So we should settle for crappy projects on Bathurst?
 
SP!RE said:
So we should settle for crappy projects on Bathurst?
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The proposal does look very crappy to begin with, more suitable for Scarborough or anything 20km away from downtown Toronto. Why can't they put something taller, more urban, instead of a Costco style mall?

but on the other hand, the current Bathurst st is not more urban than or so different from Scarorough either...
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
I've been buying from Kromer Radio since I was a teenager, it's one of the best audio/video stores downtown though there have been a couple other good one's over the years. I'm so sad to see them closing down, I still have my 6 stunning Canadian made Paradigm speakers from there that make up my home theatre sound system.
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I'd say get over your endless childhood memories already.
The audio-video industry is dead, no matter how sweet the memory is. You are sad to see them close down for personal reasons, but should be happy that Toronto is at least growing with the tide.
 
Thanos said:
I really hope the city looses this one. Bathurst street needs some retail here.
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It really depends on the type of retail. A block of small-scale spaces that independent retailers can occupy? Bring it on. Big format spaces that only big-box retails can afford? Keep it out!
 
Bathurst is undergoing a very dramatic positive change both south of Queen and immediately south of Bloor. This project would have ensured that instead of good development filling in the gap we would have had a big box mess that would make Queen & Portland look good thrown into this primarily single family residential area that has limited capacity for increased traffic.
 
Grimace said:
Bathurst is undergoing a very dramatic positive change both south of Queen and immediately south of Bloor.
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South of Queen has always been Toronto's more urban part.
The section between Queen and Bloor is what really matters in terms of how well our downtown is doing, particularly on the smaller side streets.
 
^^I don't understand this. Bathurst north of Queen (hospital excepted) is mostly ill-placed victorians with a smattering of commercial and light industrial, and Bathurst south of Queen prior to recent development was mostly ill-placed light industrial with a smattering of commercial and victorians. The only appropriately urban parts of Bathurst were the intersections at King, Queen, College and Bloor.

Our downtown is doing just fine. The problem with Bathurst is that its historic built form does not match what the street should currently be, which is a predominantly commercial street with some midrise residential. The outer parts of downtown such as this site will not be assisted by the likes of this development.
 
Grimace said:
^^I don't understand this. Bathurst north of Queen (hospital excepted) is mostly ill-placed victorians with a smattering of commercial and light industrial, and Bathurst south of Queen prior to recent development was mostly ill-placed light industrial with a smattering of commercial and victorians. The only appropriately urban parts of Bathurst were the intersections at King, Queen, College and Bloor.

Our downtown is doing just fine. The problem with Bathurst is that its historic built form does not match what the street should currently be, which is a predominantly commercial street with some midrise residential. The outer parts of downtown such as this site will not be assisted by the likes of this development.
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The Queen and Portland RioCan building while not amazing is really not so bad (IMO). The condo portion is, I admit, ugly. But the retail portion? Its actually quite sensitive to the street - the rounded corner is a nice nod to the Outer Layer building across the street and all of the Queen retail is oriented to the street. Furthermore the building succesfully mixes large-format retail (Winners, Loblaws with smaller ones - Walking on a Cloud). For those who would like to see a development oriented towards independent retail... I'm not exactly sure what developer can recoup their financial costs by charging below market rent.
 
Torontovibe said:
Why would they not include residential on top of this shopping complex? I would think that would be a much better use of the land.
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Haha, where have you ever seen residential on top of a 3 level shopping complex? I think it looks great. Like Kromer wasn't an eye sore for the 30 years it was there. I love you guys with your 'mixed use' everything. Not the real world. The Loblaws/Winners on Queen was equally decried, yet all the hipsters are lined up down the aisles buying stuff. It's been a huge success. The free market is a beautiful thing.
 
Bathurst is one of the ugliest main North/South streets in downtown Toronto (beaten only by Dufferin.) Demolishing anything on this street will only make it look better, because it sure as heck can't get any worse.
 
Haha, where have you ever seen residential on top of a 3 level shopping complex? I think it looks great. Like Kromer wasn't an eye sore for the 30 years it was there. I love you guys with your 'mixed use' everything. Not the real world. The Loblaws/Winners on Queen was equally decried, yet all the hipsters are lined up down the aisles buying stuff. It's been a huge success. The free market is a beautiful thing.
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Surely it hasn't escaped your attention that Queen/Portland has condos on top of the retail.

My main objection to Queen/Portland is that it is ugly and its ugliness really detracts from what I love about Queen West. If it were on King west of Bathurst it wouldn't both me so much, but Queen West is otherwise such a unique street and this really detracts from the overall feel.
 
You could drop a bomb on this section of Bathurst and it would look better!

I hope no one on UT is going to say this should be preserved as a Heritage Building like the Hearn Generating Station. :p

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