CityPlace,_Toronto
CityPlace, Toronto
History
CityPlace was originally conceived as a way to revitalize what was Canadian National's former Spadina Street Yard Facility. Going as far back as 1965, when CN amalgamated many of its yards in Greater Toronto Area (including this one) into a new centralized location northwest of downtown in the suburb of Vaughan, there had been a plan to revitalize this part of downtown. One of them called for the construction a large television/telecommunications tower that would show Canada's industry which later became the CN Tower. Unfortunately that was the only thing that came to fruition out of this master plan and thus this area stood abandoned for a long time.
The real development came in the early 1980's when a series of events were set in motion first beginning with the construction of Metro Toronto Convention Centre in 1984. With new visitors and commerce developing in this area, a master plan was drawn up by the City of Toronto for revitalization of this area. Meanwhile at the same time, VIA Rail, the sole occupant what was left of the Spadina Street Yards, decided to moved their Toronto operations to newly built facility south of downtown in the suburb of Mimico. This freed up the land needed for this master plan. So beginning on June 28, 1985, when the last of the railway buildings were demolished, construction began on what was to become a new baseball stadium. (SkyDomewas completed on June 4th, 1989.) Meanwhile a new network of roads, parks and infrastructure began to take shape. The project was going along smoothly until an economic downturn in the early 1990s caused many of the development plans to be shelved and land stood abandoned until 1997 when construction of the Air Canada Centre arena commenced. This began the third and final phase of CityPlace which called for a multipupose development of commercial, residential, and retail.
Today the lands have been nearly completely developed, with the remaining parcels of land soon to see construction.
The current CityPlace development
The current CityPlace development was conceived by Concord Adex developments, the same company that helped revitalize a large section of former Expo 86 lands in Vancouver.Project Scope
- Project Size: 44 acres (182 108.5 m²) including a 8 acre (32 375 m²) community park
- Residential development is divided into 10 street blocks, numbered from 1 to 10. Each street block contains a number of residential towers with its own sets of common facilities.
- Block 1 was developed first with 4 towers, namely Matrix A/B and Apex C/D, all with Front Street addresses. The street block features buildings directly facing the entertainment district and the closest walk to the Financial District.
- Block 2 features 1 building (Optima) only, directly behind the Rogers Centre, fronting on Navy Wharf Court. It features a heightened privacy comparing to the other interconnected towers. Both Block 1 and 2 were completed before 2003.
- Block 3 is the largest street block in the entire CityPlace complex, with 4 towers and a mid-rise building, as well as townhouses to decrease the tension of high density development. The project was named Harbour View Estates and was completed in 2006.
- Block 4 features 2 towers and a mid-rise, mirroring the Harbour View Estates both in location and in design. The buildings are named as WestOne, N1/N2 and The Gallery, was completed in late 2007.
- Block 5 contains 2 towers (Montage) and a mid-rise building (Neo), which has a completion date of mid 2009 to 2010; though some of their customers have been told mid 2008 (Neo) from previous projections of early 2007 (Neo), depending on time of purchase.
- Block 6 has further progressed in design as trend evolves, with 2 towers and 1 mid-rise, the project is named as Luna.
- Block 7-8 (Parade) Two 38 story towers with a 2 story bridge at floors 28 and 29, 2 podium buildings and 2 mid-rise buildings
- Block 9 An park
- Block 10 the signature building *last CityPlace project, No final stage designing yet, and the estimated completion for 2011.
- Number of Units: over 5,000 residential units to date.
City Place Buildings
| Rank | Name | Height ft | Floors | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harbourview Estates 2 | 503 | 49 | 2006 | ||
| West One | 486 | 49 | 2007 | ||
| Montage | 476 | 47 | 2008 | ||
| N1 | 425* | 41 | 2007 | ||
| Luna | 413 | 38 | u/c | ||
| Harbourview Estates | 402 | 40 | 2006 | ||
| Parade East | 386 | 36 | u/c | ||
| Parade West | 386 | 36 | u/c | ||
| Harbourview Estates 3 South | 378* | 36 | 2006 | ||
| Apex 2 | 371* | 36 | 2005 | ||
| Matrix 1 | 320 | 32 | 2004 | ||
| Panorama | 315* | 30 | u/c | ||
| Harbourview Estates 3 North | 278* | 26 | 2006 | ||
| Matrix 2 | 274 | 28 | 2004 | ||
| Apex 2 | 273 | 28 | 2005 | ||
Getting Around
With its location nestled between the Gardiner Expressway and Union station, Cityplace is very accessible area. The area is also serviced by TTC's 509 and 510 streetcar line.Criticism
Some planners, architects and politicians have questioned the prudence of the development's urban design. Critics have lauded the architectural excellence of the buildings themselves, but believe suburban ideals have been engineered into the streetscape. With little street life and few amenities, CityPlace favours those with a car. While unopposed to high density, critics cite the project's isolation as a potential hindrance to the future health of the fledgling community. They believe that as with other Toronto high rise developments in the past, CityPlace's lack of interconnectedness with the surrounding city may lead to ghettoization of residents. Others believe community prosperity may be affected by the upward mobility of current purchasers. A lack of large units deters families from choosing CityPlace as a desirable place to live, threatening to recreate the conditions experienced in St. James Town and Regent Park. Some, even major figures in the industry, have stated the sustainability of such large projects is in doubt. The result could be a CityPlace that remains unfinished until the economy recovers.Another major criticism of the project is the developer's ample use of window-wall construction. This may lead to costly maintenance in the future.
Facts and Figures
- Renowned author Douglas Coupland has been approached by Concord Adex for a commission of outdoor installation in the CityPlace Park.
External links
Footnotes
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Thursday October 09, 2008 at 18:35:40 PDT (GMT -0700)
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