Toronto The Brixton | 45.41m | 12s | CentreCourt | Graziani + Corazza

Jacob Lisgar said:
any word if any of the light industrial space will be rebuilt. I know a lot of people have an issue with the look of the existing building but the uses inside have an important function for local businesses that need cheap industrial space in the neighbourhood.
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Indeed. I've grown to appreciate the current building for its versatility of function and usage that it provides to the community. There's a variety of tenants right now including Pendulum Entertainment, Pursuit OCR, and various other artist and craft production space.

I remember attending a meeting for the previous proposal entry quite a few years ago. Back then, there was an initiative to replace the current industrial/employment space. However, for this latest proposal I am not sure.
 
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Fwiw, here are the proposal specifications from 2012 that I gathered (from pg 3 of this thread). Majority of the details being irrelevant now of course. But hopefully similar initiatives about the employment space replacement can be maintained.

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...12s-graziani-corazza.18229/page-3#post-643019

AlbertC said:
Summary of May 28 2012, 440 Dufferin Street planning meeting.


The developer is Site Line Group, a company with experiencing in managing employment spaces mainly in the 905. The site is currently designated as an employment area but is being reviewed by the city regarding future usage. This new study will review if a residential usage conversion may be appropriate in terms of growth. The proposal across the street, The Carnaby (11 Peel Street) has a similar zoning amendment. It is also going through a study to decide whether such redevelopment is appropriate. There will be a public consultation later on this autumn, with a final review at the end of the year. Final report will be ready early next year. Traffic studies will be an important component of this project's decision, considering the large amount of development in the area.

The entire development will have 399 residential units in total, consisting of 3 buildings of 24, 12, and 8 storeys in height. Each building will have a 4 storey podium presence on Dufferin Street. The first two levels of the podium have 15 ft ceilings and will feature non-residential usage. This includes retail, artist studio space, and craft/employment space. The developer wants this new project to contribute to the area by creating retail and recreating work space. Their aim is creation of 66,000 sq/ft of employment space in the first two floors of the new buildings. There will be an initiative to control tenant prices to keep it affordable. They will also provide existing tenants an opportunity to return in the future. Some examples of employment are craft, wood work, metal, artisan work, etc. Fifty percent of the non-residential space will be dedicated to work space. The other half will be for retail and office space.

Each building will be separated, and the entire stretch of Dufferin will be broken up into sections. This will replicate smaller blocks and create smaller side streets. In turn this will provide for better pedestrian circulation. This will also facilitate properties to the west for future development. The current green space at the south end of the property will be improved and potential to turn in into a plaza. The podium will be setback 1.5-5 m from the current street line to allow greater pedestrian walk space. The podiums will also feature a gentle curved profile, with it curving outward with the widest point in the middle. Access to the rail path will also be available from the south end of the property for biking and other recreational usage. Store fronts windows will be lining Dufferin Street and feature retail as long as work studios for greater tenant exposure.

The is 2 levels of below grade parking, a total of 340 spaces planned. The number of parking spots is still in the works as traffic studies are ongoing. The towers are arranged in order of tallest to shortest, with the heights sloping downward (24, 12, 8) as you move further away from the rail line. The two tallest towers feature an angled profile. This was done to open up view corridors, ease on the massing presence, and decrease shadows on the area. The architect has presented thoughts of brick on the podium (red or black). The towers will be glass, pre-cast, and potential metal cladding. On top of each podium will be a green roof terrace for tenant recreation usage. The current numbers for unit sizes are: 170 bachelor, 111 one bedroom, 118 two bedroom. Concern was raised among the audience of the large amount of bachelor sized units and the type of people who will be living there and entering the area. The applicant responded by considerations will be made towards creating more family sized three bedroom units.

Although highly attractive and promising, this project presents a large set of challenges. The redevelopment of existing employment usage into residential usage will have to be approved and considered by the city planners. A challenge also exists by mixing employment space noise and residents in the buildings. A project of this size along with the similar sized one across the street, will be a huge strain on traffic congestion and public transit. Many residents expressed concern towards transit options as the 501 Queen streetcar and 29 Dufferin bus are already heavily used. Ward 18 councillor, Ana Bailao was in the audience and said that she is in talks with the TTC to improve transit service of those two busy lines.





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AlbertC said:
Indeed. I've grown to appreciate the current building for its versatility of function and usage that it provides to the community. There's a variety of tenants right now including Pendulum Entertainment, Pursuit OCR, and various other artist and craft production space.

I remember attending a meeting for the previous proposal entry quite a few years ago. Back then, there was an initiative to replace the current industrial/employment space. However, for this latest proposal I am not sure.
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As per our front page story, the office space in the north building is meant to replace the employment space. More details here.

42
 
Can you be any more sensationalist? The article pushes way too hard to feed into the anti condo sentiment. And that's not even Parkdale, it's Little Portugal.
 
Avenue said:
Can you be any more sensationalist? The article pushes way too hard to feed into the anti condo sentiment. And that's not even Parkdale, it's Little Portugal.
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I don't think the article was necessarily anti-condo. Three months is not much time at all for these fifty businesses to find new spaces as well as move out. I think the developer should have shown a bit more grace.
 
Automation Gallery said:
Haha, since when has the Queen and Dufferin area been Little Portugal?, you would at least have to go up to Dundas for those bragging rights:D
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It sure wasn't when I started K school there. I thought it was more Italian, then what does a 6 year know?

Everyone who live or work there knew this day was coming to the point they were already on 30-60 days notice on a monthly base most likely.
 
It's a bit unfortunate as there are a lot of great business around in that area which are operating under pretty good rental rates right now since the area was not desirable at all for years, but the gentrification process has started there. Unfortunately there arent a lot of comparable places around the area for those businesses to relocate to, and the closest place I can think of with similar style businesses right now is the Caledonia and Dufferin area.

As for Parkdale, I tend to ignore any complaints that come from residents there with condo developments because that area needs a clean sweep from head to toe.
 
These tenants have known for THREE YEARS that there was board-approved development on this site. Those that moved in over the intervening years should have known their tenure would be short lived.
 
Dupont and Geary (on both sides of the railway) have seen a noticeable growth in new affordable entrepreneurial workspace for design, craft and light industrial employment in recent years. I think areas north of the Junction along Keele, Stockyards, Old Weston, maybe even all the way north to Rogers Road will be next.
 
AlbertC said:
Dupont and Geary (on both sides of the railway) have seen a noticeable growth in new affordable entrepreneurial workspace for design, craft and light industrial employment in recent years. I think areas north of the Junction along Keele, Stockyards, Old Weston, maybe even all the way north to Rogers Road will be next.
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The Stockyards is the northern part of the Junction.
 
oh come on. This development has been in the works for 6 years now. Nobody should be acting surprise. the building has been operating on borrowed time for a while now.
 
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