Vaughan TYSSE: Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station | ?m | ?s | TTC | Grimshaw

[gweed123]

So they ended up going with "Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station" after all? How embarrassing it will be when people emerge from that station to find that they are not, in fact, in the centre of a metropolis.

Yeah, I still think that it's a ridiculously long name, and completely ignores the TTC's established naming standard. I can't believe the TTC actually caved and went with that name.

 

[Transportfan]

The TTC could have at least stuck with just "Metro" instead of "Metropolitan".

 

[TheTigerMaster]

The TTC could have at least stuck with just "Metro" instead of "Metropolitan".

That would be confusing because metro also means subway. "Vaughan Subway Centre" doesn't really make much sense.

 

[Red October]

Or just "Vaughan Centre"...

 

[299 bloor call control.]

Facepalm.

Bus terminal at Vaughan's new subway station branded
http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1374868--bus-terminal-at-vaughan-s-new-subway-station-branded

York Region’s new subway will break new ground in more ways than one with the awarding of corporate branding to its bus terminal.
The passengers embarking and disembarking from buses at the Spadina subway extension’s final station starting in 2015 will do so at the “SmartCentres Terminal — Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.”
“It’s the spirit of accommodation,” Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua said of the compromise, saying it was “equitable” and that it made more sense to make a deal than to simply expropriate the land.
“I think in government you have to be flexible and be mindful of the public good,” he said.
The location was proposed by the company in exchange for them paying to construct the underground connection to the subway station and the deal allows the settling of several issues amicably, Viva spokesperson Dale Albers said.
The SmartCentres brand and its ubiquitous family of penguins logo are no doubt familiar to big-box store shoppers.
Aside from the gas station at the corner of Jane St. and Hwy. 7, the company owns 100 acres of Vaughan’s future downtown, west to Hwy. 400 up to Portage Parkway, including what is now the site of a Wal-Mart and a Future Shop.
Their head office is also on-site, alongside Hwy. 400 and they’re approaching the development of the site holistically, senior director of development Paula Bustard said.
Toronto architectural firm Diamond Schmitt — designers of the Four Seasons Centre opera house and Richmond Hill’s Centre for the Performing Arts — is developing the master plan for the area and designing the bus terminal.
They are also designing the first office building targeted for the site, set to break ground next year.
“We’re looking at building a true downtown with high quality development,” Ms Bustard said.
Regional staff long knew the terminal would be located somewhere on the SmartCentres land, but there remained questions of just where to put it and how best to integrate it with the subway station, now under construction beneath Millway Avenue.
The final location for the enclosed, nine-bay terminal is between Hwy. 7 and Portage, just west of Millway.
SmartCentres will pay to connect it to the subway station and a region-funded, $1.3-million tunnel will allow Viva riders to access it without having to cross Hwy. 7 from the centre-of-the-road station.
“The bus terminal in that location, along with the subway station and the Viva station, is going to create a very strong spine of transit-oriented development,” Ms Bustard said.
The region’s rapid transit board reviews a report this week recommending that Viva station be known as Vaughan Metropolitan Centre — Spadina subway.
Under a deal reached with the region, and approved by council late last month, the terminal’s new name will stick for a term not to exceed 60 years.
Ironically, TTC staff long fought against calling the final subway station Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, preferring the shorter Vaughan Centre.
They argued it was not their practice to name stations after private enterprises, mistakenly assuming VMC was a development, rather than the city’s brand.
Future transit hub sites in Markham and Richmond Hill are owned by the Remington Group and Metrus respectively, begging the question of whether they’d want eponymous terminals of their own down the road.
The corporate branding of terminals isn’t a new idea and it’s something rapid transit officials would consider on a case by case basis, Mr. Albers said.
For Mr. Bevilacqua, having the matter settled is key to getting development rolling in the neighbourhood.
“The important thing is to do things right and hit the ground running,” he said.
The design of the station is to be determined, but in addition to the standard YRT design elements, Mr. Albers said “the signage concept includes the SmartCentres name together with some form of their current logo”.
So you might just see some penguins.

 

[nfitz]

Facepalm.

That may call for the triple facepalm:

 

[gweed123]

Because if there's one company that promotes sustainability and transit-oriented design, it's SmartCentres.

This would be like naming the new Maintenance & Storage Facility for the Sheppard East LRT "The Rob Ford Sheppard East Maintenace & Storage Facility".

 

[nfitz]

Because if there's one company that promotes sustainability and transit-oriented design, it's SmartCentres.

This would be like naming the new Maintenance & Storage Facility for the Sheppard East LRT "The Rob Ford Sheppard East Maintenace & Storage Facility".

Or like naming Dorval airport after Pierre Elliot Trudeau ... who fought hard to close it.

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

Because if there's one company that promotes sustainability and transit-oriented design, it's SmartCentres.

I'm not defending Smart Centres but hidden in that article is the fact they have a pretty reputable architectural firm doing their planning (and the station itself) so maybe they're trying to actually do something decent for a change....Or maybe it'll be same ol, same ol.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Knowing them it'll just end up looking like a walmart, with the ceo laughing to the bank (and to his private squash court at his office)

 

[unimaginative2]

They're also giving the land and apparently paying for the terminal connection to the station. I agree it's a ridiculous name, but it's a pretty small sacrifice.

 

[ShonTron]

Or like naming Dorval airport after Pierre Elliot Trudeau ... who fought hard to close it.

I agree. As much of an admirer of Pierre Trudeau I am, I never liked the decision to name Dorval for him. It was his government that brought you the Mirabel disaster and the Pickering fiasco. I still call YUL Dorval.

While I'm surprised that SprawlCentres gave its land and funding for a bus terminal at a subway, isn't the force of "Metropolitan" bad enough? And isn't SmartCentres an invisible brand anyway? No one chooses to go to a "SmartCentres" big box complex, but to the nearest Home Depot or Wal-Mart. You don't see Cadillac Fairview or Morgard advertising their entities to consumers.

 

[Transportfan]

That would be confusing because metro also means subway. "Vaughan Subway Centre" doesn't really make much sense.

I sincerely doubt that anyone will think "Metro" means subway in this case. Were not in Montreal.

 

[nfitz]

I sincerely doubt that anyone will think "Metro" means subway in this case. Were not in Montreal.

100% agree. This is Metro, not Montreal.

 

[strookie]

VMC is getting a new high-rise office building. These signs suddenly appeared last week at the southeast corner of Edgeley and Apple Mill.

On a side note, practically every property owner in the VMC area has heard the rumour (and believes it) that Wal-Mart will be torn down within 12 months. Even sources at Smart Centres are saying it. Wal-Mart management isn't saying anything because they don't want to scare their employees.