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44 North said:
The only tangible work was the grade separation (which would've happened regardless), and was money well spent. Not sure if it's ever been concluded who funded that.
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That grade separation came through the Sheppard EA. While it would have been done, the road widening and electrical grounding of the bridge that accompanied it definitely would not have been done.

I'm unsure who paid for it but I would be surprised if it was not Metrolinx.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Except that it is in a similar sort of boat as Y+E - hardly any office space growth since the 90s - just like Y+B and Y+St. Clair.

AoD
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My point exactly - the "if you build it (transportation)" principally applies to residential unless Council holds the line on retaining commercial during re-development.
 
The only thing that will perhaps make these urban centres a success is if they have a lower commercial tax than the Downtown. Nothing else will atttact development to the centres.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
The only thing that will perhaps make these urban centres a success is if they have a lower commercial tax than the Downtown. Nothing else will atttact development to the centres.
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It would help if City Council would devolve some of its own functions too. A large commercial development at Yonge and Eglinton could house staff currently working in leased office space elsewhere or allow rehabilitation of existing spaces. Similarly, smaller developments at Eglinton West or Caledonia could make the most of GO-LRT and LRT-subway interchanges.
 
dowlingm said:
It would help if City Council would devolve some of its own functions too. A large commercial development at Yonge and Eglinton could house staff currently working in leased office space elsewhere or allow rehabilitation of existing spaces. Similarly, smaller developments at Eglinton West or Caledonia could make the most of GO-LRT and LRT-subway interchanges.
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It would help, but government functions really aren't a draw for anything else.

AoD
 
dowlingm said:
It would help if City Council would devolve some of its own functions too. A large commercial development at Yonge and Eglinton could house staff currently working in leased office space elsewhere or allow rehabilitation of existing spaces. Similarly, smaller developments at Eglinton West or Caledonia could make the most of GO-LRT and LRT-subway interchanges.
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The City basically does this now, though some buildings remain in isolated or odd-ball places.

The City's internal model aims for agglomerations of staff generally for each of the 4 districts.

Hence the new Etobicoke civic facility being planned. Proposed used their included a consolidated set of district offices for York/Etobicoke.

Both the NY and Scarborough Civic ctrs are actively used, and both have nearby sites (the City has offices in the office towers on Consillium in 'downtown Scarborough'.

There is room to consolidate more, though some problems exist (what would one do w/the former East York Civic Ctr if those staff were consolidated?)

Also there is a desire to keep most senior management downtown.
 
I think if you're going to compete for office space on anything other than price; you have to target who you expect to fill said building.

I don't just mean a particular company, but a particular market-segment.

This is important because it allows you to look at 'critical mass' and see whether multiple players might have a vested interest in being near each other in a 'new' area.

It also allows you to think in terms of whether academic or other public facilities need to be nearby in order to facilitate things.

That said, I don't favour large-scale incentives to 'distort' the market in terms of where companies want to be.

I do think if there is a compelling public policy reason to create a shift, then you need to talk to the relevant players, including the office developers and seek out a vision and investment
strategy likely to hold water.

I think NYCC can be made to work, not on the scale Lastman once envisioned, but something quite healthy in terms of employment use.

On the other hand I have grave reservations about trying to make SCC work (major project) or trying to lure offices of size to random spots on the Crosstown route.
 
Yonge eglinton is approaching new builds by market forces, I imagine. Just not there yet. There has been a ton of space leased up in the area in the last 5 years, and prices are rising. The stock is just so old and the market is generally for class B space, so there hasn't been the financials for new build space. Give it another 5 years though and I could see that changing.

North York is in trouble, it doesn't have any sort of demand, and most of it's space is class A already.

There is a large office project in the marketing stage in SCC right now actually.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
The only thing that will perhaps make these urban centres a success is if they have a lower commercial tax than the Downtown. Nothing else will atttact development to the centres.
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Beyond a lowered commercial rate there is a another benefit of being closer to your workforce. If you look at PwC (Oakville and Vaughan) and KPMG (Vaughan) they use the proximity to home as a selling point during the hiring process. They use hotelling and offer their staff the option to be downtown if they have meetings or closer to home if they are not needed downtown. I know of some people who have moved to KPMG and this was one of the key reasons.

Commercial tax rates are a key criteria and the province should play ball and allow for a more competitive rate outside of the core. After all they do not have access to the GO Train system and other services that give the downtown core a commercial advantage. Of course I'm not sure if the planners in city hall think there is life beyond Bathurst street in the west or St Clair to the north so I don't think its a priority for them.

The other way to do it is just like smaller retail. Force both retail and commercial into every condo development near a transit node (first 3-4 floors of every condo being developed). This will drive down commercial rates (by increasing supply) which encourages more companies to move there.
 
Now the visible work on surface of Eglinton Avenue East begins. From this link:

Median Removals on Eglinton Avenue East for Surface Stops

The surface section of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will run down the centre of Eglinton Avenue East in dedicated transit lanes at street level. To prepare for the construction of the surface section, crews are working to get the roadway ready.

As part of preparatory works, crews will be conducting median removal work in the roadway to prepare Eglinton and nearby roads for the future changes.​
 
W. K. Lis said:
Now the visible work on surface of Eglinton Avenue East begins. From this link:

Median Removals on Eglinton Avenue East for Surface Stops

The surface section of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will run down the centre of Eglinton Avenue East in dedicated transit lanes at street level. To prepare for the construction of the surface section, crews are working to get the roadway ready.

As part of preparatory works, crews will be conducting median removal work in the roadway to prepare Eglinton and nearby roads for the future changes.​
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They are months behind on thia update...it's been like this since at least may
 
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