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The Hearn is one of my favourite buildings. I agree that it should be preserved - smokestack too, as it is indeed part of the whole presence. But yeah - the plant itself, its sheer massive bulk, is what makes the thing so cool. It's such a dominant fixture of the portlands.

But it is a cesspool. All those brown fields are laced with toxins and it'll cost a pretty penny to get it all cleaned up. It'll be worth it though. It's the last frontier for central Toronto. Meanwhile, the Hearn continues to be put to use. Lots of film projects have shot in there. Currently it's the latest fantastic Guillermo Del Toro vehicle - probably one of the largest such projects Toronto has ever seen. Lots of busy worker bees in there lately, prepping massive interior sets that are decidedly post-apocalyptic. Great to see the old girl still being useful while the powers that be decide her ultimate fate - gutted as she is already. My father once told me of being given a tour of the Hearn back in the day... I've only been in it since most of the power generating gear has been already hauled out for scrap... it's still an incredible place and the right team and financing could revitalize the building for generations of future Torontonians.

Seems to me we've demonstrated a penchant for erasing our past; time to try to preserve the best of it while we continue to build out - and up - the city.
 
Battersea Power Station is up for sale again (if anyone is looking to buy). NYTimes has a nice summary of all its failed development plans. Hearn's got a way to go to catch up to Battesea in this regard.

The site was first bought, in 1987, by the British entrepreneur John Broome for £1.5 million with a plan to turn it into an amusement park. Margaret Thatcher, who was then prime minister, opened construction in 1988, calling it a “wonderful example of private enterprise and local government working hand in hand for the benefit of Britain.â€

But building costs soon ballooned and Mr. Broome only managed to demolish the power station’s roof and one wall before running out of money.

In 1993, a Hong Kong investor, Victor Hwang, bought the site from receivership for £10 million and drew up plans for a shopping center with a roof-top ice rink, a glass ballroom, a maze and a multiplex cinema. Mr. Hwang spent £200 million over 13 years hiring and then firing nine teams of architects and contractors but did not move a single brick.

He finally sold the site in 2006 to Treasury Holdings, a property investment firm based in Dublin and owned by John Ronan, an accountant and the son of a pig farmer, and Richard Barrett, who had trained as a lawyer. Treasury Holdings, which controls R.E.O., paid £400 million, including £150 million in notes issued to Mr. Hwang, leaving him with a healthy profit.

The Irish investment duo started with a relatively modest £1.6 billion plan to build mainly apartments. But by 2010 the project had ballooned to £5.5 billion. By then no bank was willing to provide financing and R.E.O. was forced to hand the site to the creditors.
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Therein hangs a cautionary tale, that's for sure. A place like the Hearn, due to its sheer bulk alone, could prove to be a massive financial headache for those whose grand plans fail to come to fruition. I still like to think it could be repurposed but it would be an ambitious project and it's going to take some talent to envision a Hearn plant that the Toronto public could get behind.
 
k10ery said:
Battersea Power Station is up for sale again (if anyone is looking to buy). NYTimes has a nice summary of all its failed development plans. Hearn's got a way to go to catch up to Battesea in this regard.
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Is that the Pink Floyd Animals power plant?
 
Yup. Maybe we need to get Hearn onto an album cover (or into a Michael Ondaatje novel) to help save it.
 
Lenser said:
But it is a cesspool. All those brown fields are laced with toxins and it'll cost a pretty penny to get it all cleaned up. It'll be worth it though.
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If you are ever down there helping out with the cleanup, could you please keep an eye out for my keys. I lost them in the snow out in those fields last winter while taking pictures of the Hearn. I had to walk with my camera and tripod in tow in minus 15 degree temps all the way to the TNT on Cherry where I got a cab. There'll be a Honda key, a bike lock key and about 2 other keys. Thanks!
 
Maybe the name of this thread should be changed. There was never a demolition planned for the Hearn, though I realize a demo permit application was made, it was never more than a red herring.
 
I think they should carve the building up and site and sell off sections to individual developers.

A large portion should be made into a recreation complex like the skating rinks or a skate park. Many other recreational opportunities could be added to the site over time. You can have a climbing club, ropes course, bungie jumping, paint ball.

A section could be devoted to retail and restaurants. A portion could be a hotel and maybe even apartments. Make it a public private partnership with the proceeds from the sale of portions of the site used directly for the development. The lands around the site could be sold off in the same fashion with proceeds from the sale going towards the massive cleanup.

The building and site are truely huge and maybe breaking it up into smaller pieces will help move it forward.
 
Hearn generating station gets new development plans
City of Toronto and Waterfront Toronto are looking at an unsolicited proposal to redevelop the Hearn generating station.


It’s the ultimate fixer-upper — and definitely among the biggest.

Renewed efforts are quietly under way to develop the old Hearn Generating Station on Toronto’s waterfront for a mixed-use facility that includes retail and ice rinks.

But an existing long-term lease that runs until 2041 — if all extensions are exercised — could be a stumbling block.

Studios of America, a group of partners that includes prominent real estate developer Mario Cortellucci, holds the lease to the mammoth Ontario Power Generation property on Unwin Ave. in the Port Lands.
More......http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/03/26/hearn_generating_station_gets_new_development_plans.html
 
I've always thought that the Hearn would be a good museum of industry or air/space museum...potentially some of the space could be given over to a museum incubator type space (museums and collections that are still being collected or wouldn't necessarily be able to get their own space). They easily could get large equipment in there (close to airports, water access, train tracks) - it could be a home to a TTC/Toronto museum with room for an air/space museum and maybe even some war/military and farm equipment. Although a lot of the bigger power generating equipment is gone, they could bring some from Nanticoke to show the history of coal. I wonder if a CF-18 or C-17 could fit inside with a bit of effort...(they could have a museum inside a c-17...inside the Hearn). With the existing tracks throughout the area they could have a mini-back and forth rail service on classic rail cars. Obviously there is also the ability to bring classic boats in and have them in the area as well. Bring in some mining equipment, maybe one of the old TBM's when Eglington crosstown is done, there is a lot of great stuff we could display.

ROM is a great classic museum, science centre is great for classic science, our air/rail museums are currently pressed for space, and Toronto is sadly missing a large air/space/industry/transport type museum.

Something like this would be an amazing anchor tenant for the area. With reworked space and design it could host large events and bring people into the neighbourhood. It could also be done in phases as equipment is delivered, so work would not have to be done on the whole building initially. Just open areas of it as it is filled up (obviously work on making it weather and people safe would take some cash, but it could be phased).
 
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The science centre could be moved to Hearn and enlarged as part of the redevelopment of that part of the Port Lands. I doubt anyone in Don Mills would care about losing it; they probably don't visit often anyway. The province could then redevelop the Don Mills site.
 
junctionist said:
The science centre could be moved to Hearn and enlarged as part of the redevelopment of that part of the Port Lands. I doubt anyone in Don Mills would care about losing it; they probably don't visit often anyway. The province could then redevelop the Don Mills site.
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Moriyama and "Concrete Toronto" fans would care, among others.
 
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