Toronto Pan Am Village in the West Don Lands | ?m | ?s | DundeeKilmer | KPMB

[nfitz]

Took a walk through on my way home. Will be interesting to see what happens once cars start to realize they can come through. I only saw a single vehicle (a taxi) zipping through.

I was surprised to see 5 cars in a row, completely ignore the "no left turn" sign from the southern leg of Lawren Harris Square to Bayview. Will need to step up enforcement, if they want to do it this way.

 

[salsa]

I was surprised to see 5 cars in a row, completely ignore the "no left turn" sign from the southern leg of Lawren Harris Square to Bayview. Will need to step up enforcement, if they want to do it this way.

It's Queens Quay all over again.

 

[achender]

A few cell phone shots from this evening.

 

[TheKingEast]

10 billion shades of grey.

 

[salsa]

10 billion shades of grey.

This whole place is the same shade of grey as the weather. Awful architecture, especially this gem.

photo by achender

 

[ToroTO]

Wow, they really worked hard to make this area as grim and monotonously coloured as possible. It needs some snow or some spring greenery to make it bearable.

 

[Torontovibe]

 

[old boy]

Some evergreen plantings would be welcome. This city is grey enough for almost half the year.

 

[UrbanAffair]

I love your videos @Torontovibe , and thank you for them, but could I give you a little friendly critique? Would it be possible to maybe use a more readable font? It becomes a little difficult to read when there is a lot of text on one screen. (Sorry, I don't want to discourage your posts and realize this criticism can be annoying.)

 

[taal]

I really wonder how retail will do here; Longer term I think it'll be great but in the short term I wonder how they'll manage to stay open given the very little foot traffic I envision will be in the area for the first 5/10 years

 

[DSC]

I really wonder how retail will do here; Longer term I think it'll be great but in the short term I wonder how they'll manage to stay open given the very little foot traffic I envision will be in the area for the first 5/10 years

It is always hard being a pioneer but by September 2016 there should be quite a lot of activity what with the Y, GBC and the residents. There are, of course, still more Blocks awaiting development but I think that after the summer the immediate area will probably be at about "80% occupancy".

 

[nfitz]

I wonder how long before those paved still-vacant lots become parking lots?

 

[ADRM]

It is always hard being a pioneer but by September 2016 there should be quite a lot of activity what with the Y, GBC and the residents. There are, of course, still more Blocks awaiting development but I think that after the summer the immediate area will probably be at about "80% occupancy".

Yeah, great points—I think this'll feel at least busy-ish in pretty short order. I agree that the architecture in the area leaves something to be desired, and I'm just so mad there was zero consideration of cycling infrastructure, but this area bodes well for near-term vibrancy. They've got some solid retail lined up, so that'll help keep folks in the area, as well, as will the ongoing redevelopment of the waterfront (Bayside, etc.).

 

[taal]

I guess the DD is a comparable and probably started out in a similar fashion (mind you it had the history behind it as another selling point).

I think what the developers did in terms of bringing in select retail is amazing though .. very glad that took place !

 

[ADRM]

Yeah, the retail was huge—the easy thing would've been to go Shoppers, Starbucks, RBC, Winners, see 'ya later, thanks. I'm actually more bullish about the prospects here than I was about DD because of the better integration of mixed uses, especially the Y and George Brown.

When there's nothing going on at Sugar Beach, the students milling about around Corus Quay are pretty much the sole contributors to that mini-hood's vibrancy. I expect GB's presence will have a similar impact here, although you've got the benefit of better retail, housing, and the Y.