Toronto Pleasantview Library Expansion | 8.17m | 1s | TPL | Lebel & Bouliane

[Northern Light]

Toronto Public Library is set to carry out a major/renovation/reconstruction project on its modest Pleasantview Branch.

The Library is currently a small box, situated on Van Horne Avenue, which is just a bit west of Victoria Park and a bit south of Finch Avenue East.

Existing Branch:

The project was the subject of a public presentation last month, linked here: https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca...easant-view-library-community-feb-23-2023.pdf

From the above:

 

[junctionist]

It looks like a good project. But on the other hand, it seems that a lot of these libraries could go on the ground floor of a multi-storey mixed-use building to increase density, address the city's financial problems, and improve the walkability of neighbourhoods.

 

[Northern Light]

It looks like a good project. But on the other hand, it seems that a lot of these libraries could go on the ground floor of a multi-storey mixed-use building to increase density, address the city's financial problems, and improve the walkability of neighbourhoods.

Certainly there's an argument for that, though this would probably be one of the more challenging sites to get a worthwhile height out of........

It's got a school (and school yard) to both its east and its west, which would trigger shadowing policies.

It's also surrounded by 1s, SFH.

That said, you could probably do something decent that would gently intensify the community, in the 3s range.

You might resolve the market issues by pairing it with something like Long Term Care.

Context, Library looking west:

Looking East:

This is the footprint of the TPL site:

It's about 40,000ft2

The balance of the parking belongs to the TDSB. In the fullness of time, that could be relocated under a new school building which could free up additional space.

 

[Paclo]

This has been moving along with resubmissions in May '23, Mar ' 24 and June '24. Design remains largely the same as initial.

Partial demolition of the existing structure will be required. No permits in the system yet and NOAC has not been issued.