SOHO - Concept for South Street Hospital Lands

[JrUrbanDesigner]

The city of London has released a concept- to allow imaginations to run wild and help with the community visioning process- of what could be developed on the lands of the South Street Hospital. Im proud to say that I had a big hand in creating this concept while on my co-op working for the city.
A couple pictures that were released to the LFP- I may add a few more if people are interested.

[sparky212]

do you think you can post them here please.

[SlickFranky]

Here's the LFP article (http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2009/10/21/11482606.html), no pics though :(


A future after South Street Hospital

+ JONATHAN SHER
Dream big.

That was the undeniable message Wednesday from London city designers and planners as they unveiled three-dimensional images of what might some day replace the hulking hospital buildings that block the view of the Thames River from South St.

The hospital facilities south of the street would be gone, replaced by residential buildings with ground-floor cafes and stores that open to a promenade that restores the connection between community and river.

The buildings themselves would be models of urban design, rising only a couple stories near the street and promenade, to blend with the mostly-residential neighbourhood south of Horton St. known as SoHo.

Farther from the street, the centres of the buildings rise many stories, and would be home to a concentration of people the community needs to draw vital and basic services such as a grocery store.

“It’s a dream, more than a plan and it’s designed to help Londoners imagine the incredible potential for a very special development on this site,” city planner John Fleming said.

It’s a vision that’s driven people in the area to look past the troubles they face today, problems such as street prostitution and empty stores on Wellington and Horton streets that frame the neighbourhood.

“I’m really excited about it,” said Marie Claire Bilyk, one of abvout 50 SoHo residents who gathered at the Wellington Street United Church to listen to city officials and brainstorm about neighbourhood plans.

The meeting was the third for the neighbourhood and the city as they create a plan for SoHo, and while that plan will have many facets, one issue dominates -- what will happen to South St. Hospital.

By the summer of 2011, London Health Sciences Centre will abandon its buildings south of South St. So far, none of the involved parties has agreed to pay for their demolition.

“It’s Mt. Everest,” Coun. Judy Bryant said after speaking at the church gathering.

If the buildings are removed and available for re-development, there will be community euphoria, she said.

If demoliton stalls over money, hopes of revitalizing the neighbourhood will be dealt a terrible blow.

“It’s pivotal,” she said.

In 2005 LHSC estimated demolition and remediation of the lands would cost between $9.7 million and $13.15 million.

Some city councillors have demanded the hospital and Ontario government pay the full costs because a decade ago hospital officials had promised to assume the cost if council gave city hospitals $15 million for restructuring. Council made the grant.

But LHSC officials say they’d banked on provincial funds that never came ‹ their board wants to cap the hospital contribution to $1.2 million plus the value of 1.8 hectares of hospital land there and some work already completed.

For the latest local coverage, read The London Free Press on the web or in print.

To subscribe to the print edition, click on our subscription page.

Jonathan Sher is a Free Press reporter.

[MolsonExport]

Usually Ldoto is speedy gonzales with lfp articles.

[ldoto]

:previous: LOL!!!!!!:yes:

[SlickFranky]

downgraded to regular gonzales :D

[QuantumLeap]

Let's find some renders, eh?

[bolognium]

Over a year late, but here's a render I found. Wish I could remember the source, but it's been sitting on my harddrive for a while. Click image for full-size.

http://i.imgur.com/2kI0H.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/nEDoS.jpg)

So what would you guys think of a development like this?

[manny_santos]

A suspension bridge over the Thames River? Yeah, right.

[Highinthesky]

A suspension bridge over the Thames River? Yeah, right.

haha no kidding

[Highinthesky]

Where is the south street hospital? Is that the old vic?

[MolsonExport]

yay! a suspension bridge and neo-commie-blocks!

[Snark]

Don't get me wrong, I have no opinion of this proposal as shown (and is not likely to be built as shown - it's just a concept). But.... if this concept suks so much - tell all of your alternatives.

Please, no Disney-like fantasies. Viable ideas only (including financially and socially viable). It's one thing to shred another's ideas. It's quite another to have a better idea (that actually works).

[bolognium]

So I spent a good few hours last night reading a new Heritage Assessment on the Old Vic South Street Campus. I don't know about you guys, but I feel like this is one of the most interesting and important development sites in the city. The SoHo neighbourhood is chocked-full of old housing stock and is right on downtown's doorstep. A renaissance in this neighbourhood will directly affect the core, and provide for a more vibrant gateway to downtown via a revitalized Wellington strip. There's going to be a public meeting on January 16, 2012 regarding the redevelopment of the hospital lands. Anyone who's interested should make an effort to go, I know I'll be there.

For those of you not familiar with the campus, I quickly cropped out the eight buildings that are included in the assessment. The sprawling campus consists of many other buildings, but these eight are the ones that've been deemed worthy of conservation.

These three red brick buildings make up the northern streetscape of South Street. They've all been recommended for adaptive-reuse and restoration. After reading the report, it seems like a safe bet that these buildings will remain.

http://i.imgur.com/ELyC5.jpg

These five yellow brick buildings make up the southern streetscape of South Street. The retention and restoration of all five of these buildings appears to be more problematic since some of them are situated behind the massive art-deco Main Building. When the Main Building was built in the early '40s there was never any intention of saving the old hospital buildings. But as certain plans fell through and expansion became more sporadic, the old Italianate and Colonial buildings ended up dodging the wrecking ball.

http://i.imgur.com/gybFp.jpg

----------------------

As I said above, it sounds like the three red brick northern buildings are relatively safe and will be restored. However, since it's unlikely all eight of the buildings can be kept, the report recommends either saving the art-deco Main Building and demolishing the other four southern buildings, or vice versa. The report seems to be leaning towards demolishing the Main Building since they believe the other buildings are more historically significant. Although I love the handsome smaller buildings, I believe the art-deco Main Building is much more iconic and is what people think of first when it comes to Old Vic. If the intention of this redevelopment is to preserve the memory of the hospital and keep it etched in Londoners' minds, then I think the Main Building is absolutely priority one. Not only that, but London has very few examples of art-deco architecture.

I think the redevelopment of South Street and the hydro lands to the west will be the projects that finally pull downtown south across the CN tracks to Horton. It really is exciting to think about what our central neighbourhoods could end up looking like in the coming years. Having both Old East Village and SoHo revitalized and more urban will do wonders for downtown. We desperately need strong, vibrant neighbourhoods surrounding the core.

Remember, January 16, 2012 for the public meeting. I'm not sure where the meeting will take place, but as soon as I find out I'll post here. For anyone interested in reading the full documents, all of the links can be found here:

London.ca - Roadmap SoHo (http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/Reference_Documents/Soho.htm)

[Coleraine]

I am curious as to whether or not anyone knows anything about the potential Fincore development in Soho? There appears to be no news anywhere about this organization except for a couple of articles in the local papers. The threatened development is being touted as a "win" for London but as a resident of Soho I think it could be more of a nightmare. I would be interested in other opinions and thoughts....

[go_leafs_go02]

Edit - wasn't meant to sound rude

[ForestryW]

I am curious as to whether or not anyone knows anything about the potential Fincore development in Soho? There appears to be no news anywhere about this organization except for a couple of articles in the local papers. The threatened development is being touted as a "win" for London but as a resident of Soho I think it could be more of a nightmare. I would be interested in other opinions and thoughts....

What are your specific concerns?

[Pimpmasterdac]

I am curious as to whether or not anyone knows anything about the potential Fincore development in Soho? There appears to be no news anywhere about this organization except for a couple of articles in the local papers. The threatened development is being touted as a "win" for London but as a resident of Soho I think it could be more of a nightmare. I would be interested in other opinions and thoughts....

CTV2 did a report on that the development a few weeks ago. Fincore had been buying many of the private properties on the southern side of South Street (say that 5 times quickly :D) and are waiting for the city to declare its property to be surplus and be up for sale. Residents on the North side were obviously not happy that Fincore 1) wasn't offering to buy their properties and 2) that their houses would be in the shadows of the proposed towers and that they we not consulted.

Personally I don't care for the idea of what the towers would be used for, specifically the nursing home and holistic healing "ideas". However I think its sorta inevitable, the riverfront area would be developed for intensity and high rise buildings of some sort will follow.

[jammer139]

The former Fincore proposal is back in the news with lawsuits.

http://lfpress.com/news/local-news/once-vaunted-soho-development-now-at-centre-of-103m-lawsuit

[jammer139]

Old Victoria Hospital lands area plan revised.


https://www.london.ca/business/Planning-Development/land-use-applications/Documents/O-9223/2020-06-15%20-%20OVHL%20-%20OPA%20-%20Planning%20Justification%20Report.pdf


Changes in the plan removing bonus heights and minor changes to heights.

[jammer139]

Zoning and concept plans for one of the blocks.


https://www.london.ca/business/Planning-Development/land-use-applications/Documents/Z-9224/Z-9224-Site-Plan.pdf

[jammer139]

City proposed planning guide for development of some of hospital lands.


https://www.london.ca/business/Planning-Development/land-use-applications/Pages/Z-9224.aspx


Not sure why the City is trying to pre determine the possibilities for this block given they will be selling it to private developers who will have their own ideas on what they would want to create on the site. Might be short sighted in limiting the options that might be proposed.

[jammer139]

Wouldn't this be an amazing design for the rest of the SOHO hospital lands?
The Interlace is 1,000 units. :tup:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya69WuHcq8M