Toronto Wellesley Parliament Square | 190.9m | 58s | Greatwise | Arcadis

[interchange42]

Greatwise Developments, the owners of four towers in the southeast corner of St James Town, are planning to improve the area with a rebuilt road network, public realm, and infill buildings. Some images below from their concept plan as presented to the City's Design Review Panel a couple of weeks ago, and we have a full front page story coming shortly.

Here's the site plan:

Here's the ground level concept plan:

Here are two images looking northwest and northeast (respectively) across Wellesley, dominated by a proposed 51-storey tower:

Here's a view northwards up Rose Street:

Here's a view west across Rose Street to a public plaza:

Here's a view southeast to a POPS at the north end of the property:

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[innsertnamehere]

great to see what is arguably the most under invested and overlooked part of downtown get a bit of love. Looking forward to what comes of this.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

great to see what is arguably the most under invested and overlooked part of downtown get a bit of love. Looking forward to what comes of this.

Hopefully not lots of spandrel. On another note - guess this census tract will remain as the densest in Canada for years to come.

AoD

 

[Northern Light]

I appreciate the idea of revitalizing and reconnecting St. Jamestown.

I also expressly endorse the notion of reinstating Rose Avenue.

Beyond that I have some real reservations.

I understand why things have been proposed the way they have, minimizing the need to demolish or replace existing rental housing, to work with what's already there, thus reducing costs.

That said, it results in some really awkward infill and fails to resolve some issues for the existing neighbourhood.

In what has become a 'family' area, there is a crying need for a full or near-full sized soccer field.

There simply isn't anywhere to play.

Leaving all the buildings where they are, also leaves many of the associated problems (external waste areas, pops that have been seriously neglected over the years and may be again, grids of space that aren't well optimized for parks or development).

Anything more ambitious would not only call for other area property owners/developers to be involved, but likely some pubic subsidy so that replacement rental housing could be offered if not at the same or similar rents to what is now available.

My off-hand thoughts, mostly restricted to this developer's block would be to remove the most northerly building and extend St James Avenue on a straighter alignment to meet Parliament.

This would form a useful block to the north (parallel to the new alignment).

It might even be large enough to run a soccer field w/o any other building removals.

But removing the 2 buildings to the north of this proposal, in that newly formed block would allow for a truly usable, high-quality public park for the area.

The units could then be replaced on what is now public space to the south with a full-on tower, instead of the townhome + pops combination currently envisioned.

I think it's really imperative to get all the area owners together, including TCHC and envision a cohesive outcome.

Re-integrate Ontario Street south of St. James Avenue, Rose Avenue in full, and create a new East-West street from Bleeker to Parliament through the existing series of parking lots in northern area of the community..

Establish one significant, high-quality public park, ideally next to the school, creating a usable field for same.

Replace a portion of the existing rental housing, on-site and/or nearby with better stock, with a government subsidy protecting rents for existing tenants.

Deliver new 'ownership', and private-sector rental options aimed at mid-market.

Bury all existing surface parking.

Remove most surface waste areas.

Ideally, new development should allow for Main Street retail on one of the Wellesley or Parliament frontages.

 

[Koops65]

Here is my take on the new proposal, with a 162 metre tower (my estimate):

 

[44 North]

Was going to post what AoD wrote. With this being the densest area in the country, adding a 51s bldg to it will probably keep it that way til the 22nd century. Those kinds of pop. numbers are hard to compete with. The sidewalk/road network improvements are a long time coming, feel like development or not they should be expedited. Either way this looks good. Am sure a lot are looking forward to seeing the Food Basics get improved.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I could honestly see the Entertainment district overtaking it. The densities there with all the residential towers currently proposed are going to be completely ridiculous, especially considering that the population of the area was basically 0 in 2000.

 

[TheKingEast]

great to see what is arguably the most under invested and overlooked part of downtown get a bit of love. Looking forward to what comes of this.

Funny, just the other day I was looking at these towers and thought to myself "Why does this area look so unloved? Untouched by development and almost abandoned. Everything around it is getting redeveloped, but not here. Good to see there is something in the works. Logistically it's a great area in the sense that it is close to the subway, Danforth, Cabbagetown, The village, etc.

 

[maestro]

Was going to post what AoD wrote. With this being the densest area in the country, adding a 51s bldg to it will probably keep it that way til the 22nd century. Those kinds of pop. numbers are hard to compete with. The sidewalk/road network improvements are a long time coming, feel like development or not they should be expedited. Either way this looks good. Am sure a lot are looking forward to seeing the Food Basics get improved.

Is this still the densest block in Toronto after 10 years of building developments that are far denser than these towers in a park?


I'm liking what I'm seeing and looking forward to future revisions. The holdout needs to be bought out and incorporated.

 

[ponyboy]

Lots of exciting possibilities for this area. St James town is an important ethnic receiving area, and there are a lot of great programs aimed at helping residents gain job skills. Missing is weather protected places to walk and socialize, and affordable retail spaces to rent. A lot of the green colored nooks here won't work well as outdoor space, and it would be better to create a bigger podium with usable indoor space. I would like to see the developer to consider building a mall/micro retail incubator aimed at the community population in the space labeled "Block B" between the 22-story building and the planned townhouses. This space just south of the POPS will be underused, and much better to create an indoor 2-3 level mall there. Residents could run small businesses there because of affordable rents, there would be weather-protected space for elderly to walk, a small stage, and food court. Although micro-retail has been a failure at Aura, it could work a lot better in a neighbourhood like this because of the SES profile of residents, lack of many retail alternatives, and above ground accessibility.

Ideally, on top of this new mall, the roof could accommodate some recreational amenities. A bridge across to a similar roof-top green space could connect to community spaces in the envisioned 5-story building at Wellesley/Parliament. A mini-soccer field, basketball courts, and walking trail could be incorporated into these large rooftop spaces.

my changes:

original:

 

[Paul Aitken]

Lots of exciting possibilities for this area. St James town is an important ethnic receiving area, and there are a lot of great programs aimed at helping residents gain job skills. Missing is weather protected places to walk and socialize, and affordable retail spaces to rent. A lot of the green colored nooks here won't work well as outdoor space, and it would be better to create a bigger podium with usable indoor space. I would like to see the developer to consider building a mall/micro retail incubator aimed at the community population in the space labeled "Block B" between the 22-story building and the planned townhouses. This space just south of the POPS will be underused, and much better to create an indoor 2-3 level mall there. Residents could run small businesses there because of affordable rents, there would be weather-protected space for elderly to walk, a small stage, and food court. Although micro-retail has been a failure at Aura, it could work a lot better in a neighbourhood like this because of the SES profile of residents, lack of many retail alternatives, and above ground accessibility.

Ideally, on top of this new mall, the roof could accommodate some recreational amenities. A bridge across to a similar roof-top green space could connect to community spaces in the envisioned 5-story building at Wellesley/Parliament. A mini-soccer field, basketball courts, and walking trail could be incorporated into these large rooftop spaces.

my changes:

View attachment 139483

original:
View attachment 139484

Not sure about the micro-retail but streetside, yes. Cut the stupid townhouses. This is the heart of the city.

 

[Torontovibe]

St Jamestown is the most neglected district in Toronto so it's nice to see that changes are coming. Parts of it look like a third world city right now, especially around the Food Basics. That the city and the property owner have allowed it to get in this state, is unbelievable to me! I've complained to Pam McConnell's office a number of times about the degraded state of the area, yet obviously, nothing was ever done to clean it up but the community centre is a big plus, as will be the coming pool.

 

[junctionist]

St Jamestown is the most neglected district in Toronto so it's nice to see that changes are coming. Parts of it look like a third world city right now, especially around the Food Basics. That the city and the property owner have allowed it to get in this state, is unbelievable to me! I've complained to Pam McConnell's office a number of times about the degraded state of the area, yet obviously, nothing was ever done to clean it up but the community centre is a big plus, as will be the coming pool.

Is there one owner that owns all the private (non-TCH) apartment towers in the area east of Sherbourne, or are there multiple owners?

 

[stjames2queenwest]

Multiple owners. But I believe these ones are all managed by a company called G&S or atleast were.

 

[whatever]

Is that laundromat seriously going to become a spite house twice over?