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

Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

I assume that when the lobby of 2 Bloor West was renovated several years ago the large concrete relief murals were destroyed. I can't imagine how they could have been removed.

The artist*- and I think this was a fine example of his work - is well represented in other Canadian Modernist and Brutalist buildings from the 1960's and 1970's, with similar large, decorative concrete works typical of that era. I believe there may be an example in the Bay/Wellesley Provincial office building cluster. I don't exactly wake up at nights in a cold sweat, but the disdain for our brutalist buildings, and their bravura interior design and artworks, is distressing.

I can't think of a better local example of how the baby can sometimes be thrown out with the bathwater. They supersized the commercial component of the building by putting that tacky crystal glass animal store there instead.

*Jordi Bonet ( 1932-1979 ). An large example of his work, called "The End of Time", is in the Ferguson Block.
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

Only concern...that Brown & Storey didn't exactly do a stellar job with Dundas Square....hopefully this time it will be better..

Not slagging Yonge & Dundas, but somehow it seems like a missed opportunity,,,maybe metropolis will correct things..
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

Finally! When does construction start. Do we go through another summer tourist season turning off more tourists?
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

It appears that one component of the street design will be the same as before... the light standards! Even though the ones shown in the rendering appear to be darker than the standards existing now, it looks like the existing ones are here to stay, which I think is unfortunate because they stand out just as much as the trees will (especially in winter). I hope the standards will be replaced along this stretch of Bloor to differentiate Yorkville from the rest of Bloor-Danforth that also use the same standards. And if they do plan on getting new standards, they better be better than the Downtown Yonge ones!
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I agree...different light standards would help a lot.

For all those people who are wondering about 1BE...these renderings are actually a few years old. At that point 1BE looked like it would be released fairly soon, so I guess they decided to include it.
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but in every other city I've been to, access to underground utilities is done through very unobtrusive manholes placed at frequent intervals in the sidewalk. Only in Toronto do they slice up the sidewalk and then put a sloppy patch of ashphalt on top.
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

Only concern...that Brown & Storey didn't exactly do a stellar job with Dundas Square....hopefully this time it will be better..
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I emailed them about this some time ago and they said there was lots they wanted to do but couldn't due to lack of money from the city, ie. clad the concrete pillars under the large canopy. They could only afford to clad the three under the little canopy. So it's not lack of ability, it all comes down to money.
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now let's get moving on University, Bay, Yonge, and Church!

Louroz
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but in every other city I've been to, access to underground utilities is done through very unobtrusive manholes placed at frequent intervals in the sidewalk. Only in Toronto do they slice up the sidewalk and then put a sloppy patch of ashphalt on top.
Alchemist
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I did a thread a few years ago about this. Mozo had just opened and one of the tree planters had fallen apart just days after being installed. They came back and used ashphalt to cover it up. I emailed Pam McConnell and within a day the ashphalt was gone and a new planter was in place. The city will respond if you bug them about it.

I've adopted Sherbourne from Queen to King (unofficially) and am doing my best to keep the trees alive. I've been removing the buds from the bottom of the trees to allow them to grow upwards.
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

Bloor St. makeover set to start in spring
City to advance $20M for beauty treatment

Businesses to repay loan over 20 years
May 25, 2006. 01:00 AM
DONOVAN VINCENT
CITY HALL BUREAU


The Bloor Street Transformation project, a plan kicking around since 1998, is set to start next spring.

A major reason for the delay was the time taken to figure out how to pay for the estimated $25 million project, which calls for widened granite sidewalks, raised planters, special street lighting, shrubbery and public art.

The goal has always been to make the strip of Bloor between Church St. and Avenue Rd. — considered the city's most important shopping district — a magnet like Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. But the city has a hard time coming up with funds for big infrastructure projects, and businesses on the strip feel they're up to their limit paying about $100 million a year in taxes.

In an "innovative'' payment scheme, the city now plans to advance the money through a $20 million loan, including interest. The funds are to be repaid over a 20-year period, mostly through a levy paid by businesses on Bloor St. and immediately adjacent.

A new business improvement association is being formed for those businesses, one that will work with the existing BIA that encompasses all of Bloor-Yorkville. That BIA will also contribute to the payments, and an additional $5 million will come from fees developers pay for area projects.

The city has set aside $1 million from its capital budget for the drawings and a study to be done on the street, work that will provide a better sense of what the transformation will cost, Councillor Kyle Rae said at a news conference yesterday also attended by Mayor David Miller and Gordon Dreger, chair of the Bloor-Yorkville BIA.

The additional funds from the city will be approved in coming years, said Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale).

"From the city's perspective this (project) is an important precedent,'' Miller said. "It shows that the BIA can come together, can be innovative, (that) the city is innovative in the use of public funds and we're able to create partnerships with private businesses to city build.''

Dreger said major property owners like Cadillac Fairview and Brookfield have made a "major leap of faith'' to work with the city on the project.

"Bloor St. renovated, restored and enhanced will be a better place for them to do business,'' he said, adding shoppers and pedestrians will also benefit.


So they won't start in another year because they can't figure out how to pay for it or how much it will cost? Haven't they had four years to try to figure this out? I guess we should be thankful for the small things but this announcement is not much of an announcement. Its an announcement to study and to plan, not an announcement that anything is immediately starting.
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

Yeah, it's disappointing to say the least.
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

I've adopted Sherbourne from Queen to King (unofficially) and am doing my best to keep the trees alive. I've been removing the buds from the bottom of the trees to allow them to grow upwards.
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I think you just made it official.
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

It would be nice if the city adopted them as well. ;)
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization

According to the report from the Parks and Economic Development Commmittee:

www.toronto.ca/legdocs/20.../it009.pdf

The designation of the Bloor Street BIA (for the purposes of funding the project) will be able to go ahead given only low levels of business opposition.

AoD
 
Re: Bloor Street Revitalization - tidbit update

We expect that the Bloor Street streetscape improvements will commence early 2008. The City has issued a call for all utility companies to schedule any necessary work for Bloor Street, and have insisted that over the next year all utility and underground infrastructure be upgraded, as required. It is expected that such work will be completed in 2007.


Thank you for your interest, and please feel free to contact us anytime if you have any other inquiries.


Regards,
Marija


Marija Jevric

Urban Design Coordinator

Bloor-Yorkville BIA

Tel: 416.928.3553 x26

Fax: 416.928.2034

www.bloor-yorkville.com
 
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