Toronto Mirvish Village (Honest Ed's Redevelopment) | 85.04m | 26s | Westbank | Henriquez Partners

[AlbertC]

End of an era.

 

[interchange42]

I went back in for one last look on December 22nd. What a dump. I did find one memorable Christmas gift for my sister though, which used to hang on a city lamp post…

42

 

[urbandreamer]

I won't miss it. 20 years ago I bought a frying pan for $1-$2 then discovered why it was so cheap: I almost burned down my student residence when the oil hit the hot thin metal. Army & Navy is much better.

 

[Lenser]

OMG. Please don't blame the pan for you not getting how to cook back in the day.

 

[smably]

The latest iteration of this design is up on the development applications site and brings a few changes worth noting. The tallest building is now 28 storeys instead of 29, the public park is a bit bigger, and the unit count has been reduced by 10%, or 211 units. Westbank is proposing to purchase Honest Ed's Alley from the city and move all parking and loading facilities underground, freeing up space at street level.

There are also some positive changes when it comes to heritage. The plan now proposes to preserve all the heritage buildings at the corner of Bathurst and Lennox and the houses on the east side of Markham are to be fully retained and restored in situ, not just the facades (hooray!).

Old:

New:

Overall, this is looking pretty good. Time to get it approved and start construction.


Edit:
Another cool tidbit I noticed: They're proposing a bike ramp off Lennox, separate from the parking garage entrance. Plans show a bike elevator and bike valet in the basement levels. They're clearly expecting a lot of cycling traffic here, and planning accordingly. Other developers should take note.

 

[modernizt]

I am often very skeptical about developers in this city, but I am really encouraged by the way Westbank has actually improved this proposal with each iteration - not the usual, opposite scenario. I hope the dedication to strong urban design qualities translates right through to the finished product, including materiality/finishes.

 

[ADRM]

This is the type of quality you get when you have an excellent developer who's willing to sacrifice some of their bottom line in service of a better overall final product that they can be proud of. It's the anti-Pinnacle.

We should be so lucky to have Westbank continue to succeed and expand their presence in the city.

 

[jje1000]

Basically nitpicking at this point, but I think they should retain at least the facades of the remaining storefronts- those buildings were designed as a symmetrical unit (A-B-C-B-A), and cutting off one unit throws that balance off (now you've got A-B-C-B).

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

I'll join others in thinking Westbank has been tweaking and tweaking for the better. I am a bit skeptical of the rooftop trees though. I have yet to see a rooftop tree of significant size implemented in Toronto, it will take a lot of tender care, waterproofing and structure protection from the tree's roots. In fact, the only rooftop tree I can ever recall seeing was in Vancouver, where it has a generally wet climate to help support elevated vegetation.

 

[A Torontonian Now]

There are some pretty big trees on the roof of the older condo building at the corner of Prince Arthur and Huron:

https://goo.gl/maps/X8Kdp8jxDDS2

 

[ProjectEnd]

Just down the road, One Bedford also has some decent sized trees on top of the podium.

 

[jje1000]

I remember reading somewhere that trees are affected by both wind and the amount of space they have for roots (rooftop boxes can be harmful to trees because the soil can freeze and damage roots).

Hence, if you want big trees, you need more space for soil, and big planters = $$$ in terms of weight. So no, the most we can probably expect is shrubbery/smaller trees with large trees on the more important buildings.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Fences going up around Mirvish village This morning.

 

[ponyboy]

I live in the neighbourhood and will have a front row seat from Palmerston. Does the fencing mean that construction is imminent? Does it mean that the developer feels confident it will be approved? I like the design -- it is a big improvement over what was there and this area desperately needs more rental. Since this development is all rental, I assume they have all the funding in place to do this.

 

[ShonTron]

Since the proposal is still being finalized, I doubt full demolition will come that soon. The fences are probably just to keep trespassers out of the buildings and allow for initial interior work. Honest Ed's won't be demolished yet, there's an arts and culture party coming at the end of the month.

I'm not big on dance parties, but I got tickets to go see the Amazement art maze on Friday:

http://torontoforeveryone.com/