Daily Commercial News

Some activity happening for the Eglinton Station Redevelopment ~
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OFFICE BLDG
Proj: 9055519-7
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON
CONTEMPLATED
Yonge St at Eglinton Ave, M6E
$30,000,000 est


Note: Ownership of this property has changed. Land transfer has been approved by City Council. A detailed project scope has yet to be determined. Schedules for design, tender and construction will be finalized by Build Toronto, timeframe has not been set. Further update early 2010.
Contact at Build Toronto has not been identified.

Project: proposed construction of an office tower with a podium to house retail components. This project will be built on a vacant site above Eglinton Subway station.

Development: New

Category: Commercial offices

First report Mon Dec 18, 2006. Last report Tue Nov 11, 2008.
This report Thu Oct 15, 2009.


http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/cgi-bin/top10.pl?rm=show_top10_project&id=356c931b12d77451dcbd4235bcc9cbca4385242e&projectid=9055519&region=ontario
 
This is long, long overdue. This prime land has been vacant for 5 1/2 years. And even if everything was to move fairly rapidly from here on out, it's likely 2 years longer until excavation begins - and another 2 for building. That's approx. 10 years. And that's if things move rapidly.

And it's not just that the site is vacant - it's vacant in a terribly unsightly, uncivic way. Newspaper boxes with old yellowed newpapers were left there for years. Weeds aren't cut until they're taller than the people that cut them. And the bus shelters have been left to rot.

With the TTC always short on cash couldn't they have at least found a way to turn this into a temporary parking lot? I hate temporary parking lots - mainly cuz once people start earning money on land without really having to do anything it makes doing anything feel like a lot of work - but it beats the way the land was left. And yes, I heard there were structural issues, but I'm sure something could have been figured out.

The good news in the announcement is that the lot has been sold. Hopefully whoever bought it has more civic pride than the TTC.
 
Does anyone know who's the purchaser?
 
I believe the lands have been transferred from TTC (City of Toronto?) to Build Toronto, which is a new arm's length organization from the City
 
Let's check back in another decade...

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/1...s-terminal-at-yonge-and-eglinton/#more-105550

Information Booth: What’s up with the abandoned TTC bus terminal at Yonge and Eglinton?

Peter Kuitenbrouwer Nov 2, 2011 – 4:13 PM ET



“After a little more than 50 years, the concrete deteriorated to the point where it was unsafe,” explains Graham Tulett, project manager in the TTC property development department. “There was a fear that the slab would collapse.” In 2004, the TTC moved all buses serving Eglinton station to a temporary terminal to the south. Since then the bus terminal has sat unused.

The TTC planned to repair the abandoned bus terminal; now, the TTC plans to demolish it and use the site as a staging area for offices and earth movers as it digs the new Eglinton Crosstown light rail line.

“This is a key location for actually constructing the LRT,” Mr. Tulett says. “And it is likely to be the extraction point for our tunnel boring machines.” Domenic Garisto, the TTC’s chief property development officer, estimates the LRT job will stretch through 2019.

“We gotta put the transit stuff in first, and the rest we can convey to Build Toronto for development,” Mr. Garisto says. Mr. Sonshine will have to wait at least a decade to see anything permanent built at that spot.
 
Let's check back in another decade...

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/1...s-terminal-at-yonge-and-eglinton/#more-105550

Information Booth: What’s up with the abandoned TTC bus terminal at Yonge and Eglinton?

Peter Kuitenbrouwer Nov 2, 2011 – 4:13 PM ET

Given the choice between one new condo/mixed use development at this location and an entire underground rail line across Eglinton Avenue there is no debate.

Just think of the excitement that will permeate the area as the new line takes shape.
 
TTC makes way for redevelopment of Yonge and Eglinton

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/cit...s-way-for-redevelopment-of-yonge-and-eglinton

Printed headine is:
Yonge-Eg towers questioned - Plans call for higher density, less public space than approved.

Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter

The old TTC facilities at Yonge and Eglinton, long disused, are to be redeveloped into a major interchange station for the Eglinton LRT, along with Build Toronto's plan for a new, high density development. As the TTC prepares to hand over its faded property at Yonge and Eglinton to the city’s development agency, Build Toronto, the local city councillor says he’s afraid it might be the first step in a redevelopment plan that would bulldoze one approved by city council in 2009.

The TTC board will consider a proposal Wednesday to declare surplus its portion of the southwest block of the midtown intersection.

Build Toronto wants to redevelop that site before the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT opens in about eight or nine years, when it will become a major transit hub, said TTC chief financial and administrative officer Vince Rodo.

A Los Angeles architect has even been scheduled to speak at this week’s Toronto Transit Commission meeting about the varieties of transit-based developments that have been built around the world.

“Build Toronto would like nothing better than to redevelop that whole block so, the day the Eglinton LRT is opened, you’ve got a redeveloped block to go together with it,†said Rodo.

The TTC could even consider relocating its head office there if there’s sufficient space available when it needs to be out of its current Davisville headquarters. The current building needs $25 million to $35 million worth of improvements, and the TTC would like to consolidate more of its staff, now scattered in leased properties around the city, under one roof.

But Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22, St. Paul’s) is worried that Build wants a much denser development than was approved by council in 2009. Instead of 20- to 40-storey buildings, “What they are proposing is 60 storeys right on the corner and then redeveloping Canada Square into a 55-storey hotel,†he said.

After hearing that Build officials had met with Mayor Rob Ford’s office earlier this year, Matlow said he also asked for a meeting. He was shown plans that included a pedestrian bridge over Eglinton Ave., something he doesn’t favour because it shadows the street. The plans also lack a public plaza, he said.

“Every great city ensures there’s some public realm at transit hubs so it becomes a destination. Yonge and Eglinton, for decades, has been developed very poorly. It’s become a concrete-and-glass window tunnel. We need to do better than that. We need to create people-friendly spaces to create a destination,†Matlow said.

Build officials say all plans are preliminary.

“We are at the very early stages of a long process that will take three to five years before the first development will be started on the site,†said Bruce Logan, vice-president of corporate affairs and operations.

“This is a process that will include significant due diligence and feasibility studies, as well as the review of numerous concepts to consider various scenarios on mixed-use, on high-order transit, density, transportation connections and public space. At this preliminary stage any discussion regarding the development is premature,†he said in an email to the Toronto Star.

TTC chair Karen Stintz, the councillor for Eglinton-Lawrence, said she has seen a “high-level conceptual plan,†by Build that isn’t consistent with the zoning or council’s approved plan for the block.

But because the ownership is so complicated, with some private holdings in the area as well as air rights scattered among different owners, it’s likely to take at least five years before anything could be built.
 
Thanks for this news. A 60-storey office (mixed use?) building and 55-storey hotel is unexpected but welcomed news. Lets hope it's designed well. although E across the street has more floors, the office building may be taller due to higher ceilings than found in residential buildings.
 
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I thought that the Eglinton terminal lands were to be used for construction staging for the Crosstown LRT, then developed? Isn't this now putting the cart before the horse?
 
Yonge/Eglinton needs substantial development.

We all say E/G is the "midtown", but in the end, it is just a residential neighbourhood with a relatively busy intersection. I hope to see more retail, especially boutiques and restaurants, and hopefully office space too between Avenue Rd and Mt Pleasant, and from Roselawn to Davisville/Chaplin Cres, and not just on Yonge St. Then we have a midtown so that they don't need to get to downtown as much.

I don't get it why all Toronto's development has to be linear along one st, instead of nodal like a normal city.
 
We all say E/G is the "midtown", but in the end, it is just a residential neighbourhood with a relatively busy intersection. I hope to see more retail, especially boutiques and restaurants, and hopefully office space too between Avenue Rd and Mt Pleasant, and from Roselawn to Davisville/Chaplin Cres, and not just on Yonge St. Then we have a midtown so that they don't need to get to downtown as much.

There's also a relatively large amount of office space as well.

I don't get it why all Toronto's development has to be linear along one st, instead of nodal like a normal city.

The city's been trying to foster new nodes for years, like with STC.
 
The notion that the Canada Square towers might be redeveloped is startling. (Though given their air-rights-induced awkwardness, maybe I shouldn't be that surprised that they'd be deemed expendable.)
 
Looks like this one could beat out E condos in the hieght department if it moves forward, especially if it has office space in it like mentioned in the article..
 

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