Toronto Lower Don Lands Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

[Traycer]

I don't see this mentioned yet, but The Lookout will be open to the public again tomorrow (Tuesday, February 6) from noon to 2 pm. Not terribly convenient for those of us with a 9-to-5 schedule, but if you can make it out, you'll be able to climb to the top of the scaffolding for a better look at the environment. WT staff were on hand at the previous event to answer questions and chat about soil remediation and other nerd stuff.

The Lookout – Open to the Public (February 6) | Waterfront Toronto

www.waterfrontoronto.ca

BTW, if anyone doesn't know what The Lookout is, it's the blue structure (left side of the first photo) at the south end of the yellow Cherry St bridge. It's a shipping container with scaffolding and platforms above it. It will be open from 2 to 5 pm tomorrow, hopefully with staff on site to point out the highlights of the park.

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[rdaner]

More pix. Taken 6 February.

I asked about the cultural facility on the east side of Parliament Slip and was told that there are very serious conversations going on with all sorts of parties.

 

[skycandy]

More pics from the lookout…

A beautiful day for dredging…

Swan Lake…

Three bends in the river…(was told water has another two metres or so to rise, largely up the entire bank seen here).

The lake inflow, to the left of one of the carp gates…

Trucks must be correctly colour-coded to cross their desired route…

Meanwhile, a distant view of the ’overflow’ area to the south of Orange ….

Carp gate north of Orange …

It was standing room only…

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

...and someone's sausage is really happy to see them!

 

[rdaner]

More pics from the lookout…

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A beautiful day for dredging…

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Swan Lake…

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Three bends in the river…(was told water has another two metres or so to rise, largely up the entire bank seen here).

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The lake inflow, to the left of one of the carp gates…

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Trucks must be correctly colour-coded to cross their desired route…

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Meanwhile, a distant view of the ’overflow’ area to the south of Orange ….

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Carp gate north of Orange …

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It was standing room only…

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Once again your photos outshine mine! And this is the second time that we have been in the same place at the same time! Lol

 

[skycandy]

Once again your photos outshine mine! And this is the second time that we have been in the same place at the same time! Lol

Lol…I’m the shadowy figure holding up my phone for the pano shot.

 

[Traycer]

There was a lady at The Lookout this afternoon there who was absolutely gushing with excitement when I told her about UrbanToronto. She says none of her friends are into public works infrastructure. If only she knew there were a bunch of us there with her. Hope she pokes her head in here soon!

 

[DKsan]

Dare I suggest, maybe WaterfrontTO should be planning a permanent lookout tower in the Lower Don Lands...

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

I seem to recall there was a lookout of sorts depicted in one of the renders. But I can't remember if it was here or for another project...

Edit: Oh right, it was for this thing fairly close by:

Leslie Slip Lookout Park | UrbanToronto

Leslie Slip Lookout Park, Toronto by 1

urbantoronto.ca

...sorry, didn't mean to get everyone's hopes up! >.<

 

[Traycer]

Waterfront Toronto opened up the Lookout observation tower in the Port Lands this afternoon. I'm lucky enough to work in the area, so I popped by to say "hi" and to grab this panorama. The last time it was open to the public was for the grand opening of the North Cherry St and Commissioners St bridges, a rather damp and dreary day. What would be even more spectacular is a sunrise or sunset shot...

In addition to the three famous bridges (North Cherry St, South Cherry St, Commissioners St), you can see the heritage Atlas crane, a couple of pedestrian bridges, Fire Hall 30, The Lookout (or at least the shadow of it), old Cherry St, a carp gate, and the new mouth of the Don River taking shape.

Higher resolution: https://i.redd.it/tmkpwighp1hc1.jpeg

 

[rdaner]

Berlin built a lookout tower in Potsdammerplatz in the late 1990s that turned into a huge tourist attraction and public relations coup. I take it one problem with ours is staffing.

 

[Traycer]

Dare I suggest, maybe WaterfrontTO should be planning a permanent lookout tower in the Lower Don Lands...

I believe that is the desire, but there are some engineering challenges at the moment. In the meantime, WT is working out the logistics to have weekend openings of The Lookout so people don't have to play hooky from work to experience it.

 

[Traycer]

I take it one problem with ours is staffing.

The WT staff at The Lookout both times I was there are enthusiastic and motivated to at least get the current tower open on weekends. But they need to figure out who is available, whether it is done on an ad hoc or a scheduled basis (e.g., first Saturday of every month, etc.), plus I imagine there needs to be budget to pay the staff to come in on their days off, and so on. But they assure me it will be happening!

Getting a permanent structure built is also something they want, but plans have not yet solidified on that.

 

[Traycer]

The answer from Waterfront Toronto is "probably not even as far as the green area, maybe just below that".

How far will the river's edge reach once it has achieved lake water levels? I figure it will be at least to the green area, covering the armour stones. But would we have a shallow area on the left, marked in yellow? Of course, there will be seasonal variations.

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[rdaner]

The WT staff at The Lookout both times I was there are enthusiastic and motivated to at least get the current tower open on weekends. But they need to figure out who is available, whether it is done on an ad hoc or a scheduled basis (e.g., first Saturday of every month, etc.), plus I imagine there needs to be budget to pay the staff to come in on their days off, and so on. But they assure me it will be happening!

Getting a permanent structure built is also something they want, but plans have not yet solidified on that.

I gather that most of the staff are from the communications department which may not be able to spare people. Another issue brought up was the weather which is unpredictable and the viewing deck isn’t covered. But all of these problems could be solved with a little funding from a sponsor!