That the smell of molasses? No, it's Sugar Beach

As mentioned in last week's post on the East Bayside project, we promised to shed a little more light on the two public spaces to be formed on the shore of Queens Quay East. Above is a rendering from the Waterfront Toronto site of Sugar Beach.

More pictures of the project over at the designer for the park. You can see them here:


This firm also designed the now quasi infamous HTO park, with the sand and yellow umbrellas. A picture QQL snapped a few weeks ago in the middle of winter:



Here's more about the Sugar Beach Park, from the Waterfront Toronto site:

The 1 hectare Sugar Beach park located at the foot of Jarvis Street across the slip from the Redpath Sugar factory is slated for completion in 2010. Designed by Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes of Montreal, Sugar Beach is the second urban beach along Toronto’s waterfront and is inspired by the successful HtO urban beach park & Toronto’s Cumberland park. The design is composed of three spaces; an urban beach with brightly coloured umbrellas, a water’s edge promenade and thoroughfare, and a muti-functional event plaza space. The plaza space will also accommodate the public music events Corus Entertainment is expected to host.

Speaking of Sugar plant, there was a story in the Toronto Star recently about worries the Redpath plan would be a bother to residents of new condos that will be built on Queens Quay East. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Quoted in the Star.

"Our concern is, while we can make the plant reasonably quiet, ships are not quiet," says Jonathan Bamberger, president of Redpath Sugar, a 50-year-old facility at the foot of Yonge St., smack in the heart of a rapidly developing section of Toronto's waterfront.

"When the ship comes in it might turn around, it might arrive at 2 in the morning. The horn blows, the cranes move," he says, adding, "It's not good to have condominiums right next to something that is a 24-hour operation outside."

Noise complaints seem to be a common complaint of the waterfront community.

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.

Heard about the Hood: Media roundup

Wrapping up what's written about the waterfront. This week, focus on the eastern waterfront

Recent coverage of the neighbourhood include a list of new year's resolutions by Toronto Star's Christopher Hume, headlined New year brings opportunity to transform the city. In it, Hume says:

The transformation of the Toronto waterfront: We know, we know, nothing ever happens on the waterfront. Sometimes that definitely seems the case, but in a city where change happens at a glacial pace, there's no point in holding one's breath. Still, the impatient amongst us are waiting anxiously to see what George Brown College plans to do with its large site south of Queens Quay east of Jarvis St. This project has the scope to alter the neighbourhood dramatically and bring new vitality to the area. The campus represents the best opportunity so far to redo the central waterfront.

Another one by Hume

Indeed, there are big plans a foot for the area between Yonge Street and Cherry, long the vast undeveloped wild 'east' of the central waterfront. The National Post focuses in on projects slated for the future.

A few excerpts:

By spring, work will begin on Sugar Beach and Sherbourne Park – the area’s main green spaces. Also coming soon is the beginning of construction on the massive West Don Lands project a few blocks north, and the possible demolition of the eastern portion of the Gardiner Expressway.

The projects come after many years of discussion, and raise hopes for a vital district free of the planning mistakes of the central waterfront.

More on the organization leading this charge.

Led by Waterfront Toronto – the organization that the city, province and federal government created to manage the project – designers are attempting to reshape the area south of Queen’s Quay, between Lower Jarvis and Parliament streets, into a livable neighbourhood after years of neglect or industrial use.