Torontovibe said:
That's true, I forgot that George Brown Collage will also have restaurants and coffee shops for the general public. The more choices, the better. Over-all, I do like the park and all the water features. The north part is going to be pretty interesting with those unique waterfalls sculptures.
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I got to say ... you're being really pick - which is fine but after having a look - this, along with sugar beach, is such a massive improvement over most if not all city produced (and privately for that matter) projects throughout the entire city ... it's not even complete yet (the southern part) and I'd still attest to this in the current state.

To be fair I'm not comparing this to say high park or Edwards gardens (probably our two premier 'real' natural park) as this to me qualifies as a square to a certain degree so it's not as natural - which in my opinion is a lot harder to get right as it's not simply dominates by grass and flowers.

What really does it for me is the paving, unlike HTO where the paving in the majority of the park is concrete slabs (like a sidewalk) the interlocked brink throughout (there is for the most part no concrete to be seen less where it actually belongs).

On top of that, and this is really what shocked me - are the small details - which are usually done wrong completely - typically there's little to no attention to small details (HTO a perfect example of this) that complete opposite is true here.

I know to many coming from other cities where this is done right (at least more often) this may seem a little bit overboard on my part but for Toronto - this is amazing and I'm going to give credit where it's due.

I'd really say both these squares can rival many other similar parks in any city throughout the world - less 'signature' multi-million dollar parks (millennium park in Chicago for one).

If I were to make one suggestion (other then a few good ideas already throw out) it would be to use a lot more planting / flowers throughout - that's all that's missing in my opinion - but this makes it low maintenance and there are advantages to this as well so some part of me, the part that doesn't think we can do any of this right, is somewhat glad there are no flowers to mess up / let die.
 
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I was at the park on Saturday, and while it is open it sure has a lot of work left to do -- it still feels very much unfinished. And the grassy areas are already plagued with the bane of Toronto waterfront parks, goose poop.

All that said, once it is in its final state it should be lovely.
 
CityPainter said:
During the speeches today, someone (I forget who) mentioned that when the George Brown building under construction immediately to the west is done, its entire eastern side will be all glass that opens onto the park. Perhaps integrated into that could be another cafe, or more semi-public spaces. Would be nice, unless George Brown wants to keep all the facilities students-only. Time will tell.
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While walking along the promenade this weekend, I noticed that Corus Quay has two enormous glass doors on the South Side that can slide open, revealing the atrium. I can't wait to see them in use.

The whole park is pretty awesome. I'm totally jealous that I live nowhere near it and can't pop down to visit it regularly.
 
Oh, and here's a pic of the skyline from the park. Pretty neat-o:

5027455814_fcc81e221f_b.jpg
 
from Waterfront TO ... the official opening:

[video=youtube;IHAo9RhDCP4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHAo9RhDCP4[/video]
 
androiduk said:
The attractive 'boardwalk' along East Bayfront keeps getting longer as each park is finished.
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Is the boardwalk going to continue to the Parliament Street Slip before the East Bayfront development happens or will it end at Sherbourne Common until then?
 
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Great pic but those 'temporary' light standards are starting to look rather permanent.
 
They said they are not permanent. I'd like to believe them. They legally have to have lighting installed in the park in order for it to be open. They probably don't have the lights ready to install yet, so they put in what was available.
 
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