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

Urban Shocker said:
Yonge Street isn't what it used to be. Take the young people ( please! ) for instance - now they've got clubland and Queen West as their first choices. When I was their age ( groan! ) all we had was the world's longest street when we wanted to get wasted or buy tight trousers.
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As long as the House Of Lords operates, there's "everything old is new again" hope. Now, if only the Gasworks can be resurrected...
 
unimaginative2 said:
That these condos are probably the most expensive in the entire city says something about the significance of the site.
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While these condos are more expensive than average on a per-square-foot basis, they are nowhere near the most expensive. That honour goes to the hotel/combo sites such as Shangri-La, Four Seasons, Ritz, as well as Yorkville area sites such as 77 Charles.
 
Google Earth model

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=7d66cdb0ed756b3565edfa3b99f3755a

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Thanks for the Google Earth models. They show how this building does not actually occupy the important foot of Yonge st... but runs along its side.

The city could build out a pier towards where the Captain's ship sits and extend that out into the lake, perhaps with a large public square or public building at the end.
 
There is already a square on the north west corner of Yonge and the Quay, there is a little park thingy between the LCBO and Loblaws, there is green space between the Ferry Docks and Harbour Square where people sun themselves, there is HtO, the Feds have promised us a square just west of the Terminal building, there is a waterfront promenade, Pier 27 will supposedly include 30% public space. How many more squares do we need down there?
 
Another square is definitely the last thing we need. What we need are uses that actually attract people to the area and encourage them to stay, like outdoor restaurants, something of which Toronto suffers from an extreme lack. Project Symphony is definitely on the right track when it comes to uses.
 
I'd say that Toronto has just about given itself over to the delights of cafe society and outdoor patio dining as much as it possibly can, including on the waterfront. I think of paved public squares as extensions of that sort of thing, offering venues for more consumerism. By contrast, the quiet stretch of treed green space, boardwalk, and seating behind the Harbour Square buildings provides the kind of relaxing refuge that is becoming increasingly difficult to find down there. Rees Parkette provides the same environment, on a smaller scale, to the west. Rather than frenzied activity and programmed use everywhere I'm more in favour of the kind of variety of use that such spaces offer.
 
Absolutely. What we need are more passive parks where people can go and do what they goddamn well please. But I suppose the youngins have bought into the whole "here we are now, entertain us" worldview, and are incapable of making their own fun.
 
So true. The default mode for human activity has become consuming stuff. Any environment that doesn't provide endless stimuli is seen as terrifyingly alien.
 
I can't quite understand how it can be said that the waterfront has given itself over to outdoor patio dining as much as possible, and at the same time be claimed that there aren't enough parks for passive relaxation. For one thing, I've been to many places in the world where there is a rather livelier waterfront dining scene. In fact, Toronto has a grand total of four waterfront outdoor restaurants -- the Italian place in the base of that condo over by the John Street slip, the Il Fornello and the seafood restaurant in Queens Quay terminal, and the Keating Channel Pub. By contrast, passive parks both present and proposed include Ashbridges Bay, Lake Ontario Park, whatever has become of Commissioners Park, Cherry Beach, West Don Lands park, Sherbourne Park, the area behind Harbour Square, H20, the Music Garden, the vast grassy area around Sunnyside and south of the Ex, the mouth of the Humber, the parks in the Beaches... I'm sure I'm missing a few.
 
You've missed some outdoor restaurants...there is also The Boathouse in QQ Terminal and Pier 4. Plus, you have others which don't have a patio but do have a view of the water: the spectacular restaurant at the top of the Westin (Toula), Pearl (highly acclaimed Chinese place in QQ Terminal, also with fantastic water views) and the restaurant in the Radisson (Commodore’s.) The reality is that between the ones you’ve mentioned and the one’s I’ve added, it isn’t too bad (but certainly could be improved.) We’ll also get a few more in Maple Leaf Square (although these won’t have any water views.)

Also, we must remember that the waterfront was abandoned up until the early 1970s when the Westin Hotel and 33 Harbour Square were built. So, it many ways, the waterfront is still in its infancy. With people like yourselves (creating demand), things will improve further in the years to come.

I also wanted to make one more comment that no doubt many people will disagree with. I do agree that Harbour Square was a disaster- there is no access to the water except at York and Bay. Those parking garages that attach the buildings really ruined it. But, we must also realize that when Campeau built the Westin and 33 and 55/65, there was nothing at the waterfront- it was a wasteland. And people thought Campeau was crazy to develop this land. But, it was the vision of Robert Campeau and the original purchasers in 33 and 55/65 that in some ways opened up the waterfront for everyone else. And at the end of the day, the disaster that is now Harbour Square is only a small fraction of the entire waterfront and becoming a smaller fraction as the rest of the waterfront is developed.
 
luvbrka said:
And at the end of the day, the disaster that is now Harbour Square is only a small fraction of the entire waterfront and becoming a smaller fraction as the rest of the waterfront is developed.
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Harbour Square is indeed 'growing' - Pier 27 is quite a stunning doppelganger.
 
As I have already pointed out, there is access to the water to the south of Harbour Square - a wooden boardwalk, a grassy lawn that is wider than the concrete waterfront promenade to the west, mature trees, benches, landscaped areas, all are there. It is a quiet oasis where people sunbathe, read, sit and talk to friends, and avoid street meat vendors and the jangle of cash machines so beloved of some who see shopping as the only valid experience for visitors to our lakefront.
 
Urban Shocker said:
As I have already pointed out, there is access to the water to the south of Harbour Square - a wooden boardwalk, a grassy lawn that is wider than the concrete waterfront promenade to the west, mature trees, benches, landscaped areas, all are there. It is a quiet oasis where people sunbathe, read, sit and talk to friends, and avoid street meat vendors and the jangle of cash machines so beloved of some who see shopping as the only valid experience for visitors to our lakefront.
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I agree with you. The park south of Harbour SQ is used significantly by the public. So it isn't all that bad. And I guess the buildings block off completely the noise from the city.
 
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