcut could be made, even without a full road.
Northern Light
Superstar
Also key is that the school yard will be shaded quite a bit, as will the school, by tall buildings to the south, had the school and its field shifted south, that would not be an issue.
Further, a new, commercial podium development at the corner of Bloor and Dundas could potentially have a direct subway connection, going under Bloor and connecting to the what's now being built (the link to Bloor GO). That will not happen if the school stays at the corner.
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Ratazana
New Member
This is the kind of situation where we really need the MZO. Cmon Dougie and Kinga!
Northern Light
Superstar
An MZO would not change the ownership of the land.
The province could expropriate, but to do so expressly to service a private developer's interests would be ......unusual.
The province has other tools at its disposal here to intervene, the problem is not the zoning.......its the TCDSB.......who are being an obstinate pain.
Ratazana
New Member
IMHO, the benefit is beyond servicing the developers. This would benefit everyone south of Bloor in terms of accessing the 2nd biggest multimodal transport hub.
I would really like to hear why people prefer the school to stay put. What are their reasons?
ellett44
New Member
Brief update.
I attended the community meeting on Oct 07th.
As pointed out above, unfortunately the school will not be included in the proposal and discussions are off the table. I am not sure what happened, but reading between the lines it seems the developer has decided to move on and just get this project started. I get it that they want to move on this proposal, but its truly disappointing that this could not be worked out. This parcel has tremendous opportunity and so much of it was to be unlocked with the original plan - transit connections, rail bridge, increased density etc. Now we get a scaled down version of the proposal, we lose all the fantastic connections, and this parcel remains locked with only major access from Dundas St. Seems like a lose-lose-lose (developer, students, neighbourhood). If Bloor-Dundas is to be such an important node, it should have a sort of a development as the first proposal.
Of note in the proposal the street connection to Ritchie street is off the table, which is a win for the small neighbourhood to the South.
I find the commentary from the local FB group to be incredibly frustrating. Incredibly disappointing result. For what its worth Perks seemed disappointed as well and made his thoughts known about not finding a deal to be worked out.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
I'm not confident Choice will be doing anything here in the next few [many] years [if ever], but for what it's worth, the TDSB and TDCSB are monumentally difficult to deal with. Mountains out of molehills barely starts to uncover the disinterest...
Amare
Senior Member
Congrats to the TCDSB for being obstinate idiots. I wouldn't be surprised if the TCDSB decides to be further idiots years down the line and announce they will build some school nearby once the end term of the lease approaches, and thus screw all parties in the end.
Honestly I wish there was a mechanism in place to just terminate their lease early. Clearly there doesnt seem to be and it's quite unfortunate.
As for Choice's timelines on when they plan on actually moving on construction, last I heard it's not anytime soon (ie: not before 2030 for sure). That's unless the rejig the development pipeline of other projects, but for all intents and purposes Golden Mile is the much bigger focus.
Honestly I wish there was a mechanism in place to just terminate their lease early. Clearly there doesnt seem to be and it's quite unfortunate.
As for Choice's timelines on when they plan on actually moving on construction, last I heard it's not anytime soon (ie: not before 2030 for sure). That's unless the rejig the development pipeline of other projects, but for all intents and purposes Golden Mile is the much bigger focus.
Towered
Superstar
So the developer offered to built them a brand new shiny school and the TDSB turned it down...for what reason exactly?
Northern Light
Superstar
Its not the TDSB (who own the building)........its the TDCSB (Catholic Board) who are the tenant.
milkycontent
Active Member
This seems like an appropriate time to use an MZO?
Northern Light
Superstar
I don't believe that would work here; that is to say, I take it the TDCSB has provisions in its lease of the school that give it some type of veto on redevelopment/sale.
In any event if the TDSB did declare the site surplus, the TDSCB has a right to buy the property at fair market value.
A typical MZO here would make the current school legal non-conforming, I assume.
I'm not even sure, it would be a very peculiar scenario, I expect it would require its own legislative action, if the province went that route.
****
If the province wanted to force the issue, it has plenty of ways to incent the TDCSB's cooperation, or punish lack thereof.
I'm not sure though that there's that much in it for the province to mess about here.