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

Richard White said:
Actually it is connected to College Park with an entrance onto Yonge.
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Yes, but it is so crap, it might as well not be connected.
- Several 90 degree turns
- Dimly lit
- Creepy and claustrophobic late at night
- Two layers of nearly-windowless unattractive fire doors
- Two elevators (transfer between elevators) for disabled/elderly
- Three hastily-located segments of stairs.
- In many situations, preferable to walk between buildings even in rain or -30C cold

I consider it the worst short inter-building PATH connection between two adjacent buildings.

Retrofit accent lighting and art murals will help a lot, even if not solve all problems making it preferable to walk outside in -30C (for many).
 
mdrejhon said:
Yes, but it is so crap, it might as well not be connected.
- Several 90 degree turns
- Dimly lit
- Creepy and claustrophobic late at night
- Two layers of nearly-windowless unattractive fire doors
- Two elevators (transfer between elevators) for disabled/elderly
- Three hastily-located segments of stairs.
- In many situations, preferable to walk between buildings even in rain or -30C cold

I consider it the worst short inter-building PATH connection between two adjacent buildings.

Retrofit accent lighting and art murals will help a lot, even if not solve all problems making it preferable to walk outside in -30C (for many).
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I agree. You have to check yourself and make sure you didn't step into some haggard retrofitted food court in the 1970s. The entire layout, look and feel was so poorly thought out, it's shocking that it was only finished a couple years ago.

I'd like to see someone buy it up, gut it and start from scratch.
 
DonValleyRainbow said:
I'd like to see someone buy it up, gut it and start from scratch.
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If it has a through connection, perhaps.

I'd like the Chelsea Hotel to finally connect Dundas to College. Then we can walk from Yonge-College all the way to the waterfront indoors, also walking through the revitalized Union Station too. Until Aura has through-connection, I don't think its value as PATH will ever go up sufficiently to make a buyout-and-gut worthwhile.
 
mdrejhon said:
If it has a through connection, perhaps.

I'd like the Chelsea Hotel to finally connect Dundas to College. Then we can walk from Yonge-College all the way to the waterfront indoors, also walking through the revitalized Union Station too. Until Aura has through-connection, I don't think its value as PATH will ever go up sufficiently to make a buyout-and-gut worthwhile.
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I would imagine, however unfortunate for the investors in the Aura retail spaces, that with such a high vacancy rate, many of these units could be picked relatively cheap.

The object, in my mind, would not be a mall layout.

It's large enough to accommodate an anchor-store type space.

The only issue being weaving a path connection around or through such a store (s)

Given how incredibly crowded the Metro in College Park is, a relocation to the base of Aura might make sense.

I'm not sure how the sq ft compares, but they should be able to get a good deal more breathing room than what they have, probably at a lower per sq ft cost too.
 
Reecemartin said:
A Path connection from College to Dundas allowing such a long Trek to be undertaken underground would be pretty amazing, maybe even enough to inspire people to try to run it and see who could make the fastest trip :D.
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The 'PATH Sprint'; College to Union. Wouldn't be a bad weekend gimmick considering most things are closed.
 
OK, back to UNION!

Today they have started putting up scaffolding on the section above the east moat that has not had any to date. I assume they hope to start work on the external renovation of that section (the last?) soon.

They have also started putting down thick membrane in the west moat; when they did this in the east moat about 4 weeks ago they poured the bottom layer of concrete soon after but I suspect it's too cold to do this for a while.

UPDATE. Today (11 January) they were putting down the rebar on floor of west moat. If we get a warmer spell they may pour the concrete there too.
 
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DSC said:
OK, back to UNION!

Today they have started putting up scaffolding on the section above the east moat that has not had any to date. I assume they hope to start work on the external renovation of that section (the last?) soon.

They have also started putting down thick membrane in the west moat; when they did this in the east moat about 4 weeks ago they poured the bottom layer of concrete soon after but I suspect it's too cold to do this for a while.
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This is likely the last of the facade work unless they neglected to do the backside of the headhouse yet. As for the concrete it is too cold. As with anything water based they cannot complete it in the winter without first heating the surrounding area which they can do with large in-ground heaters. I believe this is what they did when they worked on Queens Quay.

If it gets to -20 they would have to wait but if the temps hover around freezing it should be fine.
 
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Richard White said:
Actually it is connected to College Park with an entrance onto Yonge.
Click to expand...

While that is true, my intention was to express that it was not connected to the main PATH system which ends at the Atrium on Bay at Edward. If the system linked from Gerrard to Union (and I am certain that it will) then I believe that would add to the commercial value of the basement of AURA.

Conceivably College Park could be linked west across Bay to the MARS district. I believe that this connection would add traffic and a lot of value.
 
I was passing through Union earlier and both the Departures Concourse and Great Hall are coming along well. I noticed they had cleaned a spot on the ceiling in the east archway. Anyone know why they stopped and what they were trying to accomplish?

I got pictures but for some reason I am unable to post them on here without moving hell and high water.
 
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