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Unlike many deindustrialized cities across the northeast, Toronto successfully transitioned from industry to a service and commerce-based economy, and many of our former industrial brownfield sites have been replaced by new development. One of Toronto's biggest urban success stories has been reintegrating the post-industrial landscape of what is now known as the East Bayfront into a thriving mixed-use community. As new buildings continue to add life to this burgeoning neighbourhood, we are looking all the way back to the beginning of that transition in this week's Throwback Thursday.
In 2008, the East Bayfront was still mostly a dream as the community's very first new building had begun construction. An October, 2008 view from Queens Quay East facing southeast from just east of Lower Jarvis looked towards the construction site for Corus Quay, an eight-storey, 460,000 ft² Diamond Schmitt Architects-designed office building. Train tracks in the foreground serve as a reminder of what was then a very recent industrial past.
Just over 12 years later, the East Bayfront is now home to a growing mix of commercial, residential, and institutional buildings along with new public spaces. Returning to the same angle as our before photo in December, 2020, and the view is almost completely unrecognizable with all vestiges of the area's industrial past erased from the frame. The long since completed Corus Quay is now partially obscured by the under-construction Waterfront Innovation Centre, a 12-storey, Sweeny &Co Architects-designed office building being built along Queens Quay. The train tracks are gone and a granite-paved multi-use path has replaced them.
We will return next week with another look at the changing face of Toronto. In the meantime, you can submit your own Throwback Thursday comparisons in our dedicated Forum thread for your chance to be featured in next week's edition.
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