East Bayfront meeting tonight

This is a note from Waterfront Toronto about the East Bayfront project, which we've written about in the past. It's Queens Quay East, starting just after the Redpath plant. We can't make it tonight but hope one of you will and report back.

East Bayfront is a 22-hectare site that extends from Jarvis Street to Parliament Street and from Lake Shore Boulevard to the water’s edge.  East Bayfront is planned to be a new vibrant, waterfront community with mixed-use development, continuous access to the water's edge, public transit and a series of new parks and open spaces.


On July 8, Waterfront Toronto is holding a public meeting to present plans and discuss key features of East Bayfront including its water’s edge promenade, Parliament WaveDeck and evolving design for the innovative stormwater management system. 

A presentation will be made by world renowned landscape architect Adriaan Geuze of the West 8 + DTAH design team.  In addition, updates will be provided on construction activities and upcoming groundbreakings for Sherbourne Park and Sugar Beach. 

Workbooks will be distributed and public feedback will be solicited.  Members of the project team will be on hand to answer questions and share ideas.

PUBLIC MEETING: 
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Novotel Hotel, Champagne Ballroom
45 The Esplanade, Toronto
6:30 p.m. (Open House)
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (Presentation)

Webcams let you keep track of Waterfront Toronto's work

Waterfront Toronto has a few neat webcams set up so you can track the progress of the Simcoe Wavedeck, the East Bayfront construction on Queens Quay East and of the West Don Lands.

It's pretty neat, because it also has an archive function that lets you look at pictures from past days. For example, here's a picture of the Simcoe Wavedeck on April 9.



And a picture from this past weekend, May 31.



View all the webcams here

Holy Joe! Fire at Queens Quay Loblaws building overnight

We were out for a morning run when we jaunted by the Loblaws on Queens Quay. When we saw outside the front doors of Joe Fresh clothing, a bundle of burnt clothing and the door open. A window was broken and the smell of, well, burning, persisted.

Looking at Twitter, we see that around midnight, nine fire vehicles were dispatched to the area.

[1] TOR Fire: Commercial Industrial (lower Jarvis St - Queens Quay E) R325 P333 P334 A333 C33 C31 R326 A325 La333 P312

Queens Quay East streetcar line

We've written about the TTC plans for a streetcar line from Union out to Cherry Street. Here's an update from a recent National Post story

The TTC has also taken another step toward extending the Queens Quay streetcar line eastward into the ripe-for-development East Bayfront.

Although some work remains to be done for trucks entering the Redpath Sugar refinery on the waterfront, the line will include a new tunnel ending at an overhauled Union Station loop.

Photo: Destined for demolition

Meet the future site of Sherbourne Park, on Queens Quay East. We were walking by the site that will be demolished soon to make way for public space as part of the East Bayfront project, and thought we'd snap some pictures. The building is partly made up of old rail cars. Not quite history, we guess, but worth getting a last picture of.

Sherbourne Park, currently a parking lot, on the go

We wrote a few months ago about the closing of Town and Country restaurant. We've been meaning to expand on this, especially since we found some information from Toronto building permits. The city issued a demolition order for the site, 190 Queens Quay East, at Sherbourne.

In recent weeks, the site of the restaurant has been cordoned off and it looks like the building will come down soon. Here's the permit.

Location: 190 QUEENS QUAY E
TORONTO ON M5A 3Y4

Ward 28: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 09 115477 DEM 00 DM Accepted Date: Mar 10, 2009

Project: Other Demolition

Description: This proposal includes the demolition of the existing one(1) storey building to make way for a park that is to be created as part of the Toronto Waterfront initiative.

It'll make way for the Waterfront Toronto East Bayfront project's Sherbourne Park, pictured below, image and details from the Waterfront Toronto site.

Sherbourne Park will be a spectacular new park in the heart of the East Bayfront midway between the Jarvis and Parliament Street slips. It will be both a local and regional amenity. The park will extend from the water’s edge to Lake Shore Boulevard, bisected by Queens Quay. It is envisioned as an urban room and will provide a strong terminus at the foot of Sherbourne Street. On the east and west sides, the park will be bound by buildings with a weather protected arcade creating a link to the waterfront during all seasons. At its southern end the park will be integrated with the continuous water’s edge promenade and will be designed to reinforce and strengthen the water’s edge as a continuous and active year round destination. Park programming could include a large public gathering place and a water feature that could be frozen in the winter for skating.

TTC unveils plan for a streetcar line for Queens Quay East to Parliament

TTC's about to embark on a process that could see a massive expansion of its Union Station streetcar platform and a new line that services the developing Queens Quay East neighbourhood.

As part of the Queens Quay redevelopment meeting today that saw the plans unveiled for the $192-million makeover of the stretch from Bathurst to Yonge Street, the TTC also made public its plans for a new streetcar line.

The TTC's Bill Dawson outlined how the commission had gone through years of planning before announcing the potential new line that would see a streetcar start from Union, emerge east of Yonge street and loop at Parliament, which it said would be an interim solution. There would be eventual plans to hook it up with Cherry Street.

The commission had considered several alternatives: using other vehicles other than streetcars, having an above ground line that turned at Bay Street. It had considered whether the streetcar would emerge before Yonge Street but it was decided that it would disrupt pedestrian and vehicle traffic too much.

To accommodate the extra line, it said that Union Station, which Dawson said was already congested, would get a revamp "over time" so that the platforms would run north and south.

It also said the portal, where the streetcar emerges onto the street would possible be made "more attractive" and showed a few interesting renderings.

We've mocked up a Google Map with some of the materials we saw on the street. Remember this is not definitive but reflects the essence of what we saw.


View Larger Map

Recent violence at Guvernment

The Guvernment is an oddity on Queens Quay East. On many a summer night, it's host to hundreds of party goers who flock to the club that's surrounded by -- well, a Loblaws, a sugar factory and of course the nearby party boats. On Sunday mornings, you'll see all the litter left behind on the sidewalks surrounding the building.

We can't help but notice that in the past few weeks there have been a few reports of violence at or near the club.

The latest was this past weekend when three people were shot, according to the Toronto Sun

Three apparently innocent young men were hurt early this morning when gunfire erupted at a crowded nightclub on the city's waterfront.

Toronto Police say the shots rang out shortly before 2:45 a.m. inside The Guvernment, located on Queen's Quay E. at Jarvis St. But the identity of the gunman and the reason for the shooting remain a mystery.

And investigators have found nothing so far to suggest any of the victims were targeted.

 This follows an odd report of violence outside of an amateur police boxing event at the club a few weeks ago.The Toronto Star reports:

The officer assaulted after an amateur police boxing event was recognized as the 33 Division constable who made the arrest of the month in January.

Const. Gary Gould was beaten up by several other police officers around 1:30 a.m. Friday as patrons of the annual FiteNite left the Guvernment nightclub on Queens Quay, the Star has learned.

This is the first negative incident in the eight-year history of the raucous charity event that attracts some 2,000 spectators from police officers to Crown attorneys, said organizers.

Whether or not the violence is a common thing to the neighbourhood, you can't help but notice that Waterfront Toronto's East Bayside community is looking to implant a lot of residential units around that area. We wouldn't be surprised that years from now, after that community is built up, that there will be a lot more concerns about what happens at the Guvernment.

Eat local: Goodbye big buffet as Town & Country leaves Queens Quay

Another one bites the dust. Town & Country Buffet, in its heyday, had more than a few locations in the Toronto area. In recent years, we've witnessed the gradual decline of the one on Queens Quay, just east of Jarvis.

Remember buffets? Town & Country was the king. One low price and lots of food. And even in more recent years, it was still apparently humming -- although with hordes of tour buses. The Star sent a reviewer to sample the fare

It is, however, filling, convenient, plentiful and cheap ($10.99 for lunch). This is surely what drew three busloads of tourists to the gigantic railway-themed spot on a recent weekday. And I didn't see anyone complaining as they returned for second and third helpings at the American-style buffet.

The building is set in "authentic rail cars"

We noticed the closed for maintenance signs recently, and when we did a little digging, we find that actually, it's not coming back. The site is apparently part of the East Bayfront project.

Their website breaks the news:

It is with great sadness that we announce the closure of Town & Country Buffet. Our buffet has been a destination for tourists and Torontonians alike for 60 years. The City of Toronto has not renewed our lease and is clearing our harbourfront lot to make a park.

We are in the process of searching for a suitable new downtown location and hope to reopen sometime in 2009. Please check back for updates. We would like to thank the thousands of loyal customers that have chosen to dine with us over the many years.

Heard about the Hood: Queens Quay media roundup

Photo: Part of the East Bayfront project

A lot of ink (online pages) being taken up by waxing on about the Queens Quay neighbourhood.

First, we start with a story about Toronto's big tests, pointing to the eastern part of our street [Toronto Sun]:

"And don't forget the East Bayfront -- our last great hope to get the waterfront right. Are the developers bidding for that work going to give us a dream project or a nightmare?"

Next, Christopher Hume, talks about walking the waterfront, saying 'pedestrianism is the new urbanism' [Toronto Star].

John St.: Imagine a walkway extending south from Grange Park and the Art Gallery of Ontario past Queen and King streets to the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and finally the waterfront. John's value as a vehicular route is minimal, so closing it would not jeopardize the convenience of Toronto's long-suffering drivers. Because both ends of John are destinations, the walkway would have a processional quality.

And just north of the Queens Quay neighbourhood is the planned development of the June Callwood Park. The $2-million park is to be built by 2011 south of Fort York northwest of Barthurst and Lakeshore. The winning design has been chosen and goes to committee. [National Post]

Submitted by the firm gh3, it literally articulates a quote Ms. Callwood gave in her last interview before her death. A voice wave of “I believe in kindness,” will be translated into a “sinewy path that runs north to south through clearings” in an urban forest that will be planted with native Canadian trees “that would have inhabited the Lake Ontario shore line at the time the city was settled.”

Picture below from National Post's Posted Toronto


Finally, a life story on a Jamaican in Toronto who learns to skate. The venue, of course, is our very own Natrel Rink. [Toronto Star]

The next time I ventured onto the ice was at Harbourfront with Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson and Dave Hanson, popularly known as the Hanson brothers from the movie Slapshot. They were in Toronto promoting the third instalment of the film and offered to give me some tips.

"What's your first piece of advice?" I asked nervously.

"Try something else," Steve said, bursting into laughter.

Watching Queens Quay's eastern front: East Bayside

Many of us Queens Quay dwellers venture out east beyond Yonge Street. We go east to get to the big LCBO or to the mega Loblaws at Jarvis. Some of us would venture as far as the Guvernment or maybe even visit one of the piers.

As well, any cyclist, occassional runner or, more likely, a driver who has used Queens Quay as a median to get from downtown to the Beaches knows the kilometre or so stretch from Jarvis to Cherry Street. It's vast, unhospital, and lonely. In reality, it's one of the key routes that links up to the waterfront and the last big parcels of land that's disconnecting us from the water.

Walk on the south side of Queens Quay and you'll be forced to either walk on railroad tracks right in front of the sugar factory or cross to the north side.

What is now a relatively quiet area is about to change with a project called East Bayfront, set to bring massive development. We'll save big opinions on this for later posts but it's at least worth looking at the area.

Waterfront Toronto calls it the jewel in the waterfront crown (excuse us, we think York to Bathurst ain't bad, let alone the area south of High Park -- whoops, so much for lacking in commentary).

The picture below, taken from their website and highlighted through some photoshopping, is the area in question. Right now, west of the the sugar plant, there's starting to be activity. For many years, it was used as vacant land or for some short of warehouse use. There's also that sports dome at Sherbourne.



Some randomness about the project (see website here):

-Transit a 5 minute walk (No plans yet of a streetcar line? We know there's a bus that stops in front of the Loblaws and the nearest Streetcar is north at King street or west at the Westin (a kilometre a way -- 5 minutes is a very quick walk)

-It's 22 hectares (about 50 football fields if you're wondering. American football fields)

-6000 residential units (1000 of them affordable).

-Jobs for 8000

-A 1.5K waterfront walkway

Two parks to be completed by 2010, Sugar Beach (named, presumably after the molasses smelling Redpath facility) and Sherbourne Park (named after, well, the street). We'll post renderings of both of them tomorrow.

Their sales pitch:

"Low scale development along the water's edge"

"2.5 million sq. ft. of commercial space"

The official PR line:
"East Bayfront is a 22-hectare (55-acre) site, envisioned to be a showcase dynamic mixed-use community - a place of design excellence, high levels of sustainability and strong relationships to the water's edge. East Bayfront will become an animated downtown neighbourhood where people are drawn to live, work and play.

There are two development sites (Bayside and Parkside):


Parkside pictured top right in blue, a one acre site at Queens Quay East and Lower Sherbourne Street, has 700,000 sq ft for mixed used

Who's short listed to build:

The Daniels Corporation (Canada): Builder developer that built the Eaton Centre

The Great Gulf Group of Companies (Canada): firm that builds family homes

Menkes Development Ltd. (Canada) and AEW Capital Management LP (USA): home, condo and commercial builder

Tridel Builders Inc. (Canada) and Concert Properties Ltd. (Canada): Tridel is a major condo builder (list of past condos). Concert Properties is a condo builder with most projects in B.C.

Walker Corporation Pty Ltd. (Australia) and Cityzen Development Corporation (Canada): Walker is based in Australia and Cityzen is building the Pier 27 project.


Bayside, a 13 acre site between Lower Sherbourne Street and Parliament Street has (1.7 million sq ft) of mixed-use development potential.

Short listed teams:

The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited (Canada), Monarch (Canada),
Fram Building Group Ltd. (Canada) and Albanese Development Corporation (USA): Cadillac Fairview in commercial real estate and Monarch is a condo and home builder. Fram is also a condo and home developer.

Hines (USA)

Menkes Development Ltd. (Canada) and AEW Capital Management LP (USA): home, condo and commercial builder

Walker Corporation Pty Ltd. (Australia) and Cityzen Development Corporation (Canada): Walker is based in Australia and Cityzen is building the Pier 27 project.