A plaza being proposed for one of Toronto’s best-known locations doesn’t reflect the historic importance of the site, say residents.
“Just putting a couple of tree sticks in the ground and a couple of benches isn’t going to cut it,” said Michael Bethke, president of the East Waterfront Community Association.
The location is One Yonge, where the city’s most famous street meets Lake Ontario.
The site is currently fronted by a 25-storey Brutalist building, the former Toronto Star headquarters for 51 years and a landmark on the city’s skyline.
Developer Pinnacle International was originally planning to build two mid-rise office towers on the site, but demand for office space has not fully recovered since COVID quarantines kept workers housebound.
Citing the decline in demand for office space and a Toronto housing shortage, Pinnacle is now proposing two residential towers of 80 and 85 storeys, which would be among the highest residential towers in Canada, anchored by a three-to-14-storey podium. The Brutalist tower would be converted into a temporary hotel with 235 suites. Longer-term plans currently include its eventual demolition.
The move to two residential towers is in step with provincial and municipal policies aimed at increasing housing density in areas near public transportation. One Yonge is a roughly 10-minute walk from Union Station, through a dank, dark, noisy area beneath the Gardiner Expressway.
Funding for an LRT from Union Station to Queens Quay and points east was announced earlier this week, but no date has been set for construction.
Pinnacle’s proposed public realm includes a grand, tree-lined promenade along Yonge Street and a 14,500-square-foot plaza at Yonge St. and Queen’s Quay E. with public art, landscaping, seating and some retail, said David Pontarini, founding partner of Hariri Pontarini Architects.
“It’s hard to say exactly what would work there. Is it just a beautiful Anish Kapoor sculpture piece that sits there?” said Pontarini, referencing the enormous mirrored kidney bean-shaped sculpture that has become a beloved tourist attraction on Chicago’s lakefront.
“Maybe the mayor of Chicago will lend theirs to us,” he joked.
That sculpture was built with $23 million in private funding raised for the project.
“We’re trying to create a framework by giving a portion of the land over to this open space, to create the ability for this to happen. It’s hard to say what the exact solution is,” said Pontarini.
Neighbourhood association weighs in
York Quay Neighbourhood Association spokesperson Ulla Colgrass said she is underwhelmed by the proposed public realm, and compared the request to build two tall residential towers on a site that had been approved for mid-rise office towers to the frog-in-boiling-water analogy. Placed in cold water that is slowly heated, the frog doesn’t know it’s being boiled.
“The way they apply for zoning and re-zoning in dribs and drabs, two buildings here, one building there, is a kind of frog-soup scenario — all of a sudden you’re like, oh my gosh, what happened here,” said Colgrass.
“I think it’s just a misstep, honestly.”
She said the residential towers will create more congestion in an area that is already congested, and she doesn’t think the project includes enough of the amenities that the new occupants will need.
“They have to shop, they have to have medical facilities, schools, kindergartens and restaurants,” said Colgrass. “I don’t think they have all that.”
Residential occupancy in the area, which is undergoing intense redevelopment, has at times outpaced services. Families who moved into the nearby Sugar Wharf development by Menkes in recent years are still waiting for a local school to be built.
Colgrass is also concerned about the wind conditions at pedestrian level that could be created by the taller buildings, a concern echoed by urban designer Ken Greenberg, former director of urban design and architecture for the City of Toronto.
“When you’re near these sheer, tall buildings, the wind gets accelerated, so I don’t know if it’s going to be a space people would gather in, but it doesn’t contribute anything distinctive or special,” said Greenberg.
“You would think that the lower levels of the building could provide some really special amenity, something public-facing, that would have some kind of iconic quality and would tie into the whole theme of making the waterfront an attraction.”
Bethke said his organization does not object to the increase in density in the area.
Plans have changed many times
Pontarini and Anson Kwok, vice-president, marketing and sales for Pinnacle International, say they have been working on the project since 2012, and have done as many as 100 reiterations of the site, in response to changing needs, and in response to input from residents, city planners and design review panels, which has made the plan stronger.
“It’s an important site for all of us and we want to make sure that it is done well,” said Pontarini, adding that they relied on an engineering study to address issues related to wind.
Kwok said the question of whether the units will be rentals or condos is undecided.
“We’ll have to see where the marketplace is.”
The project has been submitted for rezoning and is under review at the city.
