Interesting - I wonder what they'll do with it. I feel like there's a lot of potential to use this as a conduit to connecting the Junction with St. Clair West / Stockyards. Cawthra Ave. is already turning into a Geary of sorts. This could be a "Galleria" type development for the area, similar to what's happening around Geary.
 
Towered said:
Always seemed like a temporary development, though the Organic Garage store is quite nice - was a heritage building used for it, or did they just do a convincing job of making it look like an old warehouse?

I'm not familiar with Diamond Corp - are they something to be wary of?
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They repurposed and expanded an old warehouse, but the brick facade is just a decorative veneer they applied. The warehouse was an unremarkable leftover from the massive Maple Leaf Milling flour mill on the site that operated there until the late 1980s. The mill had some interesting Victorian brick industrial buildings, which should have been preserved in my opinion.

When I was younger, I explored the abandoned warehouse. The interior had concrete mushroom columns, a loading platform for freight cars (most likely boxcars) inside, a lot of well done graffiti, and the remnants of raves. Here's a photo taken by a local photographer.
 
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It will be fascinating to see what gets proposed here.

It's a huge site with some unique challenges. How will they deal with the malodorous plume from the rubber factory? The rail corridor surrounding half the site? The nearly-new Planet Fitness and Organic Garage buildings? On the other hand, it is within a ten minute walk to a planned major transit station at St. Clair/Old Weston, so this may be an interesting MTSA play.

I agree with the poster above that Cawthra and Hirons are already interesting and have the bones to be the next Geary. Better connectivity to the south and west, especially to the Railpath, would make all the difference here. Right now the Cariboo->Osler->Davenport->Old Weston->Junction Road route is truly unpleasant on foot or bike.
 
junctionist said:
They repurposed and expanded an old warehouse, but the brick facade is just a decorative veneer they applied. The warehouse was an unremarkable leftover from the massive Maple Leaf Milling flour mill on the site that operated there until the late 1980s. The mill had some interesting Victorian brick industrial buildings, which should have been preserved in my opinion.

When I was younger, I explored the abandoned warehouse. The interior had concrete mushroom columns, a loading platform for freight cars (most likely boxcars) inside, a lot of well done graffiti, and the remnants of raves. Here's a photo.
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Was this what was on that site?

1607039619018.png

Source: Toronto Archives, via https://theculturetrip.com/north-am...hat-tell-the-history-of-the-junction-toronto/

I have to say, I quite like the look of that building in the foreground. It probably wasn't a very nice place to work; and with all the slaughter houses..........the smell..........

But still, they don't build industrial sites like they used to.........
 
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The sale price here is pretty low for the size of the site. They are either factoring in a lot of risk or not expecting much density.
 
carrythezero said:
It's a huge site with some unique challenges. How will they deal with the malodorous plume from the rubber factory? The rail corridor surrounding half the site? The nearly-new Planet Fitness and Organic Garage buildings? On the other hand, it is within a ten minute walk to a planned major transit station at St. Clair/Old Weston, so this may be an interesting MTSA play.
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The rubber factory is supposed to close in the next few years, which will unlock significant high-rise development potential in the Stock Yards area.

Northern Light said:
Was this what was on that site?

View attachment 286707
Source: Toronto Archives, via https://theculturetrip.com/north-am...hat-tell-the-history-of-the-junction-toronto/

I have to say, I quite like the look of that building in the foreground. It probably wasn't a very nice place to work; and with all the slaughter houses..........the smell..........

But still, they don't build industrial sites like they used to.........
Click to expand...

That's it. It was originally called the Campbell Flour Mills. It's impressive how dense the site was, as it was a large factory that took advantage of being located next to both the Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk Railway main lines. It helped bring a customs house to the Junction for clearing flour for export, which was located at the southwest corner of Keele and Dundas.

The curved tracks through the site visibile in the photo above extended north along Cawthra Avenue before reaching a CN Rail yard that was located at St. Clair. I believe that the only remnant of that railway connection today is a single abandoned track across Junction Road, which was never removed.

The concrete silos in the photo above survived into the 2000s and were subsequently demolished for a surface parking lot for the current businesses on site, a further heritage injustice.
 
junctionist said:
The rubber factory is supposed to close in the next few years, which will unlock significant high-rise development potential in the Stock Yards area.



That's it. It was originally called the Campbell Flour Mills. It's impressive how dense the site was, as it was a large factory that took advantage of being located next to both the Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk Railway main lines. It helped bring a customs house to the Junction for clearing flour for export, which was located at the southwest corner of Keele and Dundas.

The curved tracks through the site visibile in the photo above extended north along Cawthra Avenue before reaching a CN Rail yard that was located at St. Clair. I believe that the only remnant of that railway connection today is a single abandoned track across Junction Road, which was never removed.

The concrete silos in the photo above survived into the 2000s and were subsequently demolished for a surface parking lot for the current businesses on site, a further heritage injustice.
Click to expand...
Check @drum118's first photo in this thread. I remember exploring these with @interchange42 back in 2014 or so when checking in on UpEx construction progress...
 
ProjectEnd said:
The image above would have been taken from the south, looking north west. Here's the site 1970. Fascinating that there was an Old Weston Road extension over the CP North Toronto at one point.

View attachment 286734
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The bridge was closed in the 70s; but it wasn't demolished until 1983.

Here's a photo:

1607095020279.png

From: http://wikimapia.org/12653639/Old-Weston-Road-Bridge#/photo/796347

Just south of the bridge was where the old CP West Toronto Station was...........

1607095147596.png

From: http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Toronto/stns/west_toronto.htm

Sadly, that too was demolished, in 1982
 
ProjectEnd said:
Check @drum118's first photo in this thread. I remember exploring these with @interchange42 back in 2014 or so when checking in on UpEx construction progress...
Click to expand...
Yeah, we did a little bit of infiltration there… (can't find photos though)

42
 
Northern Light said:
Was this what was on that site?

View attachment 286707
Source: Toronto Archives, via https://theculturetrip.com/north-am...hat-tell-the-history-of-the-junction-toronto/

I have to say, I quite like the look of that building in the foreground. It probably wasn't a very nice place to work; and with all the slaughter houses..........the smell..........

But still, they don't build industrial sites like they used to.........
Click to expand...

If that tall industrial building had not been prematurely demolished, the potential converted loft units would go for big money today :(
 
Towered said:
If that tall industrial building had not been prematurely demolished, the potential converted loft units would go for big money today :(
Click to expand...

It could have been restored and repurposed like the Distillery District or the eastern part of Liberty Village in that it was this densely built up 19th century industrial complex with a lot of character.

Despite the heritage losses, I suspect that the rubber plant across the street, with its late 1980s cladding is actually the late 19th century Gurney Foundry building. According to this article, the company moved to the Junction in 1887. It had an earlier factory in King West. What dates it is this blackened smoke stack that was never reclad.

If you look at its footprint in this 1910 map, and compare it with the NRI plant's footprint today, they're very similar. Some of the open areas on the property were apparently filled in with further construction, but I think the building is the original 19th century building that was renovated and expanded over the years.
 
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