Toronto Queens Quay & Water's Edge Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

[LNahid2000]

las rambles have hundreds of stores, cafés and restaurants. It had at least two subway stops right on it. It is pedestrian only. It has a KFC in a building that's is prettier than any building in Toronto. QQ has nothing of theses. We have forgettable condos on the north with dry cleaners, and even worse condos on its southside. Where am I supposed to buy a ice cream there? In that soboeys? I don't see any patio restaurants or ice cream shops between Yonge and Spadina. People need to do more than just "walk" on a summer night.

It is not pedestrian only, though it may have felt like it because of the amount of space dedicated to pedestrians, and the separation between pedestrians and automobiles. La Rambla has one lane of automobile traffic in each direction just like Queens Quay.

Also, the retail makeup of Queens Quay can change, and already is changing.

 

[Tuscani01]

las rambles have hundreds of stores, cafés and restaurants. It had at least two subway stops right on it. It is pedestrian only. It has a KFC in a building that's is prettier than any building in Toronto. QQ has nothing of theses. We have forgettable condos on the north with dry cleaners, and even worse condos on its southside. Where am I supposed to buy a ice cream there? In that soboeys? I don't see any patio restaurants or ice cream shops between Yonge and Spadina. People need to do more than just "walk" on a summer night.

There's an ice cream shop at the terminal building, and isn't there a gelato place closer to Spadina?

Theres also an amazing patio at the Amsterdam Brewery, a cafe at Canada Square, and many other places to grab food or drinks. Have you even been to Queens Quay?

 

[Adjei]

I stand corrected -- although the quotes in that quote are a little weird. Did Mr. Glaisek say "The goal is to make it the signature street for Toronto", which is a laudable goal and might actually become true, or did they place the second quotation mark incorrectly and it should be after the Champs Elysees part of the quote?

As for QQ becoming like the Champs, there's no chance. They are completely different streetscapes and we're not actually going to build squares at each end to celebrate our Emperor's victories over the Americans at Queenston Heights and Vancouver Olympics.

However, QQ (in the summer time) has a shot of becoming like Las Ramblas in use, if not in form. Barcelona's main drag is where everyone goes for an evening walk before a late supper on a nice day. QQ -- particularly if/when the slip end bridges get built -- would be very much the perfect evening walk on a summer's night, before dinner at QQT or an ice cream somewhere. Don't write that part of your kvetching in stone quite yet.

Well excuse me for expecting something more when they brought up Champs Elysees. Maybe they should have tempered the hype and I would have lowered my expectations. This is how most of our streets should be looking like but I guess because we are used to so much worse here something which by many cities is the norm is so hyped up here.

 

[WiddleBittyKitty]

Where am I supposed to buy a ice cream there? In that sobeys? I don't see any patio restaurants or ice cream shops between Yonge and Spadina. People need to do more than just "walk" on a summer night.

I don't bother with your predisposed nattering very often ksun, but man you're easy pickings sometimes.

On the north side of Queens Quay between Yonge and Spadina there's both Baskin Robbins (for freakin' craying out loud) and Lick It Gelato. On the south side there's the Lavazza Expression Café and they'll serve you a cone too. With the three of them there are enough treats in the area to make you positively sick. I await a report back!

… but sometime after the street officially opens please. We don't need anymore of your whining about things that aren't done.

 

[nfitz]

At this intersection, they have useless verbage signs explaining the "left turn" signal and the "transit" signals.

See link.

Other jurisdictions wouldn't have them, but are required here

Ah - I thought you meant they needed signage for the lights below - which doesn't appear to be the case:

 

[Zeiss]

Where am I supposed to buy a ice cream there? In that soboeys? I don't see any patio restaurants or ice cream shops between Yonge and Spadina. People need to do more than just "walk" on a summer night.

ksun, in Paris and Barcelona they have customers to support them all the time, less in the winter but enough to keep them going.
How can you expect small cafe or restaurant to survive on QQ,? In the summer /4 months/ it would be profitable, but in the winter there are barely any customers. At the same time the rent is high during the whole year. Only large corporations can afford to run businesses here like Tim Hortons, Starbucks, ... there is one very nice cafe with patio at Canada Square, Lavazza , it's not making any profit and the reason why is not yet closed is that is owned by the same family that owns 'Amsterdam' and 'Hey Lucy'.

 

[W. K. Lis]

ksun, in Paris and Barcelona they have customers to support them all the time, less in the winter but enough to keep them going.
How can you expect small cafe or restaurant to survive on QQ,? In the summer /4 months/ it would be profitable, but in the winter there are barely any customers. At the same time the rent is high during the whole year. Only large corporations can afford to run businesses here like Tim Hortons, Starbucks, ... there is one very nice cafe with patio at Canada Square, Lavazza , it's not making any profit and the reason why is not yet closed is that is owned by the same family that owns 'Amsterdam' and 'Hey Lucy'.

Guess you never even skated on the Natrel Rink on Waterfront? See link. Do you even get outdoors in winter?

 

[niwell]

Well excuse me for expecting something more when they brought up Champs Elysees. Maybe they should have tempered the hype and I would have lowered my expectations. This is how most of our streets should be looking like but I guess because we are used to so much worse here something which by many cities is the norm is so hyped up here.

Really? You thought QQ would look like Champs Elysees because a proponent marketing it mentioned that? Really? I suppose that would involve demolishing all the condos and other buildings fronting it. Because Champs isn't great so much due to street design (although it is very nice) as it is because of the surrounding urban fabric. It's not that hard to get that, is it? Example: https://goo.gl/maps/lbXCH

I guess I can just realize that someone from Waterfront TO talking up their project (which is turning out amazing) may on occasion use hyperbole and not be 100% pragmatic.

 

[FC_]

There's an ice cream shop at the terminal building, and isn't there a gelato place closer to Spadina?

The ice cream shop in the terminal has been closed for about two years now.

On the north side of Queens Quay between Yonge and Spadina there's both Baskin Robbins (for freakin' craying out loud) and Lick It Gelato.

The Baskin Robbins also closed about a year and a half ago. It's now a Jaipur Grille. There's the Gelato place, and Lavazza Espression, so you've still got a few places to go to!


Went for a walk along Queens Quay this evening. The sheer number of vehicle mistakes; driving on the ROW, driving in to oncoming traffic, illegal left/right turns where they're not permitted, cutting off streetcars while performing said illegal turns, all of these, in the span of 20 minutes was spectacularly shocking to witness.

One area that appeared to be a source of confusion is the east Robertson Crescent connection to Queens Quay. It's a right turn only, but the view from a driver to where they should go is pretty difficult to see as a result of the height difference between the ROW, and the asphalt roadway. You'd think going past the ROW and turning right would take you straight into oncoming traffic. Most cars end up turning onto the streetcar tracks, and jump off anywhere between Simcoe, to right before the portal at Bay once they realise their mistake.

I felt bad for the lighting crews still working on Queens Quay this evening. Their shouts to cars below to get off the ROW were constantly ignored.

 

[smallspy]

Also, I've noticed that the left turn signals at York do not seem to have any sort of capacity to detect vehicles--I have observed the Queen's Quay advance green/left turn phase be skipped despite cars waiting in the left turn lanes on both sides, and I've also seen the left turn phase occur with no cars in those lanes but vehicles waiting to go straight. Strange.

They are using optical sensors to detect left-turning vehicles. The sensors are there and wired in, but it's possible that they weren't cleaned or aimed properly.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[Megaton327]

Oh, by the way, for anybody not subscribed to them, the new Waterfront Toronto Construction Notice has gone out. You can see the full thing here, but there are two big things mentioned in it:

• On June 11th, the Martin Goodman Trail will receive its final coat of asphalt from Peter Slip Bridge to Yo Yo Ma Lane (i.e. it will be fully paved from Bay to Yo Yo Ma, solely awaiting lane painting)
• On June 16th and 17th Transit Signal Priority will be activated at all traffic signals along the entire TTC corridor from York to Yo Yo Ma

From what I understand, the automatic track switches at Queen's Quay and Spadina (both the main intersection and the loop entrance) are tied in to the TSP system and will hopefully go live at the same time finally removing the need to throw the switches manually there. Not 100% clear on that detail and it's not mentioned in the bulletin, but it's what I've heard and sounds plausible.

Edit:

They are using optical sensors to detect left-turning vehicles. The sensors are there and wired in, but it's possible that they weren't cleaned or aimed properly.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

Optical sensors? Interesting. I thought they usually wired electromagnetic or pressure sensitive loops into the asphalt at the intersection. Neat! But yes, clearly in need of work...it seemed to work well most of the time at most of the intersections, at least, but it clearly frustrated some drivers quite a lot--it instigated a lot of them to make an illegal left turn on a red across the streetcar ROW when I don't think some of them would have otherwise; it doesn't excuse that behaviour but it did definitely contribute. Hopefully they'll improve the system soon.

 

[Zeiss]

Guess you never even skated on the Natrel Rink on Waterfront? See link. Do you even get outdoors in winter?

I don't need to skate to go to the area, I live on QQ and I know very well how many people walk around QQ in the winter. Even in the link you provided there are no more than 15 people skating. After skating they go to Starbucks or Tim Hortons to get hot chocolate, tea and thats it. The area in the winter is dead, you can only see local residents going to buy groceries, or running errands. All the cafes and restaurants in the winter have to let go more than half of their staff, their working hours are short, some restaurants in the Terminal building do not have even one customer some evenings.
I don't like it, I prefer it to be more lively, but there is almost nothing that can draw people to the area in the winter. I wish that Harbour front centre organizes some events like ice sculpture festival or something like that to bring people to the area.

 

[PinkLucy]

I also live in the area and have frequently seen more than 15 people skating, particularly on weekends, but not as much during the week. But yeah, it's pretty much dead in the winter. Not too much pleasant about a cold wind blowing off the lake with -20 something windchills, the way it has been the past couple of years. I've lived near a lake for 30 something years, so I don't mind, and in fact I enjoy a winter walk with no crowds, but the area is definitely not a draw, beyond the rink, in the cold months.

 

[Tewder]

The point is, this is a great start. It is likely to improve the popularity of the area, in all seasons... which in turn will attract more businesses and better ones. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor was Las Ramblas. The architecture isn't great here, to be sure, but an improved public realm may even encourage improved future design... and wait for the trees to grow and mature, it's a big part of the design!

 

[Zeiss]

Large swimming pool with sandy beach and palm trees, covered by gigantic glass dome would be nice