Queen West Triangle Update
Varsity needs more than a 9 iron
TheStar.com - News - Varsity needs more than a 9 iron
February 01, 2007
Christopher Hume
At this point in its history, Toronto may well have more sports venues than teams to use them.
The latest athletic white elephant to join the herd – Allan Lamport Stadium, Maple Leaf Gardens, Ricoh Coliseum the unnamed soccer stadium at Exhibition Place – is the University of Toronto's Varsity Centre.
Built on the site of the old Varsity Stadium on the south side of Bloor St. W. at Devonshire Place, this is as ill-conceived a project as we have seen recently in the city.
To start with, the site is all wrong for an arena, and has been for at least two or three decades. Given that the Royal Ontario Museum and the Royal Conservatory of Music are both halfway through major renovations and expansions, and that the north side of Bloor is about to be remade with condos, the land could – and should – be much better used.
That means residential, retail, commercial, something consistent with the city's need to intensify. This is especially important here, where there are two subway lines and substantial pedestrian traffic.
Plus, there's the bothersome little fact that the U of T hasn't been able to figure out what to do with the facility for years. It has sat virtually empty for at least a generation. Of course everyone remembers the glory days when Varsity was host to the Argos and then John Lennon and Yoko Ono – that was then, this is now.
Besides, if anyone came along today to suggest Varsity be revived as a concert venue, the local residents would rise up in arms. The noise! The traffic! The smell! Oh, the horror, the horror!
There have been several proposals over the years – an athletic complex; a mixed-use residential and commercial space. But the ratepayers weren't exactly enthusiastic, and the U of T just didn't have the stomach to fight them.
So instead, the university has decided to spend the relatively small sum of $17 million to rebuild a modern version of what long occupied the site. In its latest incarnation, Varsity Stadium, now Varsity Centre, has very little to recommend it. Architecturally, it is strictly utilitarian and generic, wildly out of keeping with its newly rebuilt neighbours.
Design has been kept to a bare minimum, with plenty of raw concrete and empty space. The most distinctive feature of the 5,000-seat facility is a large white "bubble" that fills most of the playing field. It will remain in place until the weather warms up; until then, it will serve students and the public as a driving range, open to the public.
No, we're not making this up – it will be a driving range, on Bloor St.
The glass-half-full crowd might argue that this represents a new level of variety, if not urbanity, in a city that has more space than it knows what to do with. The rest of us would be more likely to scratch our heads in disbelief.
It's sadly reminiscent of that earlier downtown driving range south of Wellington St., west of Spadina. It existed before the many-towered condo complex, known as CityPlace, had grown so big.
The temptation then was to laugh, but ultimately there's nothing funny about a city that has no better way to use its land than to turn it into a golfing facility.
The U of T hopes the new centre will attract international sports events because it "boasts one of the best artificial turf fields in North America and a world-class, eight-track lane."
Excuse the skepticism, but with only 5,000 seats, the venue is not likely to host anything larger than a high-school sports day.
The best-case scenario is that the centre won' t be around more than 10, maybe 15 years.
It is best understood as a temporary measure, a way to buy time so that the U of T can get its act together and do the right thing. This is a major asset, a piece of property crucial to the future of the neighbourhood and the city itself.
After having built so many impressive buildings on College and Spadina and the two suburban campuses in Mississauga and Scarborough, such a misstep is hard to understand.
In any case, the university will hold an open house at Varsity Centre, tomorrow, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Don't forget your clubs.