I quite agree with you – my favourite shopping area in the city is Yorkville, with all its intricate nooks and crannies – however – what we have on Yonge Street is definitely not that. Simply because the buildings are old and from a certain era, does not make them wonderful. What we have is “2 for 1 suits” at Stollery’s, Money Mart, Hue’s Kitchen, Sunrise Records and a sales centre for Uptown Condos. This isn’t “vibrant”, it’s a cheap retail strip you would see in any plaza in Scarborough.
This
could be vibrant with the right development – including small shops, restaurants with patios, the area of the actual intersection should have a plaza component, maybe a fountain, perhaps two or three stories of shops and stores overlooking this potentially amazing intersection. I believe the plaza element is a must as is the smaller retailers and areas for carts etc.
Look at Hullmark Centre – now that could be great provided they don’t simply put one large retailer to fill a large block of their retail.
Comparing this block (or most any block on Yonge from Bloor to College) to a common strip mall (or heaven forbid, any number of those big-box crimes) in Scarborough and elsewhere in the city or promoting blockbusting this strip for a Hullmark-type centre is offensive. The big boys on Bloor West, The Concourse/Manulife Centre and in Yorkville proper are a wonderful contrast to what can be found around the corner on downtown Yonge or at the beloved and vibrant Eaton Centre which is essentially a dead zone on the west side of Yonge from Dundas to Queen Street.
Urban Shocker wisely notes that rehabilitating many of the building fronts (not facadectomies) and improved signage is the key to rejuvenating much of downtown Yonge, combined with proposals such as 75 St. Nicholas Street and
this brilliant proposal. Taking a wrecking ball and eliminating our past - in this case dozens of blocks offering visually pleasing and old, well used building stock which you are suggesting - so much of which has already been done in the last 50 years, is urban assault pure and simple. I'd also note that a
huge lot sits empty on the south side of Wellesley Street just steps west of Yonge Street (about 45 seconds from a downtown subway station) where a 9 and 10 storey waste of space is being proposed is just begging for true intensification, yet few seemed concerned. None of this makes any reasonable sense to me. Take a good look at some fine examples of rejuvenated buildings on the east side of Yonge from Dundas Square to Queen Street, there's some great inspiration that can be drawn from this illustrating what parts of downtown Yonge is capable of.
Once One Bloor East is up and running this area will naturally evolve and I'm confident will improve visually, hopefully by rehabilitation, not by destruction and these buildings can continue to be enjoyed for generations to come. I expect similar life to be reborn at the Yonge and Gerrard area once Aura becomes established.
Now let's observe this area a little closer at street level and take an alternative lesson in urban bliss versus the all too common sterile and unresponsive retail areas that are littered throughout the city
Click on the thumbnail to enlarge, then click again on the image for full size.
Now if you would, imagine these buildings cleaned up with improved signage and with one or two apartment or office buildings scattered in behind such as, or similar, to the 606-618 Yonge Street/St.Joseph/St. Nicholas Sts. project through I'm concerned parking would be a major obstacle on this particular block.
