simply Dan
Active Member
I can't believe it's going to take THAT long! 
Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR
MetroMan
Senior Member
That's what I thought about the ROM and about the AGO.. and now they're both done or almost done. Time flies by.
Before you know it, it will be 2020 and East Bay Front is a shining example of the new Waterfront, Queens Quay is complete and Toronto's population has increased by 20%...
I've seen construction crews going through Union Station almost every time I'm there. They might not be up on the surface, but they're down there doing something.
Once the sewer relocation is complete, we'll begin to see visible work, such as removal of the platform wall and likely hoarding going up in its place.
Before you know it, it will be 2020 and East Bay Front is a shining example of the new Waterfront, Queens Quay is complete and Toronto's population has increased by 20%...
I've seen construction crews going through Union Station almost every time I'm there. They might not be up on the surface, but they're down there doing something.
Once the sewer relocation is complete, we'll begin to see visible work, such as removal of the platform wall and likely hoarding going up in its place.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
My only regret regarding the Union Station project is how small it was - instead of just adding a second platform, they should have been thinking much further into the future and have a truly well integrated multi-level station that's actually efficient at moving riders. Right now, the plans for both the subway and LRT portion are very ad-hoc.
AoD
AoD
299 bloor call control.
Senior Member
AoD -- quite the opposite, they are doing a complete overhaul of passenger movement and increase in efficiency of the overall station, mainly to fix the ad-hoc design of the station today. With the streetcar platform directly connected to the new platform, a reorganized fare-paid area in the concourse (so there will only be one, not two), and new channels for people just moving through the station to get to the PATH, once Union (subway) Station is done, it will do a lot to alleviate many of the jams and confusion that inhabit the station today.
As for Union (Railway) Station, GO Transit keeps on doing their bit, though they really should do a revamp of the lower level themselves. The new signage is rather tacky, IMO, and the 1980s attempt to look futuristic is overtack.
As for Union (Railway) Station, GO Transit keeps on doing their bit, though they really should do a revamp of the lower level themselves. The new signage is rather tacky, IMO, and the 1980s attempt to look futuristic is overtack.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
299:
Oh sure it's an improvement over what's there today - pretty much anything is - but the overall redesign of the station is still very limited in scale. Given the centrality of Union Station, I think one should think way further ahead and be as generous as possible, just so that we can avoid unfortunate arrangments like Yonge-Bloor in the future.
Beyond that, have you had a chance to look at the streetcar loop expansion design for the East Bayfront Transit EA?
AoD
Oh sure it's an improvement over what's there today - pretty much anything is - but the overall redesign of the station is still very limited in scale. Given the centrality of Union Station, I think one should think way further ahead and be as generous as possible, just so that we can avoid unfortunate arrangments like Yonge-Bloor in the future.
Beyond that, have you had a chance to look at the streetcar loop expansion design for the East Bayfront Transit EA?
AoD
GregWTravels
Active Member
Yeah, there's always guys working in the moat on the Bay Street side. Yesterday it smelled really badly, so I'm guessing they are doing something with the sewers.
wyliepoon
Senior Member
Post
Link to article
One-stop shopping envisioned for Union
City studies adding retailers to station
Peter Kuitenbrouwer
National Post
Friday, November 02, 2007
The City of Toronto wants fishmongers, grocers and bakers from St. Lawrence Market to set up in Union Station as part of a revitalization plan, and has begun approaching some retailers about the idea.
Gloria Lindsay Luby, who heads city council's government management committee, said the move would imitate the success of Grand Central Station in New York City, where 13 high-end specialty food retailers operate in an area called the Grand Central Market.
Ms. Lindsay Luby, fellow councillor Pam McConnell and city staff made a two-day visit to New York in April as Toronto studies ways of revitalizing Union Station. Ms. Lindsay Luby described the Grand Central Market as "gorgeous. There was lovely fish. It was hard to leave the place." Those ideas should come to Toronto, she said.
"We could transfer part of the activity from St. Lawrence Market to Union Station, so people could grab fresh fish on their way home," said the councillor, who sits on council's executive committee. "It would be outstanding."
Odysseas Gounalakis, who with wife Sandra owns the bustling Scheffler's delicatessen in St. Lawrence Market -- which carries prosciutto, antipasto and 150 varieties of olive oil, said staff at the city-owned market have already approached him about opening a branch in Union Station.
"For me it's a good idea. I like the architecture of the place," Mr. Gounalakis said, adding: "My fellow tenants are interested."
He said the rents in Union Station's underground -- where 190,000 passengers hustle every day between the PATH network under the city's office towers and the GO Trains --are beyond his reach. A more likely destination for him and other retailers is the underused Great Hall. He said market staff have invited him to Union Station to look at the options.
City staff are writing a report on revitalizing Union Station, set to go to council on Nov. 26. The Great Hall of the city-owned station, which celebrates its 80th birthday this year, is much as Grand Central was 15 years ago: bedraggled, with a broken clock, cracked floors, few merchants and scant passersby.
Both stations are in the Beaux-Arts Style; New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority spent about $200-million on a painstaking restoration of Grand Central completed in 1998. Ms. Lindsay Luby acknowledged it may be tough to find the money to revive Toronto's station, but said the staff is talking with both provincially owned GO and federally owned Via. Both railways have ambitious expansion plans.
"We are looking at a partnership with GO," she said. "GO has a lot of money. Thank you, provincial government.''
City documents say that GO wants to double the station's capacity over the next 20 years.
"There's a lot of different potential," said Ms. Lindsay Luby, who envisions a "renaissance of rail travel" with Union Station at its heart.
*****
Fishmongers and meat shops in the Great Hall? No thank you unless they figure out a way to keep the hall from smelling like fish.
If it's underused, perhaps the best way to use the Great Hall is to turn it into the world's biggest Tim Hortons.
Link to article
One-stop shopping envisioned for Union
City studies adding retailers to station
Peter Kuitenbrouwer
National Post
Friday, November 02, 2007
The City of Toronto wants fishmongers, grocers and bakers from St. Lawrence Market to set up in Union Station as part of a revitalization plan, and has begun approaching some retailers about the idea.
Gloria Lindsay Luby, who heads city council's government management committee, said the move would imitate the success of Grand Central Station in New York City, where 13 high-end specialty food retailers operate in an area called the Grand Central Market.
Ms. Lindsay Luby, fellow councillor Pam McConnell and city staff made a two-day visit to New York in April as Toronto studies ways of revitalizing Union Station. Ms. Lindsay Luby described the Grand Central Market as "gorgeous. There was lovely fish. It was hard to leave the place." Those ideas should come to Toronto, she said.
"We could transfer part of the activity from St. Lawrence Market to Union Station, so people could grab fresh fish on their way home," said the councillor, who sits on council's executive committee. "It would be outstanding."
Odysseas Gounalakis, who with wife Sandra owns the bustling Scheffler's delicatessen in St. Lawrence Market -- which carries prosciutto, antipasto and 150 varieties of olive oil, said staff at the city-owned market have already approached him about opening a branch in Union Station.
"For me it's a good idea. I like the architecture of the place," Mr. Gounalakis said, adding: "My fellow tenants are interested."
He said the rents in Union Station's underground -- where 190,000 passengers hustle every day between the PATH network under the city's office towers and the GO Trains --are beyond his reach. A more likely destination for him and other retailers is the underused Great Hall. He said market staff have invited him to Union Station to look at the options.
City staff are writing a report on revitalizing Union Station, set to go to council on Nov. 26. The Great Hall of the city-owned station, which celebrates its 80th birthday this year, is much as Grand Central was 15 years ago: bedraggled, with a broken clock, cracked floors, few merchants and scant passersby.
Both stations are in the Beaux-Arts Style; New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority spent about $200-million on a painstaking restoration of Grand Central completed in 1998. Ms. Lindsay Luby acknowledged it may be tough to find the money to revive Toronto's station, but said the staff is talking with both provincially owned GO and federally owned Via. Both railways have ambitious expansion plans.
"We are looking at a partnership with GO," she said. "GO has a lot of money. Thank you, provincial government.''
City documents say that GO wants to double the station's capacity over the next 20 years.
"There's a lot of different potential," said Ms. Lindsay Luby, who envisions a "renaissance of rail travel" with Union Station at its heart.
*****
Fishmongers and meat shops in the Great Hall? No thank you unless they figure out a way to keep the hall from smelling like fish.
If it's underused, perhaps the best way to use the Great Hall is to turn it into the world's biggest Tim Hortons.
khris
Senior Member
I barely ever go in the great hall section of Union Station. That's all for VIA really. I only ever use GO.
I'd like to see GO use more of the great hall.
I know that Central Station in Montreal has a market. It's pretty cool. I don't know if it's quite the same thing as Grand Central Station in NYC though.
I'd like to see GO use more of the great hall.
I know that Central Station in Montreal has a market. It's pretty cool. I don't know if it's quite the same thing as Grand Central Station in NYC though.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Grand Central Market is absolutely fabulous. It would be incredible if Toronto could have something like that. Unfortunately, it's as the article said: the MTA spent $200 million on a lavish restoration. Everything about GCT is top-notch. It's clear that they really worked on making the place perfect, and making it sparkle. I can only hope Toronto will do the same...
L
lawsond
Guest
so true. and unfortunately the model for almost every airport terminal as well.
arriving passengers at terminal one and three just scurry through the lower levels and out into buses and taxis. those leaving the city get to see the lovely departures levels.
it would not be that hard to cure though. simply direct incoming people to the ramp that exits in the hall through those gorgeous pillars.
as critical as we may be tempted to be, just be glad it's not penn station in nyc. one of the last century's greatest architectural tragedies.
L
lawsond
Guest
does the rebuilding of the bridge inlcude capping off the moat by any chance?
that would give much needed space underground and open up the above ground entrance into a plaza.
which would be nice.
allabootmatt
Senior Member
NOT, and I repeat NOT, the bathrooms, which were utterly disgusting for years and are only just being renovated.
But most of Grand Central is really, really nice.
adma
Superstar
I think the moat's deemed something of a "historic element"--the abortive rehab scheme showed it glassed over, not capped off...
JasonParis
Moderator
Sell Union Station to us: GO Transit boss
Sell Union Station to us: GO Transit boss
Heritage building now an 'eyesore'
Peter Kuitenbrouwer
National Post
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
The City of Toronto should sell Union Station to GO Transit because dithering politicians at City Hall are letting the 1927 Beaux-Arts heritage building become "a public eyesore," the head of GO said yesterday.
Gary McNeil, chief executive, said GO should have bought Union Station in 2000, when Canadian National and Canadian Pacific turned the station over to the city in lieu of $25-million in back taxes.
CN and CP had not invested in the station since the 1950s and the City of Toronto has done no better, he said.
"A lot of repairs to Union Station are not happening because of what I'd call political reasons.
"People point the finger and meanwhile cracks are growing, the clocks are broken. It's a shame, it's an embarrassment, it's a public eyesore."
GO operates 181 trains in and out of the station every weekday, making it Canada's busiest transportation hub. The city is now coming up with retail ideas for Union Station while forgetting that it is a train station, Mr. Mc-Neil said in an interview in his office, at the foot of Bay Street.
"Our focus would be on the customers, not the commercial side," he said.
Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby, who heads council's government management committee, said last week she wants to bring St. Lawrence Market fishmongers and bakers to Union Station. But she also suggested a partnership with GO, noting, "GO has a lot of money."
Councillor Karen Stintz said the city should sell to GO.
"We should register our interest in maintaining its historic value, and then sell it to GO," she said.
"We don't have the expertise to develop the station in the way it needs to be developed to serve the transportation needs of the region."
But Councillor Joe Mihevc, who sits on the boards of both GO and the Toronto Transit Commission, said the city is the correct owner for Union Station, managing all its users: GO, VIA, the TTC and eventually a new Greyhound bus terminal.
"Union Station is a major intermodal station," he said. "You can't have any one of these players in charge of the whole thing."
He conceded that the city lost most of a decade debating a private deal for the station. Now it's time to move forward, he said, adding that he wants a "big fat cheque" from Queen's Park for Union Station -- to revitalize it, not as payment for its sale to provincially owned GO.
In 2000, GO spent $85-million to buy five kilometres of track in the rail corridor, the Union Station train shed and the old CP Express shed.
"If I'd been in charge, we would have bought the station as well," Mr. McNeil said.
GO, which moved 41 million passengers in 2006, is spending $100-million over six years to replace the train shed roof.
"It was built in the 1930s to last 20 years," he said. GO also is spending $300-million over seven years to replace the station's signal system, Mr. McNeil said.
"Every bit of money that's gone into Union Station has been from GO Transit," he said.
GO would love to fix the station proper as well.
"We would have definitely gone in there and addressed the infrastructure," he said. "It's not just an eyesore, it's a liability."
City of Toronto staff are preparing a report, to go to council on Nov. 26, about revitalizing the station.
Mr. McNeil said that plan involves digging down two metres under the east side of Union Station.
Rather than being a one-storey passenger concourse with a three-metre ceiling, the station would have an underground mall and a station with just a 2.5-metre ceiling, he said. He called it a bad idea, saying riders should have a spacious area in which to walk.
"You go into the new Terminal One at Pearson," he said. "Where the pedestrian flows are, you are king."
Mr. Mihevc said the motivation for new retail partners at Union Station is "to recoup capital costs through the rents."
GO, meanwhile, plans to build a new head office on a piece of adjacent land, he added.
© National Post 2007
Sell Union Station to us: GO Transit boss
Heritage building now an 'eyesore'
Peter Kuitenbrouwer
National Post
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
The City of Toronto should sell Union Station to GO Transit because dithering politicians at City Hall are letting the 1927 Beaux-Arts heritage building become "a public eyesore," the head of GO said yesterday.
Gary McNeil, chief executive, said GO should have bought Union Station in 2000, when Canadian National and Canadian Pacific turned the station over to the city in lieu of $25-million in back taxes.
CN and CP had not invested in the station since the 1950s and the City of Toronto has done no better, he said.
"A lot of repairs to Union Station are not happening because of what I'd call political reasons.
"People point the finger and meanwhile cracks are growing, the clocks are broken. It's a shame, it's an embarrassment, it's a public eyesore."
GO operates 181 trains in and out of the station every weekday, making it Canada's busiest transportation hub. The city is now coming up with retail ideas for Union Station while forgetting that it is a train station, Mr. Mc-Neil said in an interview in his office, at the foot of Bay Street.
"Our focus would be on the customers, not the commercial side," he said.
Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby, who heads council's government management committee, said last week she wants to bring St. Lawrence Market fishmongers and bakers to Union Station. But she also suggested a partnership with GO, noting, "GO has a lot of money."
Councillor Karen Stintz said the city should sell to GO.
"We should register our interest in maintaining its historic value, and then sell it to GO," she said.
"We don't have the expertise to develop the station in the way it needs to be developed to serve the transportation needs of the region."
But Councillor Joe Mihevc, who sits on the boards of both GO and the Toronto Transit Commission, said the city is the correct owner for Union Station, managing all its users: GO, VIA, the TTC and eventually a new Greyhound bus terminal.
"Union Station is a major intermodal station," he said. "You can't have any one of these players in charge of the whole thing."
He conceded that the city lost most of a decade debating a private deal for the station. Now it's time to move forward, he said, adding that he wants a "big fat cheque" from Queen's Park for Union Station -- to revitalize it, not as payment for its sale to provincially owned GO.
In 2000, GO spent $85-million to buy five kilometres of track in the rail corridor, the Union Station train shed and the old CP Express shed.
"If I'd been in charge, we would have bought the station as well," Mr. McNeil said.
GO, which moved 41 million passengers in 2006, is spending $100-million over six years to replace the train shed roof.
"It was built in the 1930s to last 20 years," he said. GO also is spending $300-million over seven years to replace the station's signal system, Mr. McNeil said.
"Every bit of money that's gone into Union Station has been from GO Transit," he said.
GO would love to fix the station proper as well.
"We would have definitely gone in there and addressed the infrastructure," he said. "It's not just an eyesore, it's a liability."
City of Toronto staff are preparing a report, to go to council on Nov. 26, about revitalizing the station.
Mr. McNeil said that plan involves digging down two metres under the east side of Union Station.
Rather than being a one-storey passenger concourse with a three-metre ceiling, the station would have an underground mall and a station with just a 2.5-metre ceiling, he said. He called it a bad idea, saying riders should have a spacious area in which to walk.
"You go into the new Terminal One at Pearson," he said. "Where the pedestrian flows are, you are king."
Mr. Mihevc said the motivation for new retail partners at Union Station is "to recoup capital costs through the rents."
GO, meanwhile, plans to build a new head office on a piece of adjacent land, he added.
© National Post 2007
RedRocket191
Senior Member
Well it doesn't get any simpler than the headline...
But seriously, a sale to GO transit would, at worst, result in the status quo of neglect. Its not like GO ownership would accelerate the downward spiral.
But seriously, a sale to GO transit would, at worst, result in the status quo of neglect. Its not like GO ownership would accelerate the downward spiral.