Toronto Waterlink at Pier 27 | 43.89m | 14s | Cityzen | a—A

[Torontovibe]

What the waterfront really needs is some entertainment/cultural/leisure/tourist attractions. A waterfront should be the focus of fun activities for everyone. Sadly, Toronto seems to be missing that in its future waterfront plans. We constantly hear politicians talking about tourism but that's all they do is talk. We see very little effort to actually develop a tourist friendly city.

 

[steveve]

I just find that the waterfront is too far for the majority of people downtown. it's something you have to go out of your way to see. considering the city grew away from the water and not along it, it's a huge barrier. and it doesn't help that we have the railway tracks and gardiner cutting it off logicically from the rest of the city. the water doesn't seem like a part of the city as it is with cities like Chicago and new york (but then again, Chicago has chicago river and Manhattan is an island)

on pier 27, These things look pretty awesome in scale. I don't think the renders captured how big these things would be, although I hope these skybridges don't become the new 'stacked boxes' fad lol

 

[Grimace]

the water doesn't seem like a part of the city as it is with cities like Chicago and new york (but then again, Chicago has chicago river and Manhattan is an island)

Nobody who lives in Manhattan goes to the water unless they have company in town. South Street Seaport makes Queen's Quay look fabulous, and though I haven't been there in over 6 years, unless it has changed Battery Park is mostly a place to buy fake rolexes.

 

[Redroom Studios]

"South Street Seaport makes Queen's Quay look fabulous"... um, really?

 

[000]

Front Street is just insane this weekend. A Grey Cup outdoor concert has been blaring for two days and nights. If Queens Quay was accessible these concerts could have been held on the Sirius Stage. Queens Quay has plenty of life, it's the COLD WEATHER that keeps people off the streets and hidden away. Go during the summer, preferably when the street isn't being torn apart.

 

[Grimace]

"South Street Seaport makes Queen's Quay look fabulous"... um, really?

Um, yes.

The old part on the other side of the FDR is ok, but that is blocked from the water by the FDR. Pier 17, on the water, has the FDR on top of it and compares unfavourably to Queen's Quay in basically all respects.

 

[Register123]

Um, yes.

The old part on the other side of the FDR is ok, but that is blocked from the water by the FDR. Pier 17, on the water, has the FDR on top of it and compares unfavourably to Queen's Quay in basically all respects.

This is your opinion, mine is opposite of yours. I find South Street Seaport to be superior to Queens Quay in almost every respect. As for Battery Park, it is nicer than anything currently on Toronto's waterfront, again in my opinion as well as several of my friends and family members who have visited both.

 

[Grimace]

This is your opinion, mine is opposite of yours. I find South Street Seaport to be superior to Queens Quay in almost every respect.

Ok, but are you talking about just Pier 17 or the whole thing, including the area west of the FDR? Because the area west of the FDR is about as connected to the water as Distillery District.

As for Battery Park, it is nicer than anything currently on Toronto's waterfront, again in my opinion as well as several of my friends and family members who have visited both.

My comment was in response to the suggestion that the water was more a part of Manhattan than Toronto. My point was that people who live in Manhattan do not go to the water. Battery Park is for tourists, thus all the guys with briefcases selling rolexes (have they cleared those guys out?). If you live in Manhattan and want to go to a park you don't go there, unless you live in Battery Park City (which doesn't really feel like Manhattan as it is). I would be very surprised if the number of actual Torontonians that go to the Island on a summer weekend does not greatly exceed the number of actual New Yorkers that go to Battery Park on a summer weekend. And yes, view of the Statue of Liberty aside, I think that the Toronto Islands are far nicer than Battery Park.

 

[Critique]

^^

There are parks in the area such as Sherbourne common, Underpass, plus the walkways along the water. There needs to be more reasons for people to visit this area, it needs more people not grass.
Cars going by on the expressway will not be visiting the waterfront, they are rushing by to somewhere else and should be watching where they are driving not gazing out over the lake. This is the same old tired argument that the condos are cutting off access to the lake, they don't do any such thing, they only cut off the view for drivers on the highway, not pedestrians walking to and along the lake.

I'm going to have to disagree. True there are several new parks like the ones you mentioned but by no means do they result in a reason for people to come visit the waterfront on a regular basis. For example, Underpass park isnt even located on the waterfront. Furthermore whats the point of having sugar beach and sherbourne when it is a pain in the neck for anyone living north of the gardiner to visit it? We dont need more condos to pop up near the gardiner (though that will probably happen). Do you honestly want more of those cheap green glass condos? And I dont think there needs to be more people living here considering the amount of devolopement coming to the area (the area might even be overpopulated by the time everything is done).

By changing those lots to parks or places of entertainment, it will allow more people to go beyond the gardiner. Almost like a "cookie crumb trail" where parks like these can effectively connect to the waterfront. Imagine how amazing that will be. Small (or large) strips of green winding through the buildings to connect to the waterfront, EX, and even ontario place.

 

[Parkdalian]

I would have liked to have seen a massive park on the south side of the Gardiner, but the cost could have been enormous (for a decent, well-designed park or series of parks rather than a dump with trees) without any real way to pay for it. As well, many of the lots aren't owned by the city. Since Toronto has trouble paying for the transit it desperately needs, I doubt that a big park or series of parks would have been feasible.

Also, Battery Park is not a great park, and New Yorkers do not visit it. It is also highly awkward to walk to. But their ferry service is far superior (and free!).

 

[SP!RE]

Sherbourne Common and Sugar Beach are already packed in the summers (weekends especially) and there aren't many people living directly around them yet. Always room for more parks and beaches in this city

 

[Register123]

I would have liked to have seen a massive park on the south side of the Gardiner, but the cost could have been enormous (for a decent, well-designed park or series of parks rather than a dump with trees) without any real way to pay for it. As well, many of the lots aren't owned by the city. Since Toronto has trouble paying for the transit it desperately needs, I doubt that a big park or series of parks would have been feasible.

Also, Battery Park is not a great park, and New Yorkers do not visit it. It is also highly awkward to walk to. But their ferry service is far superior (and free!).

It is a great park extending from the tip of Manhattan all the way up the west side to nearly 34th street continuously. It is beautifully landscaped, nice public furniture, everything properly maintained, play areas for kids, basketball courts, piers. Though this entire stretch is not formerly called battery park it is all connected. And yes New Yorkers including myself do go there and on a regular basis. So I don't think you know what you are talking about.

 

[Torontovibe]

I just find that the waterfront is too far for the majority of people downtown. it's something you have to go out of your way to see. considering the city grew away from the water and not along it, it's a huge barrier. and it doesn't help that we have the railway tracks and gardiner cutting it off logicically from the rest of the city. the water doesn't seem like a part of the city as it is with cities like Chicago and new york (but then again, Chicago has chicago river and Manhattan is an island)

on pier 27, These things look pretty awesome in scale. I don't think the renders captured how big these things would be, although I hope these skybridges don't become the new 'stacked boxes' fad lol

Both New York & Chicago also have barriers to their waterfronts. Chicago has a highway and New York also has a highway, as well as wharfs that are off limits to the public. I don't think Toronto's waterfront is so hard to get to. It's basically full of people all summer long. The east waterfront is just starting to be developed, so of course, it's going to take time to develop but the west side is doing pretty good. If anything, I think it's Toronto's rivers that are the most neglected and under developed. The Don and Humber can be much better used if they were properly developed. (or maybe even turned into canals)

Toronto's waterfront is much better than people make it out to be. The more the city spreads southward, the more integrated it will become with the downtown core and that's exactly what is happening. It will all come together in the near future.

 

[DSC]

If you look on a map the waterfront is really not that far south of Front Street, the reason it seems so far (and perception is, at least in this case, everything!) is because it is a very uninteresting walk. Having to pass under the rail tracks and the Gardiner certainly do not help but if one were passing through interesting streetscapes north of the tracks and started seeing interesting stuff south of it.....

This is starting to happen as developments like Market Wharf are completed and the City are trying to get the (GO owned) bridges fixed up but we are certainly not there yet.

 

[innsertnamehere]

view from the Toronto Star cafeteria: (sorry for the crappy Iphone shots)