Toronto Parliament Street Data Centre | ?m | 5s | BRL Realty | WZMH

jje1000 said:
Interesting. Any notes on when the Province might start with plans for the First Parliament Site?
I have some fears a change in government might produce yet another 11 Wellesley situation.
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The First Parliament site is a CITY project and there is more info on the FP thread. (See: http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...-City-of-Toronto)/page30?highlight=Parliament ) Basically, the site planning will start next year and the site will include a new building for the St Lawrence Library plus some sort of heritage component, replacing the current building. Construction will, apparently, start in 2016.
 
There are some nasty reminders of The Esplanade's industrial past lurking beneath the surface. I know of at least one building that had leaching sludge into the underground parking and the City has agreed in perpetuity to monitor and clean up.

This is also why Market Wharf was built without excavation as they did not want to disturb whatever was beneath.
 
Construction Update: June 9, 2013 Site excavation continues...







Some remnant oil from the former coal tar underground storage tank:


Some old buried pipes dug up during excavation from the former Consumers Gas faciltiy on this site:

 
A couple more photos, taken from ground level peering through the fence. The hole seems to stink less than it did a few weeks back and a lot of the black sludge seems to be gone, so perhaps the worst it behind us.

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CityPainter said:
According to today's issue of the Bulletin newspaper (http://thebulletin.ca but new articles not online yet) the construction of this project has now been slowed due to the unexpected discovery of a 625,000 gallon brick coal-tar tank under the ground.
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As per this environmental assessment, they were previously aware of the tank but unsure of its exact location:

http://www.toronto.ca/planning/kingparliament/pdf/281front_environment-assessment.pdf

I’ve been passing the site daily and the dominant aroma is naphthalene (which you’d smell in moth balls). Even before this one could smell naphthalene at the south-east corner of Front and Parliament due to a vent pipe located there.
 
Urban datacentres

I can understand the confusion when people outside the industry question the need for large technical facilities to be so centrally located. I work in a related field, so I feel I can speak in general terms as to the attractiveness of urban datacentres.

The fact is, there is heavy demand for both types, both centrally located and remote datacentres. As far as centrally located datacentres go, Canada's most important free-standing carrier-neutral datacentre is just a few blocks away on Front St. W., and there are at least 3 major datacentres located within major downtown office towers. I happen to know that the Front St. W. datacentre is closed for new leasing, so the timing of this new datacentre is no coincidence.

So the demand is there ... I think it is mostly driven by technical renters requirements for geographical diversity (i.e. a 30-Km cable to the suburbs is more likely to get dug up by a backhoe) but you shouldn't underestimate the 'prestige' factor of being able to claim a Downtown datacentre in your Media releases. Also if I am a company that flies in technical specialists (at great expense) they can get a hotel right next to their worksite and I can maximize their time.

Hope that satisfies your curiosity :)

robertotoronto said:
Why would anyone invest in building a datacentre on such expensive land? Many large datacentres are being relocated to locations outside of Toronto where land is cheaper, power is more readily available and the site more easily secured and less prone to disruption.
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Taken July 13, 2013:








^ Note the semi-circular foundation wall/footings in the above photo at the right edge of the site. It would appear these are the footings/foundation of one of the Consumers Gas Company gasometers that stood on this site in years past.


^ Goads Atlas from 1880 showing three gasometers. I believe the footings in the photo may be the southern most of the three.


^ Goads Atlas map from 1890 showing a fourth gasometer.


^ The footings may be for the gasometer in the above photo from 1927.


^ Another view of the gasometer (left edge of photo above from 1932).
 
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Very cool Razz, thanks for putting that together!

I think the gasometer in the last photo is the southern most one, judging by proximity of those tracks and comparing it to the 1980 map.
 
Love me some good research!

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Razz said:

^ The footings may be for the gasometer in the above photo from 1927.
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That’s it. This image shows the foundations of the tank being laid. This picture was reportedly taken on November 17, 1926.
Later Fire Insurance Plans identify it as “No. 6, Waterless Gas Holder, 4,000,000 cubic ft. (205’ high)†(see above-mentioned environmental assessment, page 44 of 94).

aerial6_1927.jpg
 
Great spot wwebster! So the unearthed foundations date from 1926, and do not belong to the original (southernmost) gasometer that appears in the 1880 and 1890 Goad's maps. Judging from the 1954 map in the environmental assessment, gas holder tank No. 6 is considerably larger than the two earlier predecessors that it replaced in virtually the same location.
 
Taken July 17, 2013:


^ Excavation continues this morning




^ By end of the workday, the foundation wall of the old gasometer is substantially revealed. Not sure why they are being so careful with the excavation, and not simply bulldozing the reinforced poured concrete foundations. It would only take them an hour or so to knock it down, but they seem to be gingerly excavating around it and protecting the integrity of the wall. Perhaps for some archeological examination before it is levelled?


^ Closer view the the exposed foundation wall.
 
Maybe they need to bring in some heavier or more specialized equipment with some extra prep to bring down a foundation wall like that. Wouldn't want to create a slump or problem where it intersects the next lot, either.
 
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