My thoughts exactly, skorji. While Jarvis continues to suffer, its renewal at Bloor and, more importantly for Dundas, south of Queen makes Jarvis a good candidate for eventual development. There are currently many developments from the Donlands to Yonge south of Queen that will ensure the eventual gentrification of all of the downtown east side, hopefully with help from government to make the transition positive for the less privileged community that suffers there currently. I am surprised that developers started at Jarvis instead of concentrating on the Yonge to Church block to renew. It could take longer, but I am sure other projects will pop up here, it could even be during the sales phase, and who knows how quickly a cluster could form.
 
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I've been living on Jarvis for almost six years now, and it's been getting better by leaps and bounds. It can still be a little sketchy from Gerrard down to Queen, but even just this tower alone has a lot of potential to cut that dead zone in half. I'm not surprised that Church has been leapfrogged, either. There's too many community interests (rightly or wrongly) preventing real intensification of Church, but no one cares about what happens on Jarvis.

If this one and the Walnut Hall site get built I think it could trigger a bunch of others developments as well (NW corner of Jarvis/Dundas, NW corner of Jarvis/Gerrard, the surface parking lots south of Dundas and south of Carlton, etc).
 
That corner was embarrassing and I could not think of a better spot for a 40 story condo. This area needs all the help it can get and let's hope the condo acts as a springboard for further development. The redevelopment of the Seaton lands a block away, will also go a long way in helping the area.
 
I am not sure that a 40 storey building will really 'fit' in this location but suspect when a developer asks for 40 they expect 30! The area is definitely improving, as noted above there are developments planned for the Seaton Lands and there is the proposed hotel and condo building at Shuter and Jarvis (on the surface parking lot and where Walnut Hall once stood. In addition, the Ontario Government is retrofitting the old Sears HQ (which is supposed to be finished by the fall) and this will bring in lots more (respectable!) life and pedestrian traffic. The surface parking lot on the NW corner of Jarvis and Dundas (adjacent to the ex-Sears building) is another obvious site, either for another govenment office building or maybe sold off for another condo.
 
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I think that living within a couple blocks of a place that wishes you Merry XXXmas and a Horny New Year on it's marque is kind of fun! This area might be 'crime ridden' and scuzzy, but it's also textured in a way that the Village used to be. I've lived in a couple coops which house all sorts, and those homes were good experiences. Like Regent Park, I think this could be an interesting nabe.
 
I never feel unsafe anywhere, that said I don't wander through alleyways at night, I am not in a gang nor do I sell or buy illegal drugs or guns. I cycle down Sherbourne past Dundas to get to Queens Quay spring through fall and it's quite apparent that the area is depressed but if there was actually anything around there worth stopping for, I certainly would. In fact I've walked my bike up Sherbourne on a few occasions admiring all the old Victorians on the east side of Sherbourne, now run-down rooming homes mostly. People make such a big deal out of an area that has a higher than normal concentration of lower income rentals, petty crime, some public drunkenness & folks under the influence getting physical with one another - that's pretty much what is happening around this area from what I've read and observed over the years. There's no bullets flying overhead or anything dramatic like that.
If I was in the market to buy and the layouts were good along with reasonable price points, I'd certainly consider living at Dundas & Jarvis. It's a primo location if your into downtown living.
 
I live just a few blocks further East of the Dundas and Jarvis intersection (on Pembroke St.) and I don't see what all the fuss is about how "bad" this neighbourhood is. My street in very quiet and is lined with beautiful old houses and small apartment buildings and apart from the occasional person begging for change or behaving erratically (mostly to themselves), I haven't encountered anything that made me fear for my safety. I'd love to see a 46 storey building rise at that corner, it will be a game changer for the whole neighbourhood, and I'd get a front row seat to viewing it's construction.
 
Very rough rendering posted by Urbanation from the Globe newspaper:

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I live just a few blocks further East of the Dundas and Jarvis intersection (on Pembroke St.) and I don't see what all the fuss is about how "bad" this neighbourhood is.

Easy, no lounges serving bespoke cocktails and organic charcuterie plates with djs spinning the latest eastern euopean dubstep, proximity to which, according to condo marketers, is the sole reason to choose where to live. Hence everything more than eight blocks from King and Bathurst (or Yorkville) is "sketchy".
 
Torontonians are funny little people, You guys don't know what crime is.... shady doesn't mean lower income,... poverty in Canada doesn't exist like the rest of the world, to many social services...you can be jobless and still take your kids to the hospital, and feed em. Spend a week in Detroit...... There's no place in Toronto where your not safe. Shootings are so rare in a city of 6 million. Your more likely to get shot on a hunting trip. I wonder per 1000 people if theres a safer metroplis anywhere.??
Cities here in the US, get 100's a year, even Minneapolis/St Paul, which is safe by US standards, and has a third of the pop. has way more than all of Ontario....I just chuckle at the trepidation people have, oooooh Jarvis and Dundas???? Seriously?? :confused:

I get that its relative, but desperation leads to violent crime, and thats hard to do in the True North.
 
Just looked it up, the economist, "world most livable cities", and the list has Vancouver 1, Melbourne, Vienna then Toronto , and Calgary, I love my country. for what that;s worth.
 
Back in the day, I lived on Ontario and walked to work downtown through D&J. This hasn't been sketchy like Dundas & Sherbourne since the Merchadise reno & the housing co-op buld. Jarvis has gotten better & better -- the gov't redoing the Sears building, the co-op across the street, all the new building north of Gerrard, Sally Ann's new place. Jarvis is really coming back up in the world.

More to the point for this project, it makes 3/4 corners of D&J rebuilt -- the Grande, the other hotel (now a what? Holiday Inn?) and now a condo. Excellent!
 

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