"Activate a historic downtown brick pavement street (St. Nicholas Street) with substantive streetscape improvements to create an enriched pedestrian experience in this historic downtown core enclave."

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That is exciting! I think I know the stretch of back alley they're talking about!
 
^ I think they may be talking about the section between Irwin & St. Mary because the 'alley' part between Wellesley and St. Joseph is very attractive already. They did a great job fixing it up over the last few years.
 
Losing a lane?

I was also struck by this:

"The proposal also incorporates a public north-south lane located at St. Joseph Street. An application to Transportation Services to close the lane has been submitted. Closure and transfer of the lane requires a decision by City Council."

I'm guessing that this refers to the brick lane that runs between 5 St. Joseph and 11 St. Joseph, which has seen extensive upgrades over the past few years. Does anybody know any details about this? It would be a shame to lose that lane when other areas of the city are actively embracing and utilizing their lanes -- not to mention the nice little back-door passage from Wellesley north to Charles.

- J.
 
jallan71 said:
I was also struck by this:

"The proposal also incorporates a public north-south lane located at St. Joseph Street. An application to Transportation Services to close the lane has been submitted. Closure and transfer of the lane requires a decision by City Council."

I'm guessing that this refers to the brick lane that runs between 5 St. Joseph and 11 St. Joseph, which has seen extensive upgrades over the past few years. Does anybody know any details about this? It would be a shame to lose that lane when other areas of the city are actively embracing and utilizing their lanes -- not to mention the nice little back-door passage from Wellesley north to Charles.

- J.
Click to expand...

I really hope that's not lost either, as you say it's a wonderful connection from Wellesley Street up to Bloor if one is in the mood to avoid busy, noisy Yonge or Bay Streets and it has such charm. The only exception is an entrance in the lane-way just south of 5 St. Joseph Street which gives me the creeps when I walk by it at night. It used to be a busy, well lit area back in the Katrinas/Colby's days in the 80's/early 90's but not anymore.
 
A wonderful building on St. Joseph (5 St. Joseph?) will be destroyed, save for the facade. In other words, it will be destroyed.
 
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jallan71 said:
I was also struck by this:

"The proposal also incorporates a public north-south lane located at St. Joseph Street. An application to Transportation Services to close the lane has been submitted. Closure and transfer of the lane requires a decision by City Council."

I'm guessing that this refers to the brick lane that runs between 5 St. Joseph and 11 St. Joseph, which has seen extensive upgrades over the past few years. Does anybody know any details about this? It would be a shame to lose that lane when other areas of the city are actively embracing and utilizing their lanes -- not to mention the nice little back-door passage from Wellesley north to Charles.

- J.
Click to expand...

I've read this report twice now, this is a very extensive plan here. There seems to be a contradiction with regards to closing the lane for private use. Unless I'm reading this wrong the "lane" is also known as St. Nicholas Street.

A few relevant pieces from the Final Staff Report -

The pedestrian front entrance is proposed to be located on St. Joseph Street. The parking garage access is proposed to be located on the north side of the building in the location of an existing public lane which is intended to be closed and incorporated into the development site.

The proposal also incorporates a public north-south lane located at St. Joseph Street. An application to Transportation Services to close the lane has been submitted. Closure and transfer of the lane requires a decision by City Council.

- activate an historic downtown brick pavement street (St. Nicholas Street) with substantive streetscape improvements to create an enriched pedestrian experience in this historic downtown core enclave.

- As an existing north /south public lane is required to form part of the lot, pursuant to Section 114 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, the owner shall obtain City Council’s approval of the closure and sale of the public lane and shall complete such sale of such lane;


cdr108 said:
i think it's more than facadism here ... aren't they retaining the whole block of 2s/3s structures and refurbishing them?
Click to expand...

The Yonge Street frontages will be retained, but rehabilitated.

condovo said:
A wonderful building on St. Joseph (5 St. Joseph?) will be destroyed, save for the facade. In other words, it will be destroyed.
Click to expand...

Again, if I read this properly 5-9 St. Joseph Street & 11-19 St. Nicholas Street will be deconstructed similar to Addison Motors and reassembled once the foundation and new structure is in place and then re-purposed.

 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Again, if I read this properly 5-9 St. Joseph Street & 11-19 St. Nicholas Street will be deconstructed similar to Addison Motors and reassembled once the foundation and new structure is in place and then re-purposed.
Click to expand...

Or for that matter, similar to the joint across St Nicholas to the west...
 
I visited the site this morning.

There is a lane between Yonge and St. Nicholas that is accessed from St. Nicholas in two places (one access is next to Shred Central). It serves the businesses along Yonge St between St. Joseph and Wellesley. It seems that this is the lane that will be closed.

I really don't think they will close down St. Nicholas Street, which is a street anyway, not a lane!
 
I think that lane has to be left because it provides delivery access to the businesses on Yonge St. And if you look at the site plan that got posted a few posts back you can see that the lane beside Shred Central is still there. You can also see an arrow on the north side of the site pointing to where the parking access will be, which happens to line up to this laneway:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=...oid=_BozDdEXeLPhIDaylvq_eA&cbp=12,175.56,,0,5
 
greenleaf said:
I visited the site this morning.

There is a lane between Yonge and St. Nicholas that is accessed from St. Nicholas in two places (one access is next to Shred Central). It serves the businesses along Yonge St between St. Joseph and Wellesley. It seems that this is the lane that will be closed.

I really don't think they will close down St. Nicholas Street, which is a street anyway, not a lane!
Click to expand...

Yup, I went by last night and came to the same conclusion -- I'm almost certain it's the tiny, service-lane between 5 St. Joseph and the businesses along Yonge St. that they're talking about closing, rather than the wide, bricked "lane" betwee 5 St. Joseph and 11 St. Joseph that has been recently signed as a continuation of St. Nicholas St.

Sorry for crying wolf on this one before I went to the site to check it out...
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Again, if I read this properly 5-9 St. Joseph Street & 11-19 St. Nicholas Street will be deconstructed similar to Addison Motors and reassembled once the foundation and new structure is in place and then re-purposed.

Click to expand...

Yes, but only the facade is retained in this proposal, like a stage set. I‘ve been inside the building and it‘s lovely but, apparently, not worthy of saving.
 
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