Toronto Spadina Subway Extension Emergency Exits | ?m | 1s | TTC | IBI Group

Has the TTC ever given a reason for their standard of bare concrete walls opposite platforms. Or is there a logical reason I'm not getting. Want to think it's easier to clean, but I'd reckon tiles/grout are no different in the labour-intensivity of cleaning than concrete.
 
44 North said:
Has the TTC ever given a reason for their standard of bare concrete walls opposite platforms. Or is there a logical reason I'm not getting. Want to think it's easier to clean, but I'd reckon tiles/grout are no different in the labour-intensivity of cleaning than concrete.
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I believe it was a cost thing. Stations like Eglinton West, Yorkdale or Glencairn cost money to maintain. Look at Eglinton now that the Vitrolite is aging, it is hard to keep it looking good.

All things considered it is easier to maintain concrete over tiles.

Also, if for some reason 21 years after you build the station you want to change the name you can just fill in the name with concrete or sandblast it out. Can't do that with blue tiles....
 
Richard White said:
I believe it was a cost thing. Stations like Eglinton West, Yorkdale or Glencairn cost money to maintain. Look at Eglinton now that the Vitrolite is aging, it is hard to keep it looking good.

All things considered it is easier to maintain concrete over tiles.
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All very true points but then you look at the walls at stations like Lawrence West, which looks outright decrepit and causes one to fear what the new stations will look like in ~40 years.
 
Richard White said:
I believe it was a cost thing. Stations like Eglinton West, Yorkdale or Glencairn cost money to maintain. Look at Eglinton now that the Vitrolite is aging, it is hard to keep it looking good.

All things considered it is easier to maintain concrete over tiles.

Also, if for some reason 21 years after you build the station you want to change the name you can just fill in the name with concrete or sandblast it out. Can't do that with blue tiles....
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They could cover the concrete with stucco, and paint it every five years?
Metro-Station-Kiev-12.jpeg
Metro-Station-Kiev-10.jpeg

From link.
 
Amare said:
All very true points but then you look at the walls at stations like Lawrence West, which looks outright decrepit and causes one to fear what the new stations will look like in ~40 years.
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Lawrence West was part of the design scheme that was the Spadina Subway. All the stations were designed to be unique. Yes Lawrence West looks like crap but that is the way it was designed. Tiles do not last forever either. Case and point, the New York City subway.
 
Amare said:
All very true points but then you look at the walls at stations like Lawrence West, which looks outright decrepit and causes one to fear what the new stations will look like in ~40 years.
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14 years later and the Sheppard Subway is holding up well. There is hope.
 
Leo_Chan said:
This is just an act to get SmartCentres a prime headquarters location across from the subway station /s
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This makes me wonder, now, who actually paid for the "To Subway" sign on the east side of the Home Outfitters building.

It does make sense for Smart Centres to move there, as it is a building they built completely for retail, but in a unique two-storey way, and, if their plan pans out, it would be a showpiece of their ability to quickly convert retail space completely to office space, without having to modify the exterior much. They might build out three or four small retail units on the ground floor fronting Hwy 7, though.

The Future Shop / Home Outfitters building is only half the square footage as their current HQ plus Kumon. (The letter refers to the "adjacent building" which, to me, refers to the Kumon HQ.) However, since Smart Centres has so much property, they could easily select a few nearby properties for some of their HQ employees. I wonder what they'll do about their helipad. That won't be so easy to relocate. It'll likely be abandoned.

Smart Centre's letter tries to avoid referring to Walmart by name, which I find very interesting. Yet, their map plan shows the name, so I guess they're just trying to be formal. But of far more interest is they don't even mention the Lowe's store or show it on the map. That'll be next on the chopping block.

How many of us knew the Walmart lease is 99 years? The letter says 79 years left, and my recollection is that it was built in 1997. I thought retail lease terms were usually 20 or 25.

Amidst all this highly visible Smart Centres activity, Toromont quietly keeps on chugging out machinery. Surely they know they're sitting on valuable property, which they own. So when they do decide to move and sell the land, they'll have so much capital that they could choose any place to relocate.
 
strookie said:
Amidst all this highly visible Smart Centres activity, Toromont quietly keeps on chugging out machinery. Surely they know they're sitting on valuable property, which they own. So when they do decide to move and sell the land, they'll have so much capital that they could choose any place to relocate.
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I thought Toromont was going to move up to 400 and 88, but development was proposed to be banned there due to protests about hopping the greenbelt. But in any case, the land up there is now being serviced for development.
 
I'm pretty sure the Future Shop / Home Outfitters is just a temporary home for Smart Centres.

I wonder if that will be a 2-story Walmart. That plot of land seems small for a Walmart.
 
strookie said:
This makes me wonder, now, who actually paid for the "To Subway" sign on the east side of the Home Outfitters building.
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It's actually the "\/ TTC SUBWAY \/" sign.
strookie said:
It does make sense for Smart Centres to move there, as it is a building they built completely for retail, but in a unique two-storey way, and, if their plan pans out, it would be a showpiece of their ability to quickly convert retail space completely to office space, without having to modify the exterior much. They might build out three or four small retail units on the ground floor fronting Hwy 7, though.
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Repurposing the vacant building is a great idea, much better than tearing it down for a higher density building in the future and leaving it empty for decades.
strookie said:
The Future Shop / Home Outfitters building is only half the square footage as their current HQ plus Kumon. (The letter refers to the "adjacent building" which, to me, refers to the Kumon HQ.) However, since Smart Centres has so much property, they could easily select a few nearby properties for some of their HQ employees. I wonder what they'll do about their helipad. That won't be so easy to relocate. It'll likely be abandoned.
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I thought that they would have constructed a new building on the opposite side of Millway Ave, but maybe I thought wrong.
strookie said:
Smart Centre's letter tries to avoid referring to Walmart by name, which I find very interesting. Yet, their map plan shows the name, so I guess they're just trying to be formal. But of far more interest is they don't even mention the Lowe's store or show it on the map. That'll be next on the chopping block.
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Well, Walmart does have the prime location of being directly in the centre of VMC, Lowes probably could stay for a bit longer.
strookie said:
How many of us knew the Walmart lease is 99 years? The letter says 79 years left, and my recollection is that it was built in 1997. I thought retail lease terms were usually 20 or 25.
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Flashbacks to Highway 407 sale (even though I was just born and wouldn't have any experience of it and this is different because its a Private-Private lease rather than Public-Private but same thing).
strookie said:
Amidst all this highly visible Smart Centres activity, Toromont quietly keeps on chugging out machinery. Surely they know they're sitting on valuable property, which they own. So when they do decide to move and sell the land, they'll have so much capital that they could choose any place to relocate.
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Secondary Subway entrance south of Highway 7 will be great.
 
Transportfan said:
I thought Toromont was going to move up to 400 and 88, but development was proposed to be banned there due to protests about hopping the greenbelt. But in any case, the land up there is now being serviced for development.
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IIRC, that did go through, via a Minister's Zoning Order (the same mechanism SmartCentres is asking for here). I'm sure they're moving eventually but it does raise my curiosity that with all the development going on in the SmartCentres land and even east of Jane that nothing has happened with Toromont or the lands around the AMC complex which are surely ripe for development...
 
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