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With the year's shortest month now in the books, Toronto's development industry has settled into a new rhythm, showing signs of resilience in the face of a challenging economic climate. While active construction had been the primary source of interest and excitement over the last few months, new development proposals picked up in February, and not just in Downtown Toronto. With promising projects popping up across the GTA and another month of progress to track on the City's marquee projects, here is the February roundup of the most popular news stories, more searched Database Files, and busiest Forum Threads on UrbanToronto!
Our Top 10 Most Read News Stories:
The list of UrbanToronto's Top 10 Most Read News Stories in the month of February begins at number 12 with the first instalment of a two-part feature reporting on our hardhat tour of UT's hottest project, The One. Gaining access to the site's interior for the first time, we were able to take a closer look at some of the unique construction systems being employed to construct the project that should eventually claim the title of the country's tallest building.
12. Hardhat Tour of The One: Getting Up Close With the Building Core and Construction Systems
Down in the Top 10, we can see that engagement was high in stories about new development proposals, a category that has been lagging in recent months. Stories reporting on projects located in Markham, Brampton, and Hamilton all managed to crack the Top 10, indicating that quality development is spreading across the GTHA, and our audience is here for it. Interestingly, our January roundup earned itself the third highest engagement in a month that was not lacking for competition in the news category, while the transit focus of the last few months appeared to die down slightly with the recent flashier proposals.
10. West Wing Comes Down at Bloor United as Cielo Condos Moves Closer to Shoring
9. Hardhat Tour of The One: Inside the Soaring Retail Space and 3rd Floor Event Space
8. Ismaili Community Centre and Jamatkhana Proposed for Redevelopment in Thorncliffe Park
7. Redevelopment of Hamilton Heritage School Proposes Nearly 1000 New Units
6. "Intensely Aspirational": Feasibility Study Lays Out Vision for TTC Headquarters Redevelopment
4. Brampton’s Southgate Plaza To Be Redeveloped As Mixed-Use Towers
3. 75-Storey Yonge Street Proposal Turns Heads, Interest Peaks in Yorkville Construction
2. Hariri Pontarini Delivers Dynamic Design for Bahá'í National Centre and Temple in Markham
1. Five Proposals Shortlisted for St Lawrence Centre Redevelopment
Inside the 40ft tall grade-level retail space at The One, image by Matias Bessai
Our Top 10 Most Searched Database Files:
Opening up the Most Searched Database Files group, we have an anomaly at number 12, Union Margo. The project's rank is a surprise considering that it had just been cancelled, caught up in Markham's rethinking of how to plan the area around Mount Joy GO station. While the outcome is an unfortunate one for the parties involved, at least they can say that their project went out with a bang.
12. Union Margo
Moving on to the Top 10 in the Database Files group, the trend of unpredicatable rank changes carried over from last month bringing some even greater surpirses. Soaring all the way to the third place spot was a multi-building rental proposal in Brampton, 507 Balmoral, at an early stage of the planning process. Additionally, a proposal for a new film studio in Markham brought another GTA project into the group that is generally dominated by Downtown high-rises when megastar Ryan Reynolds bought into the project. The only projects that retained their usual ranks were the stalwarts; Pinnacle One Yonge, and The One.
10. CIBC SQUARE
8. Forma
6. The Well
4. Don Mills Ismaili Community Centre and Jamatkhana
3. 507 Balmoral Drive (Brampton)
1. The One
Proposed design for new film studio in Markham, image from submission to City of Toronto
Our Top 10 Busiest Threads:
Finally, our Busiest Threads list begins at number 15, as the second phase of Sugar Wharf Condominiums starts to get some of the attention that its elder sibling, Sugar Wharf Phase 1, has been getting for quite a while now. With demolition of the former LCBO Headquarters and Warehouse picking up on the Waterfront site, Phase 2 is now earning those clicks all on its own. With tall towers, and interesting mixed-use programming including a new public school slated for the project, we can expect engagement to remain high.
15. Sugar Wharf Condominiums (Phase 2)
Meanwhile, in the Top 10, a pair of transit projects finally pop into this month's lists, with both the Ontario Line and the Crosstown LRT retaining their spots in the competitive group of high-traffic threads. While interest may have taken a downward turn in the news and database sections, transit remains one of the staples of engagement in the UT Forum, a reality that is unlikely to change with the pipeline of transit projects in the works. Looking at the top five, we are seeing the selection of projects that have come to represent the top tier, with The One leading the way, as usual.
10. Ontario Line
9. Lower Don Lands Redevelopment
8. Sugar Wharf Condominiums (Phase 1)
7. CIBC SQUARE
5. Forma
3. The Well
1. The One
Looking south at Phase 1 (left) and Phase 2 (right) of Sugar Wharf Condominiums, image by UT Forum contributor mburrrrr
We will be back at the beginning of April for a recap of March's top news stories, Database files, and Forum threads!
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UrbanToronto has a research service, UrbanToronto Pro, that provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Toronto Area—from proposal through to completion. We also offer Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.
