Toronto Emerald Park Condos | 128.92m | 40s | Bazis | Rosario Varacalli

[11th]

From yesterday evening:

That radio mast would be North York's version of the CN Tower in those shots.

 

[Therion]

I could see a non-local driving down the 401 and mistaking NYCC for downtown. It really is becoming quite impressive. I moved away from there 6 years ago and it is incomparable.

 

[salsa]

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

New residents moved into 32 storey West Tower starting in late March and into 40 storey East Tower starting around a month ago.

Retail not finish yet, latest promise date is July 13 but that's already 6th delay,... It will NOT be ready by that date,... more likely another 2-3 months for retail,... so sometimes in September for retail opening. LCBO originally supposed to open in early Spring,... LCBO is finish,.... just needs stock,... and need to finish mall passage from first floor to 2nd floor where LCBO is. Most folks in neighbourhood is excited about LCBO opening,... not so much Metro,.... ;p

 

[Angus]

Does anyone know if there is a thread for the Beecroft Community Centre on the west side of Beecroft.

The only think I could find out was from the WLHA newsletter. No explanation on the gap in work from Oct 2015 to Late 2016. Just wondering if anyone here had any insights/information?

The construction is on schedule for the underground garage to be completed by mid October 2015.
The superstructure for the New Facilities will commence late 2016 early 2017 with the renovations of the to old church to begin shortly after.
Total estimated time of the project that began February 7 2015 18-24 months.

 

[kris]

sunnyraytoronto you know a lot about this area, are these towers connected to the subway to enter and access the retail? If so do you know where the entrance is located?

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

sunnyraytoronto you know a lot about this area, are these towers connected to the subway to enter and access the retail? If so do you know where the entrance is located?

At northwest corner of Yonge & Poyntz, there will be a new TTC subway entrance from southeast corner of EmeraldPark via stairs and elevator to new pedestrian tunnel (already dug - foundation and forming being done now see second photo),.... that'll lead to existing automatic TTC entrances at Poyntz (Sheppard-Yonge south entrance) which only has stairs and escalator to Yonge platform,... thus not wheelchair accessible.

At EmeraldPark TTC entrance on streetlevel one door facing Poyntz for street entrance and another door for retail entrance where EmeraldPark tenants will also use.

Image below shows update to original rendering:
- TTC entrance stairs and elevators moved eastward "for better pedestrian flow" BS - it's to save money - less pedestrian tunnel!
- TTC entrance doors to street and retail - both moved westward

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Does anyone know if there is a thread for the Beecroft Community Centre on the west side of Beecroft.

The only think I could find out was from the WLHA newsletter. No explanation on the gap in work from Oct 2015 to Late 2016. Just wondering if anyone here had any insights/information?

The construction is on schedule for the underground garage to be completed by mid October 2015.
The superstructure for the New Facilities will commence late 2016 early 2017 with the renovations of the to old church to begin shortly after.
Total estimated time of the project that began February 7 2015 18-24 months.

That WLHA newsletter was from end of May,... a few days after the local Cameron Public School Fun Fair where both WestLansingHomeownersAssociation and Lansing United Church was in attendance and WLHA was updated on progress.

WLHA use of the word "commence" was likely in error. It should have read "be completed by",.. one hint is the renovation of the old church (sanctuary) will begin shortly after,.... Lansing United Churh is still in operation during the construction,... if they commence construction of the superstructure in Fall 2016 - Early 2017 and then begin renovation of the old church at the same time,... where will the church operate???? Basically once the new superstructure is completed in Fall 2016 - Early 2017, the Lansing United Church sanctuary function will move into one of the new main multi-purpose community-meetings room there while the old church sanctuary is renovated.

Where did the name "Beecroft Community Centre" come from???

No separate thread,... I usually just post here about it since the church rebuild-expansion of community centre is section 37 from EmeraldPark. Lansing United Church was suppose to have a website for the rebuild progress to keep the community updated,... it was supposed to be ready last month,...

Anyways, that community centre, to be operated jointly between city of Toronto and Lansing United Church, should have been completed way before EmeraldPark. Why does it take longer to build a 2 storey community center than it takes to build 32 & 40 storey condo towers???

Personally, I wouldn't complain about any perceived or erroneous gap in work,.... you go through this thread and you'll see for years I've been contacting city planning, the local councillor and church reverend asking why it's been taking so long to even start construction on this community centre:
- developer gave money to city for community centre rebuild before they could even get permit to build EmeraldPark & city gave that money to church a couple years ago when development proposal was satisfactory
- EmeraldPark developer, Bazis, already designed church community centre (in EmeraldPark dollarama green!)
- Bazis EmeraldPark builder of choice TMG was overquoting-overcharging Lansing United Church (according to the church) and they never had any experience building a church before
- Lansing United Church eventually picked another construction contractor, Berkim, with experience building churches as Project Manager and TMG remains construction builder
- originally about 70 parking spaces for Lansing United Churh was supposed to be located as shared parking spaces in EmeraldPark underground parking,... after difficulty working with this developer and builder, Lansing United Church decided to build its own about 56 parking spaces on site under the community centre - this redesign caused lengthy delays
- Lansing United Church and Berkim redesigned community centre a number of times (both inside and out!) and now it's more of an earth tone stone and wood exterior look instead of that EmeraldPark dollarama green,.... yes, there really is a God!!!

Last Fall, I was told that construction should reach ground level by October 2015,... most of the site is almost at ground level now! Might need another month or two,... personally, I'm quite happy with the progress of the construction once it started.

 

[kris]

Thanks for the info sunnyraytoronto

 

[Angus]

Thanks for the update Sunnyray. I live on Poyntz and was wondering if there was a website or something with more information. I am assuming that the entrance to the parking will be from Poyntz Avenue. Will their be a drop off zone or loop on Poyntz and Frizzel.
Beecroft Community Centre is just what I called it.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Thanks for the update Sunnyray. I live on Poyntz and was wondering if there was a website or something with more information. I am assuming that the entrance to the parking will be from Poyntz Avenue. Will their be a drop off zone or loop on Poyntz and Frizzel.
Beecroft Community Centre is just what I called it.

Please don't start giving your own arbitrary names to buildings, otherwise I'd be calling EmeraldPark the Dollarama Green buildings! ;p

You should contact LansingUnitedChurch or CityPlanning for more information.

LansingUnitedChurch was originally to have access to 74 parking spaces within EmeraldPark's underground lot in addition to a maximum of 22 onsite ground level parking at south end of LansingUnitedChurch property (along Poyntz). Now that LansingUnitedChurch is building their own underground parking facility to hold about 56 cars; I'm guessing that 74 parking spaces in EmeraldPark has been eliminated-reduced and sold back to EmeraldPark for cash to be used to pay for the underground parking addition at LansingUnitedChurch. The driveway access to LansingUnitedChurch parking will be off Frizzle not Poyntz nor Beecroft - it'll be a very nicely landscaped straight linear driveway with access to their underground parking lot and groundlevel drop off area but no drop off loop, as I recall.

 

[Scudder]

New residents moved into 32 storey West Tower starting in late March and into 40 storey East Tower starting around a month ago.

Retail not finish yet, latest promise date is July 13 but that's already 6th delay,... It will NOT be ready by that date,... more likely another 2-3 months for retail,... so sometimes in September for retail opening. LCBO originally supposed to open in early Spring,... LCBO is finish,.... just needs stock,... and need to finish mall passage from first floor to 2nd floor where LCBO is. Most folks in neighbourhood is excited about LCBO opening,... not so much Metro,.... ;p

Looks like Metro had the same thought. Adonis will now be occupying the space. The reason for the delay. They are owned by Metro but run separately. Similar to Loblaw and T&T. I think it will be an amazing fit for the location and should be a big hit with the neighbourhood.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Looks like Metro had the same thought. Adonis will now be occupying the space. The reason for the delay. They are owned by Metro but run separately. Similar to Loblaw and T&T. I think it will be an amazing fit for the location and should be a big hit with the neighbourhood.

With Adonis coming, the neighbourhood should be filled with the smell of fresh stone baked naan, again,.... something we haven't smelled since CuisineOfIndia moved out over 10 years ago,... they made the best Tandoori Chicken!

Scudder, do you have an idea when Metro's Adonis would open at EmeraldPark? Best guess I have is 2-3 months when the rest of the retail *should* open but most of the other retails seems very close to finish now (drywall, paint, lighting, glass walls and doors done, just need flooring and final trims) - the second floor supermarket retail space seems like it still need more work than anywhere else in EmeraldPark.

Earlier this year, there were a number of last minute variances for the 2nd floor supermarket at EmeraldPark - stuff like property variances (seems like they actually brought the property instead of just lease??), doorway, loading dock, hallways,.... I guess that was partly due to the conversion from Metro to Adonis.

I'm really not surprised that Metro bailed,... the Metro/Dominion/Miracle/Steinbergs/GrandUnion across the street at the south-east corner of Yonge & Sheppard (current site of HullmarkCentre) never did well after the early 1990s,... after the Miracle strike and demographics of the neighbourhood changed from all the new condos. A new Metro at EmeraldPark would just be taking business away from the other area Metros like the one 2km to west at Sheppard & Bathurst and the Metro 2km to north at Doris and Churchill. Also, I bet Metro saw how poorly HullmarkCentre's WholeFoodsMarket is doing in this area and realize another non-ethnic large supermarket chain isn't going to do well in a saturated market. The only thing that does well at HullmarkCentre's WholeFoodsMarket are their ready made food at their Cafe during lunch hour and Metro's Adonis and EmeraldPark food court will take a bite out of that!,... and in a few years, the renovated food court at SheppardCentre and their Longo's will also take another chunk of that business.

Adonis should do well in the neighbourhood since there's a large demographic of Persians and other Middle Eastern. EmeraldPark retail will be a bit odd since there'll be Adonis (MiddleEastern) upstairs and mainly Chinese retails downstairs, from T&T effect,... many of the Chinese retail units were investment units and still looking for tenents,... so EmeraldPark retail could actually become a MiddleEastern Town retail mall,... but EmeraldPark residential tenants are almost all Asians,... but about 70% of them are renters anyways,...

With Longo's planning to go into 3rd floor of renovated SheppardCentre,... I wonder if Longo's has an ethnic division,... all ethnic grocery stores on Yonge Street in North York do well

 

[Scudder]

With Adonis coming, the neighbourhood should be filled with the smell of fresh stone baked naan, again,.... something we haven't smelled since CuisineOfIndia moved out over 10 years ago,... they made the best Tandoori Chicken!

Scudder, do you have an idea when Metro's Adonis would open at EmeraldPark? Best guess I have is 2-3 months when the rest of the retail *should* open but most of the other retails seems very close to finish now (drywall, paint, lighting, glass walls and doors done, just need flooring and final trims) - the second floor supermarket retail space seems like it still need more work than anywhere else in EmeraldPark.

Earlier this year, there were a number of last minute variances for the 2nd floor supermarket at EmeraldPark - stuff like property variances (seems like they actually brought the property instead of just lease??), doorway, loading dock, hallways,.... I guess that was partly due to the conversion from Metro to Adonis.

I'm really not surprised that Metro bailed,... the Metro/Dominion/Miracle/Steinbergs/GrandUnion across the street at the south-east corner of Yonge & Sheppard (current site of HullmarkCentre) never did well after the early 1990s,... after the Miracle strike and demographics of the neighbourhood changed from all the new condos. A new Metro at EmeraldPark would just be taking business away from the other area Metros like the one 2km to west at Sheppard & Bathurst and the Metro 2km to north at Doris and Churchill. Also, I bet Metro saw how poorly HullmarkCentre's WholeFoodsMarket is doing in this area and realize another non-ethnic large supermarket chain isn't going to do well in a saturated market. The only thing that does well at HullmarkCentre's WholeFoodsMarket are their ready made food at their Cafe during lunch hour and Metro's Adonis and EmeraldPark food court will take a bite out of that!,... and in a few years, the renovated food court at SheppardCentre and their Longo's will also take another chunk of that business.

Adonis should do well in the neighbourhood since there's a large demographic of Persians and other Middle Eastern. EmeraldPark retail will be a bit odd since there'll be Adonis (MiddleEastern) upstairs and mainly Chinese retails downstairs, from T&T effect,... many of the Chinese retail units were investment units and still looking for tenents,... so EmeraldPark retail could actually become a MiddleEastern Town retail mall,... but EmeraldPark residential tenants are almost all Asians,... but about 70% of them are renters anyways,...

With Longo's planning to go into 3rd floor of renovated SheppardCentre,... I wonder if Longo's has an ethnic division,... all ethnic grocery stores on Yonge Street in North York do well

Originally Metro was looking at an Oct opening but they never started. I guess that was when they were deciding to change direction with a Longos and Sobeys expected just too many conventional grocers. Adonis will really be amazing but the new Metros are the best stores out there and people would have really been impressed.They have just started rolling them out.
www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/fresh-organic-foods-shaping-metro-supermarket-makeover/article23622635
My guess for the Adonis would be a late November December opening. I think the Adonis will become the top store in the area and with all the competition that's something. I like them better than T&T.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Originally Metro was looking at an Oct opening but they never started. I guess that was when they were deciding to change direction with a Longos and Sobeys expected just too many conventional grocers. Adonis will really be amazing but the new Metros are the best stores out there and people would have really been impressed.They have just started rolling them out.
www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/fresh-organic-foods-shaping-metro-supermarket-makeover/article23622635
My guess for the Adonis would be a late November December opening. I think the Adonis will become the top store in the area and with all the competition that's something. I like them better than T&T.

Huh? Sobeys??? What Sobeys? Where Sobeys? When Sobeys? Seriously Sobeys??? Wow, you know the place is urban when there's a Sobeys!

Beacon, just north of GibsonSquare (Yonge & Empress/Parkhome) will have a St.Lawrence Market type retail food environment.

Even though the Adonis at Eglinton & warden is usually quite busy; for the EmeraldPark Adonis to succeed it'll have to be even more of a “grocerants” with good quality ready-made ready-to-eat food for the busy condo-crowd,... not just MiddleEastern, but also conventional and Asian food too! Also keep in mind, many of the condos around here are about 500 square feet and a hassle to bring food back and then dispose of the trash (condo people are less likely to recycle properly),... one thing the EmeraldPark Adonis must have that's not found at the Eglinton & Warden Adonis is an eating area with comfortable chairs, tables, low lighting,... and of course free wi-fi!,... the EmeraldPark Adonis will need that at a minimum just to compete with the WholeFoodsMarket cafe at HullmarkCentre. Walk around the area and see all the young Asian females - half of them consider themselves to be "Foodies",... so expect locals to be picky about quality of food and decent pricing.

I do like T&T better mainly because I'm Asian and love anyplace I can get DimSum and BubbleTea!