Wonder what ever happened to plans for Downsview Park, Union Station or that aquarium at the CN Tower? So have we. Here is an update on 10 major initiatives either planned or approved around Southern Ontario:
RIPLEY’S AQUARIUM
PROJECT: A proposal for a 14,000 square-metre Ripley’s Aquarium at the base of the CN Tower is going ahead.
UPDATE: The city’s planning department is hopeful that final approval from city council will come in August. At issue is a technicality with the bylaw that pertains to the land, which currently does not specify it can be zoned for an aquarium. Several other changes to Ripley’s original proposal, such as the shape and exact positioning of the structure, will also need to be made.“We’re quite happy with the work (Ripley’s) has been doing to meet our requests,” says Linda Macdonald, a planning manager with the City of Toronto. As for changes to the bylaw, “it’s not a huge change in terms of what could have been built there; we just want the language to specifically state that it could be zoned for an aquarium and the location will be moved just a little bit to the east at the base of the CN Tower. We will report to the full council for the August meeting so we can get approval before the fall election.”
UNION STATION
PROJECT: The $640-million renovation of Union Station, which will feature two new GO Transit concourses, a new 14,860-square-metre retail level below, refurbishment of the station’s main hall and a new sheltered pedestrian corridor connecting to the PATH network northwest of the station.
UPDATE: The project is underway and on schedule, but you probably won’t notice much work yet. “We’ve mobilized construction and we’ve issued small contracts for delivery items and prework,” says Richard Coveduck, director of design and construction for the City of Toronto who is overseeing the project’s construction. “We’re on schedule.” The massive project, which is getting about $300 million from the federal and provincial governments, is set to be completed in 2015.
NEW COMMUNITIES OF OAKVILLE
PROJECT: Heralded in 2006 as a development breakthrough featuring high density with a natural habitat and plenty of recreational space, Oakville’s ambitious plan is steadily coming to fruition. The 3,100-hectare development from Dundas St. to Highway 407 between Tremaine Rd. and Ninth Line will eventually house 50,000 new residents and include a workforce of 35,000.
UPDATE: The first residential subdivision, at the northeast corner of Dundas St. and Neyagawa Blvd., was approved in March and earth has been moved to make way for more than 500 units. On the other side of Neyagawa, the Sixteen Mile Sports Complex, with four hockey arenas, soccer fields, a cricket pitch and a skateboard park, will open in September.
Zoning is also in place for a new hospital to be built at Third Line and Dundas St., but Oakville’s senior planner, Robert Thun, says it is hard to say when the rest of the development will be scheduled. “A lot of the infrastructure issues, sewage and roads, things like that, are up to Halton Region to move on.”
WASAGA BEACH
PROJECT: A $400-million Wasaga Beach development that was to include hotels, condos, restaurants, a large conference centre, an indoor amusement park, and a monorail to connect it all.
UPDATE: The plan was scrapped after a fire in November 2007 razed the area where the development was to take place. Twenty-one buildings were lost, which made the planned redevelopment of the area along the town’s popular main beach next to impossible. But the summer resort community on the shores of Georgian Bay did get the WasagaDome. Unfortunately, the multi-use entertainment facility at the middle of Beach Dr. that opened in July 2008 is one of six properties owned by Beachfront Developments, which recently went into receivership. The Dome was just renamed Waterfront Dome under new management and, because of the recent financial problems, is not expected to open for the season until July 1.
COXWELL SEWER PIPE
PROJECT: To tunnel a new path for a massive sewer pipe that serves about 750,000 residents in central Toronto. After a huge crack in the underground pipe was discovered using a robotic camera in 2008, the city decided bypassing the problem area was the best approach. The bypass portion begins adjacent to the parking lot for Taylor Creek Park, and will run beneath the ravine before it connects to the existing sewer at Coxwell Ave. and O’Connor Dr.
UPDATE: The project’s construction phase began about two weeks ago. The total length of the bypass will be about 500 metres and it is to be operational by January once it is connected to the pipe in the existing tunnel. Cost for the operation is $29 million, but the city says that is a fraction of what it would cost if the cracked pipe collapsed and sewage flooded into the Don River.
TORONTO ISLAND TUNNEL
PROJECT: Plans are still alive to build a pedestrian tunnel under Lake Ontario to the Toronto Island Airport, but government may not be involved. The Toronto Port Authority abandoned attempts to get federal stimulus funding for what in 2009 was pegged to be a $38-million project. The TPA determined the 2011 deadline for construction completion to qualify for the funding could not be met.
UPDATE: The Port Authority has now turned to private investors to raise the cash, in what it is calling a P3 (public-private partnership) initiative. The process is underway with public consultations, a private environmental assessment and search for a private partner to put up at least half of the $45 million now budgeted for the project. The TPA has stated it will raise the other half and will implement a “user pay” system to generate revenue.
GARDINER EXPRESSWAY
PROJECT: Plans for the eastern part of the Gardiner Expressway remain in limbo; however, Waterfront Toronto and the City of Toronto have devised an extensive environmental assessment process that includes a public consultation initiative to find a solution.
UPDATE: Four possibilities are being considered for the stretch of the Gardiner from the Don Valley Parkway to Jarvis St.: Removal, replacement, enhancement or maintaining what is already there. Waterfront Toronto is conducting an extensive environmental assessment to determine how best to integrate plans for the Gardiner with the rest of the developments in that area along the waterfront. To gather input, at least 16 public meetings are planned across the city. Details can be found at the Gardiner consultation website: www.gardinerconsultation.ca.
DOWNSVIEW PARK
PROJECT: Much has happened since the original “Tree City” design won an international competition about 10 years ago to convert 230 hectares of the old military base in North York into one of the world’s largest urban parks. Unfortunately, not much activity has involved actual development.
UPDATE: The land is still owned by the federal government, but the Downsview Park board has come up with a new plan, unlike the original, which saw almost all of the land used for green space and recreational facilities. Instead, the new plan includes residential and commercial developments across the north end of the park, part of the east and the southwest corner. In total, 7,300 residential units will be built, along with commercial and mid-size industrial space. About half of the overall area will be kept as park space or used for recreation. The board is in the final stages of negotiation with a company to develop almost 1,000 residential units in the Stanley Greene neighbourhood in the southwestern sector. Plans have hit a snag, however, as city council has presented a long list of changes to the board’s plan for the area (because the land would be sold to a private developer, the city would take over jurisdiction from the federal government).
Until requests from the city have been dealt with, the park’s development is on hold.
EAST BAYFRONT
PROJECT: East Bayfront development, between Lower Jarvis and Parliament St., and Lake Shore Blvd. to Lake Ontario, which includes 6,000 new residential units, 3 million square feet of commercial space and a continuous 1 kilometre promenade along the lake.
UPDATE: Waterfront Toronto will be holding two grand openings this summer to mark the early phase of the 10 to 15 year development plan for the East Bayfront project. Sherbourne Park (to be renamed July 16 after an open vote on Torontoist.com) and Canada’s Sugar Beach, set to become one of the country’s few urban beaches, are on schedule to open this summer. Construction of the Corus Quay entertainment building is also on schedule to open around the middle of this summer. The 280,000 square metre building on the shores of Lake Ontario, near the foot of Lower Jarvis St., will house Corus Entertainment’s studios.
EXHIBITION PLACE
PROJECT: A major facelift of Exhibition Place began in 2008 with the $49 million renovation of the Automotive Building, which was completed in October 2009 and reopened as the Allstream Centre. Major work still on the go includes reconstruction of the Princes’ Gates, the Direct Energy Centre and the Better Living Centre. A 320-suite convention hotel is also still planned.
UPDATE: Exhibition Place board chair Dianne Young says the various construction projects, with a budget of $24 million, are all ahead of schedule, with the first phase of work on the gates (a $6 million refurbishment) to be done by the end of May. The rest of the projects are to be completed by next spring. A $100 million, 320-suite convention hotel to be built by New York-based HK Hotels has passed a financial review by the city; if a site plan is approved, ground could be broken as early as the end of 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment