Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

[kev1n1m]

I've had the opposite experience. Any homeless person within the station is engaged immediately, and they often congregate in the teamways, which seems to be the only place they're allowed to congregate, for a while. I would guess dealing with the homeless is a vast majority of Union security's time.

 

[WB62]

I totally get the dirty feeling the space gives off, I imagine the harsh direct lighting, the acoustics, and the dingy brown tiles contribute a lot to that.

I find the whole VIA Concourse extremely under-utilised after VIA service ends (which is at like 6pm), the entire space empties out while the GO Concourses can be overflowing with people. I wish this concourse was somehow better integrated with the others during the renovation

 

[DSCToronto]

I totally get the dirty feeling the space gives off, I imagine the harsh direct lighting, the acoustics, and the dingy brown tiles contribute a lot to that.

I find the whole VIA Concourse extremely under-utilised after VIA service ends (which is at like 6pm), the entire space empties out while the GO Concourses can be overflowing with people. I wish this concourse was somehow better integrated with the others during the renovation

Obviously, it would be better to 'spread the crowds" around but how exactly would you have done this,??

 

[WB62]

Obviously, it would be better to 'spread the crowds" around but how exactly would you have done this,??

Honestly no idea beyond removing the doors between the VIA Concourse and the arcade hallway, but I’m sure theres something that could have happened to distribute everyone better

 

[nightstreak]

I totally get the dirty feeling the space gives off, I imagine the harsh direct lighting, the acoustics, and the dingy brown tiles contribute a lot to that.

I find the whole VIA Concourse extremely under-utilised after VIA service ends (which is at like 6pm), the entire space empties out while the GO Concourses can be overflowing with people. I wish this concourse was somehow better integrated with the others during the renovation

This will almost certainly change once the south concourse is open. The VIA concourse will act as a quick shortcut to Bremner from the Great Hall.

You'll go down the ramp, through the concourse and into this space with Union Plaza, Scotiabank Arena and Bremner straight ahead and the Bay and York concourse on either side:

The wall that separates the VIA concourse from the south concourse appears to still be there in this rendering but there's little reason to keep it or at least remove the doors.

My hope is that VIA is waiting for this to be complete before opening their concourse to the rest of the station. The heavy doors in place look to be hanging on for dear life and awaiting replacement or removal. There's also a staircase at the south end of the VIA concourse that leads down to the lower concourse and food court. Those stairs have been confirmed to be temporary and rebuilding them will directly affect the south wall of the VIA concourse, which is why I think it'll be opened up and better connected to the south concourse.

 

[DSCToronto]

This will almost certainly change once the south concourse is open. The VIA concourse will act as a quick shortcut to Bremner from the Great Hall.

You'll go down the ramp, through the concourse and into this space with Union Plaza, Scotiabank Arena and Bremner straight ahead and the Bay and York concourse on either side:

The wall that separates the VIA concourse from the south concourse appears to still be there in this rendering but there's little reason to keep it or at least remove the doors.

My hope is that VIA is waiting for this to be complete before opening their concourse to the rest of the station. The heavy doors in place look to be hanging on for dear life and awaiting replacement or removal. There's also a staircase at the south end of the VIA concourse that leads down to the lower concourse and food court. Those stairs have been confirmed to be temporary and rebuilding them will directly affect the south wall of the VIA concourse, which is why I think it'll be opened up and better connected to the south concourse.

Though we all refer to the VIA Concourse, is it actually under the ownership (or leased to) VIA?? Is it, maybe, a CITY responsibity as the landlord???

 

[nightstreak]

Though we all refer to the VIA Concourse, is it actually under the ownership (or leased to) VIA?? Is it, maybe, a CITY responsibity as the landlord???

I recall that VIA was responsible for its concourse renovation, a difference we can see plainly: it would have been the same or similar to the rest of the station had it been built by the city.

But you do make a good point. The wall that separates the concourse from what is currently the south hallway connecting Bay and York concourses, is at the very least a shared responsibility. The city will be removing the staircase that takes up a large part of that south wall, instead opening into the new South Concourse beyond the current hallway. Removing that staircase will open up the wall and it’ll either have to be rebuilt or refinished as an open wall, at which point they might as well remove the doors or the entire wall.

 

[nightstreak]

@WB62 I had some things to do downtown so I'm wandering the station and I see where the concourses can connect. There's a passageway under the ramp from the Great Hall. On either side are the York and Bay concourses walled off with nothing in the way. If this passageway were to be opened, you'd have free movement across all three concourses and easy access to the food hall from York and Bay concourses.

The more I wander around, the more I realize where I am relative to the old station.

Remember those nasty teal steel seats before the rebuild?

AoD

All my memories of old Union Station are scented in Cinnabon. The new ripoff "Cinnaholic" cinnamon pastry place smells like nothing. Never forget what they took from us.

 

[DSCToronto]

I recall that VIA was responsible for its concourse renovation, a difference we can see plainly: it would have been the same or similar to the rest of the station had it been built by the city.

But you do make a good point. The wall that separates the concourse from what is currently the south hallway connecting Bay and York concourses, is at the very least a shared responsibility. The city will be removing the staircase that takes up a large part of that south wall, instead opening into the new South Concourse beyond the current hallway. Removing that staircase will open up the wall and it’ll either have to be rebuilt or refinished as an open wall, at which point they might as well remove the doors or the entire wall.

The VIA Concourse like the Great Hall and the "Front Street Promenade" were, I think, all 'heritage' and thus the renovations were constrained not only by space and $$ but by heritage. (Let's not relitigate that issue, please!) They certainly restored all the old terrazzo tiling and the tiles.

 

[APTA-2048]

The TD space is alright, but I'm just not able to shake a gross / dirty feeling I get whenever I am in the VIA area. Judging by the emptiness in the photo, other people still avoid it too. None of the seating in this new area has USB outlets, and there are no regular electrical outlets on the walls. I also wouldn't trust stepping away from my belongings here even for a second. The washrooms in the larger VIA space, although they were renovated, are really gross- they smell nasty; very little fresh airflow, like most of the washrooms in the building. I've also seen drug paraphenalia laying around in there, and the homeless love to hang out in VIA with shopping carts full of belongings. No one ever asks them to leave.

The washrooms throughout Union Station are not cleaned frequent enough nor throughly. They just do the bare minimum and it’s gross. I don’t even know who to complain to.

Such a high traffic area needs constant attention. I was at a mall near the Brooklyn Bridge, and they had someone stationed outside going in and doing light cleaning every so often. Like before things become a huge mess. It was great. By contrast, the washrooms at Penn Station were even more gross than Union. Even at 07:00 in the morning.

 

[nightstreak]

This will almost certainly change once the south concourse is open. The VIA concourse will act as a quick shortcut to Bremner from the Great Hall.

You'll go down the ramp, through the concourse and into this space with Union Plaza, Scotiabank Arena and Bremner straight ahead and the Bay and York concourse on either side:

The wall that separates the VIA concourse from the south concourse appears to still be there in this rendering but there's little reason to keep it or at least remove the doors.

My hope is that VIA is waiting for this to be complete before opening their concourse to the rest of the station. The heavy doors in place look to be hanging on for dear life and awaiting replacement or removal. There's also a staircase at the south end of the VIA concourse that leads down to the lower concourse and food court. Those stairs have been confirmed to be temporary and rebuilding them will directly affect the south wall of the VIA concourse, which is why I think it'll be opened up and better connected to the south concourse.

Since I'm here, I thought I'd do a little photo tour of what I just described above.

When going down the ramp from the Great Hall into the VIA Concourse....

...towards the end you come to this wall:

It clearly looks temporary. If you go around to the corridor behind it that connects the Bay and York Concourses, you'll see what's behind the bump out wall:

Follow this and it leads you to a staircase:

Go down the staircase, and you'll find yourself here:

That wall will come down and will lead you to the lower part of the South Concourse which will exit out of the Union Market door you see here:

Notice how this door is directly below the VIA Concourse so the temporary bump out staircase will no longer be necessary since the spaces will be connected by stairs in this new South Concourse.

Back on our tour at the bottom of the staircase, if you turn around, you'll see that the temporary staircase that forms that bump out in the VIA concourse, has split the stairs in half.

Walk down these steps and you're in the Union Market lower concourse:

This all to point out that this staircase is indeed temporary and that removing it will also take down the VIA Rail's south wall into the new South Concourse. That outer wall can be seen here and indeed does look very temporary:

So when this is all said and done, going from the Great Hall through the VIA Concourse will be the most direct route through the station to Bremner which I think will mean the VIA Concourse will get a lot more through traffic.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

 

[WB62]

and that removing it will also take down the VIA Rail's south wall into the new South Concourse. That outer wall can be seen here and indeed does look very temporary:

It wouldn’t, the only part of the wall that needs to come down when the temporary market staircase needs to be removed are are the spots where the drywall goes from floor to ceiling. These spots are where doors used to be:

 

[nightstreak]

It wouldn’t, the only part of the wall that needs to come down when the temporary market staircase needs to be removed are are the spots where the drywall goes from floor to ceiling. These spots are where doors used to be:

View attachment 699901

This tiled wall doesn't match anything else in the station. It looks like it's being left until the end. What is gained in keeping it? There's nothing behind these walls — or won't be once the staircase is removed.

 

[WB62]

This tiled wall doesn't match anything else in the station. It looks like it's being left until the end. What is gained in keeping it? There's nothing behind these walls — or won't be once the staircase is removed.

I’m saying the wall doesn’t need to come down when the staircase is removed. It could be removed (if the wall isn’t load bearing), but it’s not required.

 

[nightstreak]

At the very least, they could open the wall to this width once the stair is gone. This is directly below the wall, no load bearing columns for at least 20 feet. This would be enough to open up the VIA Concourse to the South Concourse.