Tag Archives: Jarvis Street

Ryerson University unveils plans to build 500-bed student highrise residence near Jarvis & Dundas

An artistic illustration by IBI Group Architects of the student residence Ryerson University plans to build in the Jarvis-Dundas area

February 28 2012: Looking west at the 186-188 Jarvis Street site on which Ryerson University will build its new student accommodations

New student digs: A new 500-bed residence planned for the Jarvis & Dundas area will help Ryerson University meet burgeoning demand for student accommodation while bringing more liveliness and energy to a downtown streetscape that could clearly use some enhancement.

The residence — to be built on what is currently a pay parking lot at 186-188 Jarvis Street — is expected to feature a 2-storey podium containing cafés and retail outlets topped by “a 20+ storey building offering a mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units,” the university announced in a media release.

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Neighbours get to sound off at Monday meeting on 50-storey condo proposal for 308 Jarvis Street

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February 22 2012: The City posted this sign on a proposed Jarvis Street condo tower site across from Allan Gardens only one week before a meeting scheduled to gather public feedback about the redevelopment plan

Site plan shows stepbacks for the proposed condo complex

Late notice: It took long enough, but earlier this week the City finally posted a development proposal notice on the 308 Jarvis Street site where a developer wants to incorporate part of a heritage building into a condo complex featuring a 50-floor tower, a 9-storey podium and townhouses with three levels.

Duration Investments Ltd. proposed the condo tower plan in a development application filed with the City on January 23, and a city planner told me that a community consultation meeting has been scheduled for the evening of February 27 to give the public an opportunity to comment on the project. He added that notices were going to be sent out to advise nearby residents about the feedback session. That was two weeks ago. However, a sign advising of the development plan was not posted on the property until last Monday — just one week before the community meeting — and people living nearby have told me they have not received any notices from the City about the upcoming public meeting. Some were not even aware that a condo tower is in the works for the site, currently being operated as a pay parking lot.

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New Casey House HIV/AIDS health care building will restore 1875 heritage mansion at Jarvis & Isabella

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July 6 2011: This city heritage-designated mansion at 571 Jarvis Street — the William R. Johnston House from 1875 — will be restored and incorporated into the Casey House redevelopment proposed for the corner of Jarvis & Isabella Streets …

… however, this coach house at 119 Isabella Street (seen on March 1 2011) would be demolished during construction of the new HIV/AIDS care facility. A city heritage-listed property, the coach house was built in 1889.

Casey House: The city has scheduled a community consultation meeting for tomorrow evening (July 7) to obtain neighbourhood input on a redevelopment proposal that would see a new Casey House HIV/AIDS health care facility constructed along the south side of Isabella Street, between Jarvis and Huntley Streets. The new building would include a five-storey structure rising behind and attached to the William R. Johnston House at 571 Jarvis Street, a brick mansion built in 1875. Used as offices for decades, the grey-painted mansion (affectionately called “The Grey Lady” by neighbourhood residents) would be restored as part of the Casey House redevelopment. From its 22.7-metre peak height behind the mansion, the new building would terrace down to three storeys toward Huntley Street, where the entrance to an underground parking garage would be situated — directly across the street from the existing Casey House hospice at the southeast corner of Huntley & Isabella.

Although Toronto heritage building enthusiasts will be relieved that the historic mansion will be saved and incorporated into the new facility, they undoubtedly will be dismayed that a handsome 122-year-old coach house at 119 Isabella Street will be destroyed during construction. Built at the southwest corner of Huntley & Isabella in 1889, the coach house is currently used by Casey House for administration and training space. Since it couldn’t be included in the new building design, its demise appears likely — unless an individual or organization with property to which the coach house could be relocated steps in to save it.

Established as Canada’s first free-standing HIV/AIDS hospice in 1988, Casey House is a 13-bed specialty hospital funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Community programming initiatives, including a Home Hospice Program, counselling, nursing and outreach services, are funded primarily through donations to Casey House Foundation.

The new building will enable Casey House to double its capacity to meet increasing needs for its services, and to develop a Day Health Program that the Casey House website says will be “a centre of excellence in HIV/AIDS clinical care, education and research.” To this end, Casey House is undertaking a capital redevelopment campaign to raise $10 million. (Final renderings aren’t publicly available yet because Casey House needs approval from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care before it proceeds with detailed building designs, CEO Stephanie Karapita told me today.)

Below are photos I’ve taken in recent months of the Casey House redevelopment site, including the mansion at 571 Jarvis and the coach house on Isabella Street, along with the present Casey House facility at 9 Huntley Street. The community consultation meeting about the Casey House project is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Wellesley Community Centre.

July 6 2011: The 571 Jarvis Street mansion which will become part of the new Casey House facility, seen here from the west side of Jarvis this morning.

July 6 2011: Lush foliage obscures street views of the front entrance to the William R. Johnston House at 571 Jarvis Street

April 7 2011: The 571 Jarvis Street mansion viewed from the southwest corner of Jarvis and Isabella Streets. The new Casey House facility would rise above “The Grey Lady” mansion and extend east to Huntley Street.

April 7 2011: A view from the west side of Jarvis Street toward the Casey House development site. The new health care building will rise in the area that appears in the middle of this photo (behind the tall evergreen tree).

April 7 2011: The enormous Rogers Communications office building looms large above the 571 Jarvis Street mansion (right)

April 5 2011: A spring look at The Grey Lady mansion from Jarvis Street, before seasonal greenery obscures much of it from view

April 30 2011: A rental apartment building at 10 Huntley Street rises behind the 571 Jarvis Street mansion.

April 30 2011: Looking toward the south side of 571 Jarvis Street from the parking lot behind the 10 Huntley Street apartment building. The highrise building at right rear is the James Cooper Mansion Condos, a project noteworthy for having incorporated a restored historic mansion into the new building.

April 30 2011: A closer view of the south side of The Grey Lady mansion

April 30 2011: Southeast view of The Grey Lady mansion from the 10 Huntley Street apartment building parking lot next door

April 30 2011: Two 11-storey rental apartment buildings face the Casey House building site from the west side of Jarvis Street.

March 1 2011: The north side of The Grey Lady mansion along Isabella Street

March 1 2011: A view of The Grey Lady from the north side of Isabella Street

March 1 2011: Windows overlooking Isabella Street. The exterior of The Grey Lady will get a much-needed sprucing up when the new Casey House is built.

March 1 2011: The property between 571 Jarvis Street (right) and the 119 Isabella Street coach house (partially visible at left) is presently used for parking. The new Casey House building will occupy this entire area.

March 1 2011: Pedestrians will access the new building from Isabella Street

April 30 2011: The east side of The Grey Lady mansion

April 30 2011: Looking towards The Grey Lady mansion from the east side of the parking lot near the coach house that will be demolished

April 30 2011: Besides the huge Rogers Communication headquarters, several townhouses and a 110-year-old building (far right) sit on the north side of Isabella Street, directly opposite the Casey House development site.

February 28 2011: The west side of the 119 Isabella Street coach house

April 30 2011: Another view of the west side of the coach house

February 28 2011: The courtyard entrance to the coach house, off Isabella Street

March 1 2011: A view of the coach house from the northeast corner of Huntley & Isabella Streets

March 1 2011: The Samuel R Wickett House sits at 122 & 124 Isabella Street, directly across the street from the coach house. It was constructed in 1901.

March 1 2011: The present Casey House hospice building at the southeast corner of Huntley and Isabella Streets. No decision has yet been made as to what will be done with this property once the new Casey House facility has been built.

April 2 2011: The north side of Casey House hospice, facing Isabella Street

April 2 2011: The west side of Casey House Hospice at 9 Huntley Street

April 2 2011: A Huntley Street view of the coach house that will be demolished when the new Casey House building is constructed. This will be the location of the entrance to the underground parking garage.

City Scene: A BIXI mix-up

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April 30 2011: Notwithstanding what the signage says, this new BIXI public bike rental station (sans bicycles) is actually at Jarvis & Isabella Streets

Big oops!: Things could get off to a confusing start four tourists and even many city residents when Toronto’s new BIXI public bike system launches on Tuesday. The sign on the bike rental station installed this week at the northeast corner of Jarvis and Isabella Streets is mislabelled as “Yonge St & Dundonald St,” which is actually four blocks away to the southwest. I didn’t have time to hike over to Yonge & Dundonald today to see if the station there is marked “Jarvis St & Isabella St” or something else, but can only presume that at least one other station has been installed in the wrong place. Hopefully they will get the station signs sorted out before Tuesday … as well as their website map that indicates rental station locations. Neither the Jarvis & Isabella nor the Yonge & Dundonald stations appear on the map, nor do any of the other dozen BIXI stations I saw while walking around downtown today.

Community meeting tonight will review plan for 46-storey Pace Condos tower at Dundas & Jarvis

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Great Gulf Homes is proposing a 46-storey condo tower for this site at the SW corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets, seen here on March 22 2011.

Public feedback: A community consultation meeting this evening will give city residents the opportunity to voice their views about a Toronto developer’s proposal to build a 46-storey condo tower at the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets. The meeting about Pace Condos, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Metropolitan United Church, was recommended in a March 22 2011 preliminary report by the city’s Planning Division.

Great Gulf Homes is proposing a 46-storey mixed-use building for the corner site, which includes municipal addresses at 200 Jarvis Street and 155 – 163 Dundas Street East. The tower would have five underground levels and a 10-storey podium, and would contain 417 residential units in studio, 1-bedroom, 1-bedroom + den, 2-bedroom and 2-bedroom + den configurations. Prices start at $209,990.

An article on the Great Gulf website claims that Pace Condos “offers unbeatable downtown Toronto value in new condo living,” and raves that its prime location — which is just a “leisurely pace” from leading downtown attractions and key city transit services — will be ideal for people seeking “a new urban lifestyle.” The article further boasts that the condo building itself will be “a paragon of architectural brilliance. This shimmering, sleek and streamlined glass tower designed by Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. will artfully rise from a podium comprised of dark charcoal-coloured bricks. Pace will embody urban elegance at its best — and will define a new generation of urban elegance. Landscaping by Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg will frame the building in startling greenery and colour.”

What the article doesn’t describe is the gritty neighbourhood; as I mentioned in a March 22 2011 post, the Pace Condos location is on the edge of one of the poorest residential areas in the city, if not the entire country. Within mere minutes’ walking distance are dozens of hostels, homeless shelters, subsidized housing apartments, soup kitchens and social service agencies for the poor. From my experience, it has been difficult to walk past the Dundas/Jarvis intersection, or along nearby streets, without encountering numerous panhandlers, street people, and a slew of sketchy people openly selling and doing drugs or drinking alcohol. Despite the neighbourhood’s seedy character, the condo tower proposal has generated tremendous local interest — from excited potential buyers, from citizens who think Pace could kickstart wider urban renewal in the immediate area, and from nearby residents who are alarmed by the height and size of the building that could soon become their new neighbour.

Given wide interest in Pace Condos, tonight’s meeting could attract a large turnout and spark colourful discussion, both positive and negative. I’m keen to hear if the Pace Condos proposal generates reactions similar to those expressed at other public meetings I have attended recently. A community consultation for a massive condo project planned for the St James Town area drew overwhelmingly negative feedback from the audience, while a Jarvis Street resident read an emotional and strongly-worded three-minute speech blasting the Pace Condo proposal at another public meeting about proposed guidelines for tall buildings in the downtown area. Unfortunately, I can’t attend the meeting, but I will continue to track further developments.

Great Gulf Homes plans 46-storey condo tower for corner in sketchy Dundas-Jarvis neighbourhood

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Developer Great Gulf Homes has acquired this property at the southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets for its proposed 46-storey Pace Condos tower

On-site promotional billboard for the Pace Condos tower

Seedy site: I had been wondering when a developer was going to announce plans to build a condo tower at the seedy southwest corner of Dundas and Jarvis Streets. It’s not a nice neighbourhood by any stretch of the imagination, but real estate is all about location and that’s one of the few redeeming features for this prime piece of downtown property just a short walk from the Toronto Eaton Centre and the Yonge subway line. Late last year I noticed that the three businesses in the small commercial plaza on the corner had been closed and their windows papered over. I kept waiting to hear word about a development proposal for the property, but didn’t see any signs on the site in either January or February. But when I passed by the corner just over a week ago, and saw that chainlink fencing had been erected around the plaza, I knew an announcement was imminent. On March 14, it happened: prominent Toronto condo developer GreatGulf Homes filed a rezoning application with the City, proposing to build a 46-storey condo tower with 417 suites, five levels of underground parking and a 10-storey podium with street-level retail space. A billboard promoting Pace Condos — “downtown tower suites from the low $200s” — promptly went up on the corner where it’s certain to catch the attention of motorists driving along busy Jarvis Street on their way to and from the Financial District.

When I told some friends earlier this winter that I suspected a condo would be built on the site, they looked incredulous and said: “No way! Who the hell would want to live there?” Obviously, Great Gulf is confident they can find 417 potential buyers, and I’m sure they’ve done their research. After all, they know their stuff: they’re the company behind several of downtown Toronto’s hottest condo developments. Their X Condominium tower only eight blocks north of the Pace Condos site was a huge hit with buyers, and two other condo towers Great Gulf is currently constructing — X2 Condos at Jarvis & Charles, and Charlie condos on King Street West in the Entertainment District — were enormously successful, too. One Bloor Condos is destined to achieve similar stellar sales; construction of that tower is expected to commence later this year at Yonge and Bloor Streets.

Still, it’s fair to say that the area around the Pace Condos site is a helluva lot less desirable than the locations of GreatGulf’s other projects. Dundas & Jarvis sits on the periphery of one of the poorest residential areas in all of Canada, a vast downtown district with one of the country’s largest concentrations of homeless people and residents earning poverty-level incomes or collecting social assistance — people who have no hope of ever being able to live at Pace Condos or in a condo anywhere, for that matter. Meanwhile, if Pace Condos does get built, anyone who buys an east-facing unit will have views overlooking dozens of rooming houses, homeless shelters, government-subsidized apartments and social service agencies — all just a short stroll from their front door. And as the Toronto Star pointed out in a photo gallery on March 18, the epicentre of the city’s worst area for overall crime is the intersection of Dundas and Sherbourne Streets, just two blocks east. While I was taking photos on Dundas Street this afternoon, a young black man approached me. “Make sure you take pictures showing this place like it really is — me standing here drinking from a bottle of booze in a paper bag in broad daylight, those guys over on that corner dealing crack cocaine, all those homeless people over there and the guys doing drugs down there,” he told me, pointing at each corner of the Dundas-Jarvis intersection before taking a long drink from his bottle. He, along with all the street people who kept staring at me or asking for spare change, made me wonder why anyone would want to pay $200,000+ to buy a condo there. Until he added: “And make sure you take pictures of how everything looks like now so you can remember it because, in a few years, there’s probably gonna be lots of new buildings all around here. This is gonna be a good place to live. It’s not always gonna look like this.”

Maybe he’s right — maybe things are finally starting to look up for this down-on-hard-times district. There’s already several condo buildings close by, including the popular and pricey Merchandise Lofts, as well as two hotels — with a third hotel and more condos in the works. Right across the street, the Ontario government is retrofitting and modernizing the massive building at 222 Jarvis Street into a new workplace for the Ontario Public Service. And the rapidly-growing Ryerson University campus is just a block away. Could the arrival of Pace Condos herald a turn-around for this sketchy streetcorner? We’ll have to wait a few years to see. In the meantime, here’s some photos showing the Pace Condos site and its immediate neighbours as they look now.

January 3 2011: Looking west at the small plaza at Dundas & Jarvis Streets

January 3 2011: The office towers of the Financial District are only blocks away

February 18 2011: The Eaton Centre is just a 10-minute walk west

March 22 2011: Looking south on Jarvis Street toward the Pace Condos site. If built, Pace would obstruct this view of the 45-storey Spire condo tower on Lombard Street, visible in the center of the photograph.

March 22 2011: Pace Condos site seen from northeast corner of Dundas & Jarvis

Commercial tenants of this plaza — including a convenience store, two restaurants and a coin-operated laundry facility– closed up shop months ago. The parking lot was fenced off just within the past 10 days.

The buildings to the west and southwest include luxury condos, rental apartments, co-op apartments and government-subsidized rental accommodation

South view of the Pace Condos site from the opposite side of Dundas St. The brown brick building is 192 Jarvis, a 14-storey condominium built in 1985.

A billboard advertises Pace Condos to passersby on Dundas and Jarvis Streets

The 192 Jarvis condo rises above the fenced-off plaza on Dundas Street

A view of the exterior of two of the plaza’s former commercial tenants

These now-vacant properties — ICITS computer training at 155 Dundas East, New Moon Bar at 157 Dundas East, and Palmers West Indian Restaurant at 159 Dundas East — are all part of the site for the proposed Pace Condos tower

The Grand Hotel on Jarvis Street and the 192 Jarvis condominium building sit to the south and southeast of the site of the proposed Pace Condos tower

If approved by City Hall, Pace Condos would stand three times taller than these two buildings; it would be the highest tower in the neighbourhood

The Ho-Lee-Chow takeout restaurant on the southeast corner of Dundas & Jarvis; the Grand Hotel is situated a few doors south at 225 Jarvis Street

The Hilton Garden Inn on the northeast corner of Dundas & Jarvis. Years ago, before it was converted into a hotel, this building housed offices of the federal unemployment insurance department

222 Jarvis sits across the street from the Pace Condos site, directly to the north. At one time the headquarters for Sears Canada, the building is being retrofitted and modernized as offices for the Ontario Public Service

Mutual Street Deli on the north side of Dundas St. across from Pace Condos

City Scene: The Brick Man sentry at Vü condos

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Brickbats for the Brick Man: The Brick Man sculpture that stands sentry outside the Jarvis Street entrance to the Vü condominium complex seems to take a lot of flak.

When I was shooting Brick Man’s picture last November, several passersby were quick to comment on how “hideous,” “awful,” and “ridiculous” they thought he looks. And when I was standing next to Brick Man one evening in January, chatting with a friend who lives in Vü, a young woman heading into the condominium said: “Isn’t that the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen?” Her companion thought the sculpture was “a joke.”

From certain angles and in certain lighting I think he looks cool, but other times he does look cheap, tacky, or toy-like, and simply doesn’t suit the spot where he has been installed. Perhaps he’s not appreciated because he’s been put in the wrong place (though I’m not sure just where, on the Vü property, he might look better).

Clearly, he’s one of those public art installations that people will either love or absolutely hate. Like the Eldon Garnet wildlife sculptures at James Cooper Mansion on Sherbourne Street, which have drawn sharp criticism here in the blog since I posted their pics a month ago.

Either way, Brick Man looks like he’s a strong, thick-skinned guy, and I’m sure he can handle anything that gets thrown his way.

A tacky marketing tactic for X2 Condos

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A condo ad detracts from views of Shayne Dark’s bold red “Double Vision” sculpture outside X Condos

An affront to art?: I remember the first time I saw the Shayne Dark sculpture, “Double Vision,” outside the new X Condominium tower. The slender, long lipstick-red tubes rising from the sidewalk at the southeast corner of the tall coal-black condo tower caught my attention from more than two blocks away, so I hurried up Jarvis Street to take a closer look.

Because of its striking visual impact next to the building, Dark’s sculpture, which reminds me of bamboo shoots, instantly became one of my favourite pieces of public condominium art. But it didn’t take long before the eye-catching art unwittingly became a tacky marketing tool for X Condo’s sister project, X2 Condos. In next to no time, a garish black, white and hot pink billboard advertising the X2 condo sales centre was plunked in front of “Double Vision.”

Not only does the sign spoil views of the stunning sculpture, it also cheapens the artwork — which I’m certain cost the condo developer a pretty pile of cash. And speaking of cash, I’m willing to bet lawyers could make a good case demonstrating that the sign violates Dark’s moral rights … after all, remember what happened when the Eaton Centre tied Christmas bows on artist Michael Snow’s Canada geese sculpture, “Flight Stop?”

Memo to the clever marketing people at X2: Time to find a more appropriate place to park the sales office sign; perhaps on the south side of Charles Street, away from the sculpture. Please show some respect and class for the art, folks.

For readers who haven’t seen it, here is a photo from last August showing “Double Vision” when it wasn’t obscured by advertising. A pink sandwich board sign for the X2 sales office looks much less obnoxious placed away from the artwork.

This is what you see now when you view “Double Vision” from the south

With podium and cantilevered townhouses in place, Market Wharf poised to built condo tower next

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Website rendering of Market Wharf condos below St Lawrence Market

Podium finish: If you liken building construction to a competitive race, then Context Development has achieved a podium finish with its Market Wharf project on Lower Jarvis Street. And to borrow an expression from the 2010 Canadian Winter Olympic Team, Context will totally own the podium once it gets the 25-storey Market Wharf condo tower going up — the next phase in construction — and sells the remaining 30% of units that have not already been snapped up by eager buyers.

December was a busy building month for Market Wharf: its eight-storey-tall podium got topped off; crews began installing windows in the townhouses that cantilever over the south end of the podium; mullions were being installed for windows for the Shoppers Drug Mart store that will open in the podium’s retail level; and work continued on the base for the condo tower.

The building was designed by Peter Clewes of Toronto’s architectsAlliance. Below are photos I took of the site last week, along with another artistic rendering from the Market Wharf website where full project details and floorplans can be viewed.