[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links, from Stepgate to Emanuel Jaques to mass transit

Torontoist’s feature on how Stepgate went viral internationally is a mustread.
• The National Post covers a disturbing report about claiming a police officer maimed a teenager. If the Toronto police have been actively trying to cover up criminal assault by one of their members …
• Global News notes that Metrolinx has opted to remove Bombardier for consideration in operating GO Transit.
• A high-speed ferry link between Toronto and Niagara–St. Catherine’s–is imaginable. Economically viable? The Globe and Mail reports.
• Simon Lewsen describes in The Globe and Mail how the 1977 murder of Emanuel Jaques led, eventually, to the transformation of Yonge Street.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links, from condo conversions to a cat park to unsafe beaches

• John Michael McGrath argues at TVO that leaving Toronto for Ontario cities with cheaper housing misses the issue of jobs. For starters.
• Michelle McQuigge looks at how the CNIB is helping make Yonge and St. Clair accessible to the blind.
• In The Globe and Mail, Erik Heinrich looks at how a mid-rise office tower at 1133 Yonge Street is being transformed into condos.
• The Toronto Star reports that the condo/hotel tower at 325 Bay Street no longer bears the name of Trump. Toronto is free!
• The end of the Palace Arms rooming house at King and Strachan, Christian Controneo notes at Torontoist, must be seen as terrible for the people who live there.
• blogTO notes that E. Coli levels on mainland Toronto beaches make them unsafe for swimmers. No lake water this year!
• blogTO notes that Montréal architect Claude Cormier, designer of HTO and Berczy, will next do a cat-themed park.

[URBAN NOTE] Five Toronto links, from Lego TTC to private nude beaches to University Avenue

• Global News reports on Jackson’s Burger, driven from Yonge Street by high rent.
• blogTO shares this man’s collection of TTC vehicles done in Lego. It is truly impressive.
• Steve Munro reports on the cost of renovating the Bloor-Danforth subway.
• The Toronto Star reports on the private nudist swimming resorts in the GTA. There are no legal public nude beaches without Hanlan’s.
• The Globe and Mail‘s Dave Leblanc reports on the embattled traffic islands of University Avenue.

[URBAN NOTE] “Yonge Loves Pedestrians”

Torontoist’s Stephanie DePetrillo describes a recent meeting about making Yonge Street more pedestrian-friendly.

It’s finally time for a “big, bold, and beautiful” plan for Yonge Street that would allocate large parts strictly for pedestrians.

At the Yonge Love meet-up Wednesday night, some big ideas were presented to a packed atrium at the Ryerson City Building Institute. The goal is to attract people back to the area with space for foot traffic, street-level shops, and a focus on making side streets and laneways more vibrant.

“Evolving cities need to go through this kind of a process,” said Jennifer Keesmaat, the chief planner for the City of Toronto. “Yonge Street is going to function in a very different way in the future than how it has functioned in the past and, as a result, the alignment of the street needs to shift and change.”

During the discussion, panellists weighed in on some tricky issues like safety and transportation, a potential pilot project along King Street, and failed attempts in the past to make Yonge Street pedestrian friendly. Even autonomous vehicles were brought up by a member of the crowd to add to the list of things to consider for a project this bold.

“It really feels like déjà vu all over again,” said urban designer Ken Greenberg, referring to the previous Yonge Street project that was kiboshed by City Council.

[URBAN NOTE] “Landmark Toronto building listed for sale at $1”

blogTO’s Derek Flack notes that 205 Yonge Street has been put up on the market for the initial asking price of $C 1.

One of Toronto’s most beautiful buildings has hit the market for the grand sum of $1. Just don’t expect the former Bank of Toronto at 205 Yonge St., to sell for anywhere near that price.

Designed by landmark Toronto architect E.J. Lennox in 1905, the bank was built in the neo-classical style with a remarkable domed roof, terrazzo floors, marble walls, and striking Corinthian columns that face Yonge Street.

It’s one of two glorious old bank buildings that’ll be injected with new life as the Massey Tower rises above them. Nearby 197 Yonge St. is also one of Toronto’s iconic historical structures.

As for the listing price, it’s basically an auction. Real estate agent Shawn Abramovitz argues that this pricing strategy also hints at the difficulty of putting a value on such a unique property.

[URBAN NOTE] “Cresford Unveils Plans for 98-Storey Tower at Yonge & Gerrard”

Urban Toronto’s Stefan Novakovic describes plans to build a tower 98 storeys tall (!) on the southeast corner of Yonge and Gerrard.

Rising to an incredible 98 storeys, Toronto’s—and Canada’s—tallest building could be coming to the southeast corner of Yonge and Gerrard. Designed by New York’s Kohn Pedersen Fox for Cresford Developments, the super-tall tower would feature a mix of retail, office uses, and residential space. The height? 343.9 metres.

With the developers now putting forward a submission to the City of Toronto, further details of the project are expected to be revealed in the coming weeks. Cresford announced a year ago now that a new building—YSL Residences—would be a new landmark development in Downtown Toronto. Now released, renderings depict a sleek, faintly sculptural form with a smooth, glassy exterior, free of balconies. Fronting the corner, the existing three-storey heritage building at Yonge and Gerrard would be maintained, with a small, angular podium volume rising above.

[. . .]

Located kitty-corner from the 78-storey Aura at College Park, which—for now—remains the country’s tallest residential building, the development would add a declarative height peak to what could become one of Toronto’s tallest communities. Immediately across Yonge Street, the Delta Hotel site is currently subject to another massive redevelopment plan, with Great Eagle Holdings’ ‘Chelsea Green’ proposal calling for three architectsAlliance-designed high-rises, including two 88-storey towers, and a 49-storey building.

[URBAN NOTE] Rosie DiManno in the Toronto Star on the Badminton and Racquet Club fire

Rosie DiManno’s long-form article “’I’m getting burned!’ Slaying the beast that was the Badminton and Racquet Club fire” examines just what happened at the recent devastating fire at Yonge and St. Clair, in detail.

Fire and water: The crisis and the cure.

But it took 20 hours of steadfastly blasting the latter to extinguish the roiling conflagration of the former last week at the Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto.

Bringing the blaze to heel — preventing it from leaping to condos and businesses on the four corners of St. Clair Ave. and Yonge St. — required a collective yeoman effort over three days: 520 firefighters, 167 fire engines, pumpers and three tower trucks with articulating booms, hazardous materials unit, dozens of hoses pumping simultaneously, an excavator and countless air cylinders consumed.

And still, days later, small spot fires continued sparking back to life.

A tall chore, killing a fire; throttling it.