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

The Entertainment District definitely, although their plan might cost 2-5x as much given its scope and scale.

Other neighbourhoods/BIA candidates could potentially include King East, Bloor West, The Beach, Yonge-Eg, and St Clair W. But my gut feeling is that the success of this and Roncy will inspire several others.
 
Yonge north of Eglinton is presently getting a make-over: there certainly is no granite and I bet the planted trees will not be as big but new sidewalks and planters are being built now.
 
Though it may not seem so currently, Spadina has the physical specs for a "vibrant grand avenue" given its width. One day, with visionary leaders and the interest of the wealthy the streetcars can be buried (replaced by subway perhaps), the ROW replaced with a beautiful median with trees, flowers and sculptures, as well as wider sidewalks and perhaps a traffic separated bike lane. A bunch of midrise buildings of elite architects can replace some of the many nondescript buildings there right now.

It's probably a long way off, but it's worth keeping in mind the potential since it's not a standard narrow four lane street surrounded by high-rises which aren't going anywhere. University also has less potential because it's been ingrained in Toronto culture that it's a formal street surrounded by institutions.
 
Northern Magus said:
The Entertainment District definitely, although their plan might cost 2-5x as much given its scope and scale.

Other neighbourhoods/BIA candidates could potentially include King East, Bloor West, The Beach, Yonge-Eg, and St Clair W. But my gut feeling is that the success of this and Roncy will inspire several others.
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The St Lawrence Market BIA did some streetscape improvements on Front Street west of Jarvis a couple of years ago - better and more trees, better median. Again, not as nice as the new Bloor but still better than it was. They have plans to extend this east of Jarvis to George or Sherbourne in 2010, or so I hear.
 
The YOnge/Eglinton revitalization is really nice as well imo. Wider sidewalks, with some patterns near the edge of the road, and plaques stating that you are uptown, not too shabby and a vast improvement. The planters appear to be upgraded also.
 
Northern Magus said:
The Entertainment District definitely, although their plan might cost 2-5x as much given its scope and scale.

Other neighbourhoods/BIA candidates could potentially include King East, Bloor West, The Beach, Yonge-Eg, and St Clair W. But my gut feeling is that the success of this and Roncy will inspire several others.
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How about Queen/King West.:)
 
Oct. 25th

Such a great response from the photos posted in the past few days inspired me to try and get some better shots than what I posted yesterday.

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge, then click again on the image for full size.

South side:



North side:

 
confusion said:
Love the double rows.
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Even better when these trees mature! The double rows is a nice effect, off hand where else in the city (if at all) do we have this? I'm pretty sure Queen's Quay will get this.

This project is shaping up quite well. Thanks for all the pictures guys.
 
junctionist said:
Though it may not seem so currently, Spadina has the physical specs for a "vibrant grand avenue" given its width. One day, with visionary leaders and the interest of the wealthy the streetcars can be buried (replaced by subway perhaps), the ROW replaced with a beautiful median with trees, flowers and sculptures, as well as wider sidewalks and perhaps a traffic separated bike lane. A bunch of midrise buildings of elite architects can replace some of the many nondescript buildings there right now.

It's probably a long way off, but it's worth keeping in mind the potential since it's not a standard narrow four lane street surrounded by high-rises which aren't going anywhere. University also has less potential because it's been ingrained in Toronto culture that it's a formal street surrounded by institutions.
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I think the streetcars should be kept; they add to the charm of the street.

As for Bloor, the new streetscaping looks good, though it seems a bit modest compared to the original plans. I'd like to see how the sidewalks are maintained and how the trees turn out. If the trees die and the city continues their tradition of filling in holes with ashphalt this could all look like crap in no time.
 
syn said:
I'd like to see how the sidewalks are maintained and how the trees turn out. If the trees die and the city continues their tradition of filling in holes with ashphalt this could all look like crap in no time.
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I was noticing on the weekend that there's some oil stains or something on some areas of the granite on the north side, plus chewing gum is starting to build up. Can we ban chewing gum?
 
It's been raised elsewhere but maybe condo developments could be required to contribute to BIA plans for tree plantings or sidewalk pavings etc. rather than to the often dismal art contributions? Also, why couldn't the city contribute somewhat too? They must have some budget for the sorry twigs and bad pavings they pay for?
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
I was noticing on the weekend that there's some oil stains or something on some areas of the granite on the north side, plus chewing gum is starting to build up. Can we ban chewing gum?
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I spend most of my working day in this neighbourhood, and it is amazing how quickly stains and gum started appearing on the sidewalk after it was laid.

But the trees are really beautiful, particularly when you can walk between them. I also really love how the trees go right up to the edge of Y-B on the North Side.
 
^Speaking of that, someone mentioned earlier in this thread that there was a sculpture supposed to be installed at the northeast corner of Yonge & Bloor. Anyone hear anything about that?
 
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