Toronto Agincourt Mall Redevelopment | 142.94m | 43s | NorthAmerican | Giannone Petricone

Bah, that is utterly disappointing.

One would have thought that park-facing patios on a wide treed sidewalk would have been a massive win, especially considering that the density proposed here could support restaurants/cafes.
The developer wants to concentrate patios on the east side of the north-south street that heads into the central square. (The east side will get the most evening light.) They're calling it the Rambla, because they're taking direct inspiration from Barcelona's La(s) Rambla(s). There will also be street restos/retail on the east-west street that leads away from the park, so there will be activity fairly close to the park.

In the end, you cannot put retail on every street and have them all succeed unless you have 20,000 units in the buildings above. You have to concentrate the retail on one or two streets to get enough of buzz happening. Take Yonge Street: people on it. Victoria Street: occasional lost soul, skittering quickly to next access to Yonge Street. Even downtown you're not going to activate every street.

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The developer wants to concentrate patios on the east side of the north-south street that heads into the central square. (The east side will get the most evening light.) They're calling it the Rambla, because they're taking direct inspiration from Barcelona's La(s) Rambla(s). There will also be street restos/retail on the east-west street that leads away from the park, so there will be activity fairly close to the park.

In the end, you cannot put retail on every street and have them all succeed unless you have 20,000 units in the buildings above. You have to concentrate the retail on one or two streets to get enough of buzz happening. Take Yonge Street: people on it. Victoria Street: occasional lost soul, skittering quickly to next access to Yonge Street. Even downtown you're not going to activate every street.

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Well, at least Public Road 'D' will be enjoyable to take a stroll on.

BTW, I did not receive a notification for your quotation. Unsure if this is a forum issue or an anamoly.
 
I'll have our IT guy whipped. (Not related to that strange problem, just gonna do it.)

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Bah, that is utterly disappointing.

One would have thought that park-facing patios on a wide treed sidewalk would have been a massive win, especially considering that the density proposed here could support restaurants/cafes.


I fully agree. Having a "European style" square with restaurants and cafes would be very attractive, and compliment the park. In any case its a very nice development and a step in the right direction
 
I love how "Future Subway Station" is part of the developer's site plan.

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The Agincourt Mall redevelopment proposal appeared before the Design Review Panel a week and a half ago now (been busy), unchanged from what we've seen already, and I have some rough notes from that which I'm essentially going to dump here:

First off - the amount of parkland being proposed for the site exceeds the amount that the City requires. Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation doesn't like the plan so much though, as they don't want it spread throughout the site, they want it all in one block, sort of north central. The DRP was asked to comment on that. As you'll see, the DRP members liked the parks as proposed, not one of them supporting Toronto PFR's position.

The notes start out as "a member was…" because the members are not supposed to be identified by their comments unless you ask each one first. There's no reason to identify though anyway, as no one member's comment holds any more weight than anyone else. So…

A member ws surprised by all of the challenges on the site in regard to easements at the current mall (no build zones, etc.), loves the central park, the ‘rambla’, would like to see more variation in the height of buildings (lower near the park, higher near Sheppard), higher podiums, greater variety of plate sizes, something civic in scale for the west side of street C.

The second member agrees with the first, looking to move more density east, some of it away from the central park, would like to see much more planting on Sheppard.

One member is concerned with how dense this is (denser than the West Don Lands), unsure of how this plan treats Sheppard (not detailed enough info on that).

A member really likes the spirit of the design, with a strong public realm network, including the engagement of the community to the west, but is also wondering about the placement of the towers around the park, (likes the homes surrounding the park though).

A member like the ‘rambla’ particularly, the richness of the green space plan, agrees that there should be more building typologies.

A member remarks that it’s always a pleasure to see a proposal built around such a strong landscape, (but wants more on Sheppard, pushing those buildings back a bit in a trade off for more height), possibly add retail at the west end of Road A where it meets the park as that would be very popular, wants something more formal for the part of the park near the library.​

After all the comments, the vote was going to be Refine—with the condition that tower placement and heights be looked at more closely— but then it was decided it was too early going to ask for either Refine or Redesign, so not vote was taken.

Meanwhile, there is a public consultation coming up on Monday, November 6 from 4 to 7 PM at the mall, for anyone wanting to weigh-in on the plan.

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New docs posted February 15: http://app.toronto.ca/DevelopmentAp...4186201&isCofASearch=false&isTlabSearch=false

No new renders, but a phasing plan was posted:

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Some of the changes made to the Master Plan include:
  • Overall number of units reduced from 5009 to 4725
  • The central park has been expanded
  • More POPS throughout the site
  • Reconfigured road network
  • Tallest tower height reduced from 52 to 48 storeys
  • Lowered podium heights
  • Increased built form setbacks and stepbacks
 
Hmmmm,.... comparing this latest plan to the previous October 2017 plan:

The October 2017 plan had a "Future Subway Station" on north side of Sheppard Ave west of Public Road "B" (one block west of Kennedy), now it's to be "Sheppard Park". Also in new plan road allowance width along Sheppard Ave East has been widen to accommodate a on-street Sheppard LRT, as per road markings. But it doesn't seem the proposed buildings along Sheppard Ave East has been set-back yet to accommodate adequate sidewalk & boulevard space.
 

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