Lisa
Rainford
Special to The Star
"Developers
ask residents for help planning infill projects in popular neighbourhood"
It's been 30 years since Bloor West Village and High Park,
the picturesque neighbourhoods between Keele and Jane Sts.
in the city's west end,
have seen such a surge in residential development.
Primarily a neighbourhood of single-family homes back in the
1960s and early 1970s, residents feared they would lose the
part of the
city they knew and loved when developers tore blocks of houses
down to make room for apartment buildings north of the park
on High Park,
Gothic and Quebec Aves.
"The developer was king in the late 1960s," said Tom Carey, president
of the West Toronto Junction Historical Society. "Everything
was about growth. Bigger was better."
The Quebec-Gothic battle was one of the political hotspots
that led to reform-oriented Toronto councils in the 1970s.
Politicians realized
that high-rises were not the way to create a connected city,
Carey said, and for almost three decades the threat of major
redevelopment
in this part of town has been next to nil-until recently.
The move to intensify has picked up again, drawn by the shops,
restaurants and traditional food markets of Bloor West Village
and the impressive
landscape of High Park. But this time the pressure comes in
the form of condos.
"
If there's a trend, it's that people are coming back from the suburbs," says
local real estate broker Rocco Speziali of Homelife Realty One Ltd. "I
believe the market for condominiums is the fastest-growing
segment of real estate."
A number of smaller projects, such as the Brule condominium,
just west of Jane St. on Bloor, and some small loft conversions
have been
built. Now developers are looking at other abandoned or underused
industrial and commercial sites, even churches for more ambitious
projects, some of which are still sparking controversy.
But the condo promoters are learning to consult local residents.
One sensitive project involves the 1928 art deco Third Church
of Christ Scientist at 70 High Park Ave., ironically located
amid the
apartment towers just north of the park. A 20-storey, 169-unit
condo tower will be built on the church site.Initially, the
West Toronto
Junction Historical Society opposed the project for fear of
losing a heritage building. Churches fill a special role in
a community,
Carey explained, as places of worship and focal points of
the neighbourhood. But Nexxt Development Corp. responded to
the concerns raised by the
historical society in early 2001 with promises to preserve
aspects of the church.
Since then, The Daniels Corp. has joined Nexxt to make the
project a joint venture named High Park Condominiums. Their
plans include
retaining the church's front façade and octagonal
foyer. In addition, its flagstone pathways will be cleaned
and restored
and
the original lampposts will be refurbished.
The preview opening is Oct.19 for the project where one-bedroom
units will start at $166,900.
There are at least a half-dozen other developers who have
laid claim to property in High Park, Swansea (south of Bloor
West Village),
Roncesvalles Village (east of the park) and the neighbouring
West Toronto Junction (north).
REON Development Corp. is in the process of an environmental
cleanup of the former Swansea Stelco Works, a five-hectare
brownfield site
at Windermere Ave. and The Queensway. The development, christened
Windermere-by-the-Lake, will feature 130 townhouses and three
tall, slender condominium towers with more than 700 units.
Once completed,
the residential complex will offer a full range of amenities
available to residents and the surrounding Swansea community.
Public access, green space, a daycare and public art displays
are some of the highlights of the project. REON has also committed
to
improving Gardiner Expressway underpasses to Lake Ontario,
building a canoe storage facility on the Humber River and
has already donated
substantial funds for playground equipment at a number of
public schools. REON has also contributed $120,000 to assist
the Toronto
Transit Commission in constructing new transit shelters and
other upgrades at Windermere and The Queensway.
"Brownfield sites are infill sites within existing communities, which
have usually been around for many years. From our point
of view the community should have a say in what happens to the property," said
REON's chief executive officer Robert Willes. "We just
need to make a profit for our investors. What it looks like
is up to
the community."These brownfield sites often have environmental
contaminants and to do the cleanup successfully, there needs
to be trust
between the
developer and the residents, Willes said, adding that it's
not unusual for community members to come up with new ideas
for the cleanup.
Following a lengthy public consultation process, Willes
feels his company has gained the neighbourhood's trust. Construction
on Windermere-by-the-Lake will likely not begin until late
this fall, although an exact date has not been
set. The sales
office should be open later this month.
Ward 13 Councillor David Miller (Parkdale-High Park) says
he was impressed by REON's straightforwardness during the
public consultation
process. Company officials listened, took time going through
the development process and made meaningful changes. It stands
in contrast
to some developers, Miller said, who see the community as
an obstacle to overcome.
"I really stressed that Swansea wanted to be involved," he said. "Any
project really benefits from involving the community."
Taking a cue from REON, Georgian Corp. Inc., the developer
proposing to transform nearby Southport Plaza at 20 Southport
St. into condominium
towers, wanted to get the community involved early in the
development process.
At an initial public meeting in June, Swansea residents indicated
they were less than enthusiastic about more condo towers in
their back (or front) yards. They also feared the loss of
their retail
plaza, the home of Bloor West Village's popular Cheese Boutique.
The boutique, a fixture on Bloor St. until 2000, was forced
to relocate because of rising rents.
Georgian consultant Jeff Usher said the community's reaction
was expected.
"We had done some investigation and the reaction we received was predictable.
We knew there was an issue of traffic and we knew views
were important."
At the public meeting, Georgian provided residents with computer
images, 3-D models and aerial photographs of the proposed
development. Architects added REON's towers to the views so people could see
how
the two new projects would fit into the fabric of the existing
neighbourhood.
"We always think it's better to start out with the community to get
a sense of where we're going. Better to get feedback up
front," Usher
said. "As long as you can get this early on, you can
have a better process."
Following the initial meeting, Georgian went back to the drawing
board. It felt the design of the proposed towers needed rejigging
so those who own condos in the buildings surrounding the Southport
property won't lose their views of the lake.
Community members were told at the meeting that the average
price of a unit would be approximately $180,000. An official
site plan amendment and rezoning application will be submitted
to the city this fall.
Georgian is also planning a seven-storey condominium residence
at Glenlake Ave. and Dundas St. W., the site of a former IGA
grocery
store that's being demolished. There will be 123 units with
underground parking, a concierge and courtyard. Locals seem
pleased that the
development has been designed to blend into the existing neighbourhood.
It will be built back from the sidewalk and condo owners will
be able to enter the lower suites from the street, making
the building
pedestrian friendly.
South of Bloor St., not far from the Glenlake project, Harry
Stinson, a condo developer and real estate broker, is breathing
new life
into an area he calls "nice, but floundering." He
is planning to build a 106-unit building on the site of
St. Jude's
Church on
Roncesvalles Ave. into High Park Lofts. Stinson had tried
to market lofts in the existing church, but the project
proved too difficult
to sell. When he managed to purchase an adjacent property
with
a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, he decided to start from
scratch.
The seven-storey High Park Lofts, with its two-level loft-style
apartments, will be equipped with a geothermal heating system,
which Stinson
said is new for Toronto condos. They are expensive to install
but cost less than traditional building systems to run.
"
We saw it as a sales feature," said Stinson. The development
will also offer rooftop gardens, which condo owners will
be able to buy.
The lofts will be a Roncesvalles Village landmark, said Stinson,
adding most condo towers lack a sense of personality. High
Park Lofts plans include a café at the south end of
the building with a courtyard that flows into an atrium.
"
It's an exciting project," said Ward 14 Councillor Chris
Korwin-Kuczynski (Parkdale-High Park), who feared the dilapidated
church would remain
vacant.
A few blocks away from Stinson's project, another developer,
Taffycroft Enterprises, hopes to turn the Howard Park Pentecostal
Church into
condominiums. The developer held an information meeting in
August to present plans for an impressive stone church, surrounded
by homes,
on Sunnyside Ave. just south of Howard Park Ave.
"
The most important development issue is preserving the outside of
the church," the project's architect Ferdinand Wagner
told the meeting, according to a community newspaper report.
The developer, who is seeking zoning changes, hopes to create
23 to 27 upscale units, averaging 1,200 square feet in size,
and market
them at $300 to $400 a square foot.
Meanwhile, Nexxt Development has set its sights on a former
Canadian Tire store site on Keele St. just north of Dundas
St. W. in the West
Toronto Junction neighbourhood.
Nexxt met with Toronto's urban design department early this
summer about its proposal to build a 700-unit condominium
building and city
planners were pleased with the developer's efforts to involve
area residents in its planning process. While some have reservations
about
such a large residential building- traffic, parking and density
concerns have been voiced- most are pleased the developer
has asked for their
input. The process thus far has been mostly positive, according
to Nexxt project co-ordinator Kevin Rachman.
On Thursday, the project's architects were to make a presentation
to a group of about 20 people, including residents, business
association members and local politicians, with architectural
designs for the
proposed building. Nexxt will submit its official plan amendment
and rezoning application shortly.
"The enthusiasm (with) which people talk about the Junction is electric," said
Rachman. "It needs people on the street and Nexxt will
bring this."
Nexxt Development promises a quarter-hectare park for both
condo owners and the surrounding community. Plans also include
a professionally
run fitness centre and community space in the new building.
"A lot of residents now have an understanding of the urban design
process that they never had before and are less cynical
of developers," Rachman
said.
While Korwin-Kuczynski is concerned about the proposed building's
height, he said he finds it interesting that Nexxt has designed
three entrances on the site to alleviate traffic congestion
on neighbouring
streets.
Nexxt's sales office should be open in the late spring or
early summer of 2003.
The Context Development Inc. residential condominium proposed
for 1947-1997 Bloor St. W. on the edge of High Park was
the recipient
of Canadian Architect magazine's Award of Excellence earlier
this year. "We've always been attracted to challenging sites, but
it's a very rewarding site," said Context's director
of planning, Louis Poplak.
This condominium complex, called Home, will be built on long-vacant
land that was the site of two gas stations, and residents
are concerned excavation of the site will unearth the contaminants
left by the
stations.
However, Poplak said construction of the 10-storey, 43-unit
complex will see the site cleaned up.
Context is following every necessary environmental precaution,
Poplak added, and the cleanup will be approved by both the
city's medical
officer of health and the environment ministry.
The condominium, which is being marketed to empty nesters
and single first-time buyers, is about three-quarters sold.
Excavation is expected
to begin soon.
Development brings renewal to a community, said Miller. Areas
such as Swansea's Southport Plaza and the Stelco site are
tired places
that will soon be revived.
And while residents have learned they can play an important
role in ensuring developments work within neighbourhoods,
developers are
learning a similar lesson about the benefits of local input.
"Any project really benefits from involving the community," said
Miller.
