Toronto Bloor Street Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Bloor-Yorkville BIA | architectsAlliance

junctionist said:
What's wrong with CIBC, presuming you mean 2 Bloor West. Its strong vertical concrete lines, the concrete sections delineating the mechanical parts of the building and the unique brown grid make it one of the more distinctive and interesting towers downtown. I don't know why that one gets such a bad rap.
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Agreed, you've just described all the reasons that I find this building very appealing. I especially enjoy the vertical lines, which seem to be a relative rarity 'round these parts.
 
Urban Shocker said:
I believe that Urban Shocker's Really Big Tour was rolling through Europe around the time this was built ( I missed the entire Joe Clark government ... ) so I can't say for sure, but I assume Bang and Croake built from scratch - it was part of a bigger-picture jazzing-up of Bloor Street that included the earlier Hudson Bay Centre ( also by them, I think ) and 2 Bloor West.
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Yup, it was to all intents and purposes built anew, and the marble part--the store proper--is original (other than the glass canopies recently replaced by fabric). Compared, especially, to HBC to the east, it's good Crang & Boake: when it comes to abstract elegance, you can't go much wrong with a "70s Pei" volumetric vocabulary.

However, all is not as it seems; look in the back alley and there appear to be remnant brick walls from what Holt Renfrew supposedly replaced. (Was this a tax-saving weasel gesture to make a "demolition" appear as a "renovation"? Also cf. current cases like the Hakim building nr Dundas Sq, etc)
 
Holts also expanded at underground concourse level about ten years ago, and there's more room down there for them to grow.

Clifford and Lawrie's Manulife Centre is another reminder of the time when the Yonge-Bloor-Bay Street district was the cat's miao of the development industry.
 
adma said:
Yup, it was to all intents and purposes built anew, and the marble part--the store proper--is original (other than the glass canopies recently replaced by fabric). Compared, especially, to HBC to the east, it's good Crang & Boake: when it comes to abstract elegance, you can't go much wrong with a "70s Pei" volumetric vocabulary.

However, all is not as it seems; look in the back alley and there appear to be remnant brick walls from what Holt Renfrew supposedly replaced. (Was this a tax-saving weasel gesture to make a "demolition" appear as a "renovation"? Also cf. current cases like the Hakim building nr Dundas Sq, etc)
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I think Holts and the stores east of it were erected on the existing foundations for the Woolies and Zellers which originally occupied the site. I recall that there was an issue with the ground floor of one which was a few inches higher than the other. At the time, it seemed odd that it was not all new construction. The former Morgan's Department store which occupied the west end of the site was totally demolished.
 
Oct 03

Work is done for the year

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drum118 said:
Work is done for the year


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Hmm, no bike lanes but markers are a reasonable compromise considering the option - which was nothing.
 
Word on the street is that the scramble at Yonge and Bloor is now active.

Edit: False alarm, sorry.
 
Wait-- probably stupid question but I have been following this thread and I don't recall it being answered.


Why exactly are they even stopping work at all? What's the point?

(It does look awesome so far though!!! What a difference!)
 
Here we go:

Toronto Star - Bloor-Yonge to get 'scramble' crossing Oct. 9

The intersection of Yonge and Bloor Sts. will become Toronto's second pedestrian "scramble" intersection Oct. 9, matching the intersection of Yonge and Dundas Sts.

Traffic signals at Yonge and Bloor will stop vehicle traffic in all directions, at intervals, allowing pedestrians to cross either directly across the street or diagonally through the intersection.

The Yonge and Dundas scramble intersection was set up just over a year ago, in August, 2008. The city said at the time that Bay and Dundas Sts., and Bay and Bloor Sts. may get similar treatment in the future.

Scramble interesections, or pedestrian priority phases as the city likes to call them, aren't new.

Tokyo has them and Frederiction, N.B. tried them out 20 years ago but has since gone back to conventional crossing signals.
 
This project seems like it's taking as long as the St.Clair ROW. What have they been doing for the past two years???? They've only managed to re-do the street from Church to Yonge - what gives??
 
metropolis said:
can somebody clarify the future of this project?
Is it being halted for some time?
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It is being halted for WINTER but, I think, all the underground work is now completed right over to Avenue Road so next spring they "only" have to do the sidewalks and resurface the road. Part of the delay was caused by some of the merchants trying to stop the project in court but mostly it has been slow because they are trying to re-do all the under-street and sidewalk infrastructure BEFORE they do the sidewalks and resurface the road.
 
Part of the delay was also Toronto Hydro. They needed more time to finish installing new hydro lines underground, etc.

Even still, I don't see why they haven't installed the new lighting and trees, east of Yonge?
 
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