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

DSC said:
You may be right but are you pulling these dates from the air or are they based on actual plans/facts?
Click to expand...

The completion of Heavy Construction for end of 2019 is from the CityTV News Segment on Union Station. The rest is just reverse engineered from the York Concourse timeline.
 
TOareaFan said:
^^I can be critical of Metrolinx just as much as the next guy......but there is no foundation for that post at all.

Yes, Union station has been delayed....some of it (i would suggest) is understandable (in renovating any old building the saying goes "you don't know what you have until you get behind the walls") and some of it is, no doubt, the fault of Metrolinx and/or the city......

....but to use your first post on here to suggest they are now lying about Bay being ready for use in early 2020 and that it will actually be 2023 is, frankly, baffling.
Click to expand...

I am a long time lurker here. Just decided to create an account as I ran out of patience with Union Station and the fact that we keep believing their absurd timelines.

At first we were told the entire Station will be finished in April 2015 before the Pan Am Games. Then they only managed to get York Concourse finished by April 2015 and even that they rushed it to completion and didnt finish the Food Court. The Food Court itself just opened in December 2018, nearly 4 years after the York Concourse finished.

Then we were told that Bay Concourse will open in 2017, then it was end of 2017, then it was 2018, then end of 2018, then in 2019 and now they are saying substantial completion by end of 2019.

You can pretty much deduce that heavy construction will be finished by end of 2019 but the interior fit out will take another year as was the case with York Concourse and Food Court and Retail will be neglected to get the Concourse to open as was the case with York Concourse. Given it took nearly 4 years for the Food Court to open at York Concourse, I am being generous in saying it will take them 2 years to finish the Food and Retail segments at Bay Concourse.

No one would have believed in 2009 when this project was started that in 2019 this project will still be on-going. I for one am done believing the lies emanating from the City and can pretty much reverse engineer to figure out when actually things will get completed.
 
I posted a link to this a couple of weeks ago and though i agree that the City has been overly optimistic about completion dates I think the dates here (from the Budget Analyst NOT the Real Estate staff) are probably quite accurate and are current:

From Page 41+ of https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-124668.pdf

REPORTING ON MAJOR CAPITAL PROJECTS: STATUS UPDATE

In compliance with the Auditor General's recommendations to strengthen accountability, additional status reporting on all major capital projects is required. The following projects have been reported on a quarterly basis during 2018:

Union Station Revitalization Project Project Overview and Deliverables

 Union Station is the largest transportation hub in the country, handling 65 million passengers annually and expected to double by 2031. It is currently undergoing an entire redevelopment and revitalization in order to accommodate the increasing volumes and turn the landmark facility into a transportation, community hub and destination.
 This includes excavation for a new retail concourse level, construction of two new concourse for GO Transit, restoration of the VIA concourse and renovations to the West Wing and Centre Block and exterior restoration of the building.
Financial Update Project Status
 Stage 1 is fundamentally complete except for minor deficiencies being rectified and closeout documentation. Key milestones reached and components completed on Stage 1 and the North West PATH include:
 VIA Elements – Panorama Lounge, York West Teamway Catering space, East Concourse offices, baggage handling system, heritage washrooms, office space and Great Hall ticket offices.
 York West Concourse – base building fit-up work including stairs / elevators to platforms, life safety systems, loading docks and access/egress through Air Canada Centre, Maple Leaf Square and Telus building tunnels with York Concourse strata sold to and occupied by Metrolinx.
 West Wing - Floors 2 through 4 complete, strata sold to and occupied by Metrolinx.
 Structural Support Column Replacement (Stage 1) is complete.  Electrical systems completed including installation, commissioning and operation of main and emergency power, lighting and lighting control, safety/security and communications systems.
 Mechanical systems completed including installation, commissioning and operation of HVAC, fire protection, plumbing, building automation and mechanical equipment systems.
 Exterior heritage façade restoration including roof of West, East Wings and Centre Block.
 NW Path Phase 1 complete and open to the public in April 2015. This connects the northwest corner of Union Station across Front Street to the northwest corner of Front and York Street.
 Stage 1 base building Retail Concourse beneath York and VIA Concourses is complete. Retail areas are released to the Head Lessee for installation of fixtures and occupancy by tenants. Some retail operations have opened, including the York Street Promenade, Front Street Promenade (West side only), the West Wing TD Credit Card Lounge, and the Food Court, representing approxmiately 186,000 square feet of new space.


 Stage 2/3 includes:

 Exterior restoration of the East Wing is 99% complete.
 Great Hall Restoration: East and West arches, including windows, north wall and ceiling cleaning, south wall and ceiling cleaning completed.
 VIA Concourse restoration is 90% complete.
 Front Street West Moat: Moat Installation is 95% complete.
 Front Street East Moat: Moat Installation is 50% complete.
 East Wing ground floor over 50% complete.
 Bay Concourse/Retail: Excavation, structural column replacements, and new Bay Concourse suspended slab, and slab on grade completed.
 Interior finishing work is 50% complete Substantial Completion of Stage 2/3 is currently expected to be completed in 2019. This will trigger the turnover of the Bay Concourse to Metrolinx to facilitate the fit out and completion of the concourse for future public access. Key Project Challenges
 The project has experienced challenges due to a number of factors, including found site conditions such as heritage, environmental elements including designated substances, and performance issues with the General Contractor/Construction Manager on Stage 1, the prime consultant, and certain subcontractors.

 In addition, development of the stage 2/3 schedule, with the inclusion of transfers of work from Stage 1, has created further challenges.

 To mitigate risks, project teams have responded with value engineering, constructability changes, challenging of tender results, retendering, minor scope adjustments, and consideration of different construction methodologies.
 The project has encountered additional risk to both budget and schedule due to poor performance by the General Contractor for stage 2/3. City staff are working with the project consultants and the General Contractor's surety company to discuss the latest performance and progress issues.
 
The lack of work happening after regular business hours is seriously depressing and disheartening.

I was in Union at 2AM on Sunday, and again at midnight last night... Couldn't hear any work and could only see a handful of workers (standing around in a group not really doing anything). That's inside the station and in the train shed.

Can't really judge without knowing the inside scoop of the work contracts, but damn... you'd think overnight when the station is empty would be prime time to get s#!t done.
 
AnotherCanuck said:
The lack of work happening after regular business hours is seriously depressing and disheartening.

I was in Union at 2AM on Sunday, and again at midnight last night... Couldn't hear any work and could only see a handful of workers (standing around in a group not really doing anything). That's inside the station and in the train shed.

Can't really judge without knowing the inside scoop of the work contracts, but damn... you'd think overnight when the station is empty would be prime time to get s#!t done.
Click to expand...
They have certainly done work when the station is quiet or closed but at the moment they are not really working in 'public areas' where work and 'people' would be in close contact so I doubt it would be cost-effective to pay people more $$ to work at 'off hours'. Much as I would like to see the Bay Concourse opened we can manage without it and probably best to use (scarce) money in better ways. What is more concerning is that there really do not seem to be many 'guys' working during the normal construction day!
 
may I just say, hallelujah!
The quicker we get to replace them in all their stalled projects, the better.
 
The article amazingly doesn't mention Union anywhere, but it does say the application will allow Bondfield to continue operating while it restructures its debts. To quote, "In its application, Bondfield said it needs protection from creditors to focus on completing construction projects while seeking to strengthen its balance sheet."
 
sikandar said:
The article amazingly doesn't mention Union anywhere, but it does say the application will allow Bondfield to continue operating while it restructures its debts. In its application, Bondfield said it needs protection from creditors to focus on completing construction projects while seeking to strengthen its balance sheet.
Click to expand...
So does this mean Bondfield might be encouraged to finish union faster?
 
DatTranzitGuy said:
So does this mean Bondfield might be encouraged to finish union faster?
Click to expand...

I'll leave it to an expert to opine on this, but I'd imagine they would be putting less resources into projects with their debts looming over them. How much of this breathing space would actually translate into taking more "risk", i.e. properly resourcing their projects, I have no idea.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top