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

We've added a front page story that gives a general overview of what's been going on lately at Union Station, which includes details of the the unique interior finishings of % Arabica by Jeremy Barbour of TackleboxArchitecture of New York.

urbantoronto.ca

Shops Filling Out Union Station While Construction Continues for New Platforms | UrbanToronto

While Union Station has become Toronto's Sagrada Familia, a building that will seemingly never be complete, many openings have occurred and more are to come. While the station prepares for significant GO network expansion, we look at some recent creature comfort additions.
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Union Station on Front St.(hopefully a pedestrian area soon)is a good looking, impressvery long civic building, built in 1920’s.But that doesn‘t mean the city isn’t allowed to have an attractive public space out front. Some permanent art (where did that great Raptors sculpture go?) & creative seating would be an upgrade. I see seasonal markets & an ice rink there sometimes.
But too often it looks empty & barren. City staff in Toronto seem allergic &/or apathetic to grand, well designed Public Spaces in the core.
It’s bizarre for a big city. New mayor & progressive councillors should bring in energetic & ambitious peeps.
Union Station reminds me of buildings in St Petersburg Russia~ Beautiful historic buildings but cold, vacant & desolate on the outside.
Also some exterior refinishing & cleanup work on a historic heritage structure wouldn’t hurt. No? Freshen Up.
But Toronto doesn’t do that, with their great old buildings. Do they?
 
It is better than it was in the days of the multi-lane stroad running right outside. And I think the street has a decent amount of potential. But you're right, trying to add some more oomph to the street wouldn't go amiss.
 
evandyk said:
It is really way better than it was 10-15 years ago. But could be so much more.
Click to expand...
City could do so much more‼️ The lack of innovation & creativity with Toronto city staff regarding creating grand public spaces in downtown core, is astonishingly lacking .. comparatively : Montreal, Chi, London .. Longtime Toronto Parks head is moving on so maybe that spurs on ambitious changes.
 
As I do every 6 months or so I asked the City about some of the unfinished parts of Union. Some updates:

Walks & Gardens Trust Artwork. This is the art piece to be installed in the (currently closed) walkway below the "Plaza", it is coming from Belgium. . " I'm happy to report that the "Flux" sculpture project is making progress and is scheduled to arrive in February 2024."

Plaza and the Jersey Barriers. "City staff are undertaking a comprehensive redesign of Union Station's plaza perimeter which will entail the installation of a blend of new steel bollards and custom-designed protective concrete blocks resulting in a significant aesthetic improvement as compared to the jersey barriers, which will be removed. The project construction is expected to occur in spring 2024. It's my understanding that damaged pavers need to be repaired and that best efforts will be made to have them folded into this project, but I cannot guarantee that will happen over the entire plaza area."

Great Hall: "I agree that the floor needs many marble tiles to be replaced and it's on the repair list, but not for this year. At this given time, I'm unable to confirm a date, but it's being discussed given that there are other competing projects. Once the tile project is approved to proceed, there will be a long lead time for ordering the tiles from a Tennessee mine."

The ceiling of the east-west link below the Great Hall. No word yet.

I should say that all of these items have been 'promised' as coming soon for several years so I am not sure we will actually see any of this but ....
 
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DSC said:
As I do every 6 months or so I asked the City about some of the unfinished parts of Union. Some updates:

Walks & Gardens Trust Artwork. This is the art piece to be installed in the (currently closed) walkway below the "Plaza", it is coming from Belgium. . " I'm happy to report that the "Flux" sculpture project is making progress and is scheduled to arrive in February 2024."

Plaza and the Jersey Barriers. "City staff are undertaking a comprehensive redesign of Union Station's plaza perimeter which will entail the installation of a blend of new steel bollards and custom-designed protective concrete blocks resulting in a significant aesthetic improvement as compared to the jersey barriers, which will be removed. The project construction is expected to occur in spring 2024. It's my understanding that damaged pavers need to be repaired and that best efforts will be made to have them folded into this project, but I cannot guarantee that will happen over the entire plaza area."

Great Hall: "I agree that the floor needs many marble tiles to be replaced and it's on the repair list, but not for this year. At this given time, I'm unable to confirm a date, but it's being discussed given that there are other competing projects. Once the tile project is approved to proceed, there will be a long lead time for ordering the tiles from a Tennessee mine."

The ceiling of the east-west link. No word yet.

I should say that all of these items have been 'promised' as coming soon for several years so I am not sure we will actually see any of this but ....
Click to expand...

My thanks to you, for being a much needed fire lit under the City on this one.

For the items above set to go forward 'Yay' if that happens, as promised.

For the ceiling paint fixing...........Seriously, this has to be the cheapest, easiest thing to do, its not even a rounding error on the typical project...........pretty please, City, get on with it.

Finally....any word on the Great Hall Chandeliers?
 
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Northern Light said:
My thanks to you, for being a much needed fire lit under the City on this one.

For the item said above to go forward 'Yay' if that happens, as promised.

For the ceiling paint fixing...........Seriously, this has to be the cheapest, easiest thing to do, its not even a rounding error on the typical project...........pretty place, City, get on with it.

Finally....any word on the Great Hall Chandeliers?
Click to expand...
I asked about the GH lighting - no response.

Agree 100% about the ceiling, my only suspicion (though we were told ages ago of a quite detailed schedule) is that they do not want to paint it in case they need to do something on lower side of GH floor when the fix the tiles and may spoil the new paint - but ......
 
DSC said:
As I do every 6 months or so I asked the City about some of the unfinished parts of Union. Some updates:

Walks & Gardens Trust Artwork. This is the art piece to be installed in the (currently closed) walkway below the "Plaza", it is coming from Belgium. . " I'm happy to report that the "Flux" sculpture project is making progress and is scheduled to arrive in February 2024."

Plaza and the Jersey Barriers. "City staff are undertaking a comprehensive redesign of Union Station's plaza perimeter which will entail the installation of a blend of new steel bollards and custom-designed protective concrete blocks resulting in a significant aesthetic improvement as compared to the jersey barriers, which will be removed. The project construction is expected to occur in spring 2024. It's my understanding that damaged pavers need to be repaired and that best efforts will be made to have them folded into this project, but I cannot guarantee that will happen over the entire plaza area."

Great Hall: "I agree that the floor needs many marble tiles to be replaced and it's on the repair list, but not for this year. At this given time, I'm unable to confirm a date, but it's being discussed given that there are other competing projects. Once the tile project is approved to proceed, there will be a long lead time for ordering the tiles from a Tennessee mine."

The ceiling of the east-west link below the Great Hall. No word yet.

I should say that all of these items have been 'promised' as coming soon for several years so I am not sure we will actually see any of this but ....
Click to expand...
Maybe someone with more supply chain knowledge can chime in but seems ridiculous that we can only order the tiles from a specific Tennessee mine? And that there is a long lead time. No commercial building I've ever been to have the floor tiles in a state of disrepair because of the long lead time to source the tiles.
 
Northern Light said:
My thanks to you, for being a much needed fire lit under the City on this one.

For the items above set to go forward 'Yay' if that happens, as promised.

For the ceiling paint fixing...........Seriously, this has to be the cheapest, easiest thing to do, its not even a rounding error on the typical project...........pretty please, City, get on with it.

Finally....any word on the Great Hall Chandeliers?
Click to expand...
Update. Just heard back on the ceiling of Front Street Promenade. Painting will start in September/October. They also hope to improve the lighting.
 
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trtcttc said:
Maybe someone with more supply chain knowledge can chime in but seems ridiculous that we can only order the tiles from a specific Tennessee mine? And that there is a long lead time. No commercial building I've ever been to have the floor tiles in a state of disrepair because of the long lead time to source the tiles.
Click to expand...
The Great Hall is a heritage space so repair means one needs to match original. Tiles originally came from this mine so replacements also should. I assume the tiles they used for Phase 1 did - and they do look great. If we had more/some $$ we would not be waiting.
 
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