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devjohnson said:
I think a lot of things in Dundas Square has been a disaster. When the idea of Dundas came out, they had these awesome renderings. Now everything has been cut short. Things that I think need to be done to make it a more urban area.
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TLS and The Olympic Torch renovations have been disappointing so far however Yonge-Dundas Square is a huge success, although it's not without a few minor issues which I'm confident will be ironed out over time. I'd like to see more interactive ads in time to come (especially on the south side of TLS) but the City is pretty conservative when it comes to advertising panels. Hopefully the new landlord will be able to make some progress here in the future.

1. More advertising. Dundas Square im my opinion is a wannabe Times Square. To make it legit, it needs more advertisements. This includes the torch, the Hakim Optical Building, and The Senator. All can be torn down/renovated to make the square feel more like Times Square/Piccadilly Circus thingy. I would like to see the south side of the square (HNR Building) torn down and let it make way for some giant billboards, some shops, and even a hotel. The old buildings really takes away from the "urban" theme of the square.
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Over my dead body would the HNR building be defaced like that!
I believe that's the old stage setup, the new stage framing is improved and the old Hakim building will eventually be replaced. More shops and such will follow as the area continues to evolve.

2. More traffic. Not many people, even though CityTV has a spot there now, go by there. There needs to be more main shops by Hakim Optical, HNR. I can see a flagship Apple Store at the corner by Hakim Optical.
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There's plenty of people there, especially when there are events booked into the Square. CityTV is buried in behind the raised stage area to the east and it's not much of a draw like when it was combined with Much Music on Queen West.

3. GET RID OF THE STAGE!!!!
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The stage area is part of the Square, it's a raised area as built above the parking garage below and it's movable support arms have been upgraded since the picture above was taken. Most importantly the stage is often the focal point of events at Y+D Square, it serves the Square well but would benefit from being moved back (east) toward Victoria Street if possible.

4. Get proper management on 10 Dundas. It had the oppurtunity to be amazing. Now it's nothing special. It needs proper management, and maybe a near renovation will happen soon.
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It's managed fine, I'm not quite sure what they could do better. A good deal of the time from May to October there's something interesting happening in the Square and when there's not it's a great space to sit down, relax and take in the vibe.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
The stage area is part of the Square, it's a raised area as built above the parking garage below and it's movable support arms have been upgraded since the picture above was taken. Most importantly the stage is often the focal point of events at Y+D Square, it serves the Square well but would benefit from being moved back (east) toward Victoria Street if possible.
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Get rid of the stage and canopy...both elements cut the square off from everything to the east.
 
VoiceofReality said:
Get rid of the stage and canopy...both elements cut the square off from everything to the east.
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If there was something compelling at the ground level to the east, that the stage is cutting off, I would agree. But there isn't. And the square needs a stage.
 
alklay said:
If there was something compelling at the ground level to the east, that the stage is cutting off, I would agree. But there isn't. And the square needs a stage.
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From what I remember the Square was part of the Yonge-Dundas Redevelopment Project not "The" redevelopment project. It was 1 of 4 blocks that were to be redeveloped but it visually cuts off all of the remaining pieces.
 
VoiceofReality said:
Get rid of the stage and canopy...both elements cut the square off from everything to the east.
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Like the stage or not, it's an important component of the Square and is used frequently from mid-Spring through Fall. Yonge-Dundas Square runs on a budget, to setup & tear-down a stage each time it is needed for an event would be cost prohibitive so the stage and riser will stay. Depending on where your standing in the Square or nearby it does permit limited views along Dundas East but the sculptural entrance canopy at the north side of the Square along Dundas Street also restricts views further, depending on where one might be standing so it's not all about the stage. The curve along Dundas Street east of Yonge also complicates matters if the view corridor to the east is your concern.

The bottom level of CityTV/Omni being blocked is unfortunate but that's the way the Square was designed and surely they knew what they were getting into when they surveyed the Torch building. CityTV/Omni has plenty of prominence with their array of signs rising high above the Square so I don't feel too bad for them.
 
devjohnson said:
I would like to see the south side of the square (HNR Building) torn down and let it make way for some giant billboards, some shops, and even a hotel. The old buildings really takes away from the "urban" theme of the square.
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Oh, sure, just like there were those in the 60s who'd like to have seen Old City Hall torn down because it really took away from the "urban" theme of Nathan Phillips Square. Scram, Cletus.
 
I have always thought that the stage itself was rather deftly handled. Given the decision to have parking underneath the square, the entrance to the parking lot and the gradual rise of the square to its stage was, in my opinion, quite well designed. The parking entrance is as discreet as it gets, and I can't think of how it could have been better handled. It's as if the edge of the square was lifted up ever so discreetly, as with a piece of paper, to admit vehicles to their cavernous rest. Perhaps if parking didn't exist, the square would be better, but it's a bit of an academic argument because it was planned from the beginning.

I do accept that the rise of the stage cuts off the eastern edge of the square somewhat, but I don't think it's critical, and I think a stage is absolutely necessary and heavily used given the programming of the square.

What I think has been terribly handled has been the stage canopy. If I had a quarter for every person who thought it was incomplete as is, I would be a rich man.

Dundas Square has been massively successful. The anti-Prorogation march on Saturday, for instance, grouped at the square. It seems to have taken on the role formerly held by Nathan Phillips as the site of political protest. I had always hoped that NPS would retain that role, and that Dundas Square would be largely commercial in orientation, but I think the higher visibility of Dundas Square means that it is the preferred place for protest.
 
The things i hate most about the square are as follows

The light poles - they look like giant crab legs. I haven't paid much attention but they even turn the lights on for this?

The info booth on the South West corner - this was obviously added after but could they not have combined it with the tickets booth by the subway? The ticket booth is massive but I swear there's only 1-2 people working there at a time, there is plenty of space to add more employees to handle information.

Security Office - Although it serves a purpose, putting an office right there really does nothing. They could have easily put the security office in 10 Dundas East
 
I love the HNR building. In fact, it's my favourite feature of the square, as strange as that sounds. Only when the square was created was I able to fully appreciate it. I love its old fashioned urbanism. I think it has aged very well.
 
Well, presumably the same company owns both of them--but that's a relatively recent condition. The Yonge building started out as Adams Furniture, and the Dundas Square one started as the Hermant Building(s), though with Imperial Optical as the best-known tenant...
 
I thought I'd slide by and capture any progress. There is none.

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge, then click again on the image for full size.

 
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