Any building along Bloor would either have to be raised over the track or would require eating up Trinity's field.
Is the new track significantly larger than the previous stadium? If so, then I get it - if not, then I still don't understand why both a building and a track/stadium could not have been built on the total area provided by the previous stadium and the parking lot, without the field. (The parking lot is still there now, right?)
Seriously...?
It's not usually an urban aficionado’s preference for many well-known reasons (street wall, continuity of built form, linking 'hoods, etc.), especially on a street this major and central. That's why parking lots and the like are generally disdained - this can't be news...?
There's a half dozen similar gaps along Bloor in the area.
Which ones are you thinking of that compare to this one in size, and which are effectively useless to passerby as this is, unlike a parkette or something? You wouldn't suggest that a 'gap' like the York Club wall isn't essentially undesirable, would you (outside of its historical value, I suppose)?
Because people living at a college want to be near their college, library, and dining hall, not a block and a half away.
As you point out yourself, that is really not very far at all - we're hardly talking about a huge distance or meaningfully 'segregating' the College here.
What possible advantage would there be for Trinity to build its new residence along Bloor rather than on property that it already controls right next to its quad.
$. I cannot believe that the College would not benefit handsomely from retail or whatever kind of rentable space along Bloor, as surely virtually anyone would. Seems to me that everyone's interests could've been served here: the University's with a new stadium, the College's with a new residence which also would provide substantial continuous revenue, both institutions with reduced costs from simultaneous construction, and the city with an urban contribution along Bloor rather than another long fence.
No? As before, I could be wrong about all of this, but I don't really see how anyone comes out better off the way it's been done. And these are hardly novel thoughts - when this stadium was first discussed on this forum, there were many people bemoaning the obvious lost opportunity to build something along Bloor.
how striking and strong the checkered facade of the Clewes and di Castri Woodsworth College is when viewed from east of Avenue Road.
^ Agree - it's a great contribution and really stands out positively.