Waterloo_Guy
Active Member
It isn't there to remind us of anything. It's a sugar refinery. It's there to refine sugar.
Toronto Monde | 149.95m | 44s | Great Gulf | Moshe Safdie
- Thread starter Mike in TO
- Start date
It isn't there to remind us of anything. It's a sugar refinery. It's there to refine sugar.
Longview
New Member
Two words: cause and effect. Figure it out. Take all the time you need.
ADRM
Senior Member
Nah, the dick response definitely wasn't necessary and it's an oversimplification in the extreme to boil down a entire ecosystem of a waterfront's use to "cause and effect" from one singular business.
I could go into why that's the case, but the choice of a dick response over a measured and fact-based debate tells me that it would be wasted effort.
The refinery may kill vibrancy along that stretch of Queens Quay, but then we have not seen what will come from the sale of the LCBO Lands and the development of the Toronto Star lands. Ten years from now, with with all sorts of new things on the north side, I'm not concerned about some lacking vibrancy on the south side.
I do think there is something to be said for having working industry there where Redpath is. You can't get a more vital connection to Toronto's past than to have an actual working processing plant there, especially one that puts on such an interesting show when ships are unloading. The view from Sugar Beach (whose name I would rather not be only an historical footnote) is pretty cool, especially if there's a slight breeze coming from the west during unloading: no other area in Toronto smells like it, nor are there many places like it pretty much anywhere else. All that adds up to a unique draw for me, one that I'll be happy to watch in action or cycle past for years to come.
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I do think there is something to be said for having working industry there where Redpath is. You can't get a more vital connection to Toronto's past than to have an actual working processing plant there, especially one that puts on such an interesting show when ships are unloading. The view from Sugar Beach (whose name I would rather not be only an historical footnote) is pretty cool, especially if there's a slight breeze coming from the west during unloading: no other area in Toronto smells like it, nor are there many places like it pretty much anywhere else. All that adds up to a unique draw for me, one that I'll be happy to watch in action or cycle past for years to come.
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ADRM
Senior Member
I'd never really thought of it in those terms, but that's an interesting viewpoint. I'll try to come around to it
On the right day at Sugar Beach, with a ship unloading and a breeze in the right direction, you can glaze yourself. Where else you gonna do that?!
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ADRM
Senior Member
Tim Horton's.
someMidTowner
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There are some disadvantages though. On really hot days, it can smell pretty foul for several blocks in every direction. Another (minor) issue is that some nasty critters can hitch rides from tropical regions on those freighters. One time I came across one of these on Queens Quay and have always watched my step ever since.
Hmm, ha, well, not without arousing security.
Wow, super cool. (And yes, people do need to be open to "the aroma".)
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ttk77
Senior Member
Yeah. They really need to do something about that stench.
There are two smells that seem to emanate from this building. One is that cotton candy/burnt sugar smell which I am perfectly fine with. The second though is a foul, sour, rotting sewage like odor that is almost overpoweringly strong on some days when walking past. I'd be perfectly fine with the factory remaining there indefinitely if they could just do something about that.
ksun
Senior Member
Which major North American cities were NOT built by industry? It is by no means unique. And why does Toronto try so hard to celebrate something that every other city has?
true, but its potential replacement could provide lots of good jobs too, without being hideous and totally inappropriate. Being there longer is not a legitimate reason for being there today, otherwise no old building can be demolished
DSC
Superstar
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The never-ending discussion of Redpath is really pointless. Though I think that having the sugar refinery and the sugar ships right downtown and having employment close to where workers can live is great I understand why others think it is totally out of place. Can we all agree that we disagree and move on? In the discussions, that have gone on, on various threads for ever, old arguments are rehashed and are not going to change any (or many) minds.
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Tuscani01
Senior Member
So what you are saying is... we can also have an insectarium on the waterfront?! AMAZING!
stjames2queenwest
Senior Member
^that would actually be pretty cool, like a butterfly conservatory but with other insects too. I'd go regularly.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
I went to the one in Shanghai. It was incredibly boring. Just a tourist trap really. Though there seemed to be a lot of school trips and kids were loving it!
Hmmm... learn about sugar refining, then check out some insects, and then try some candied crickets on the way out? I think this could be a thing!
Back to Monde though. Someone had mentioned that the West end of the building is pretty close to Sherbourne Common. Is this entire side going to have retail?