TORONTO | Regent Park Redevelopment

[J. Will]

-Regent Park lies on the East side of downtown Toronto
-built in the late 1940s.
-looks similar to some of the housing projects in New York and Chicago, but in lowrise form
-gradually being torn down and replaced with buildings that are aligned to a restored street grid
-along major streets that buildings have/will have retail, with townhouse units at the base of some of the buildings along frontages of secondary streets
-surface parking lots and setbacks will be gone
-when completed will have twice the number of residential units as it did before the redevelopment

Map of area:



Aerial view:



In these pictures you can see all the unused open space and lack of retail at the base of the buildings:





Google Streetview of Phase 1, which includes a Sobey's supermarket and other retailers:



Below pictures from the following article, "Phase 1 of Regent Park revitalization nears completion":
http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/03/p...rs_completion/











Phase 2: http://www.torontohousing.ca/news/20...park_phase_two

[Chicago Shawn]

Looks fantastic.

Do you know where I could find the answer to the following questions...

-What is the break down of the new housing? How many of the new units are listed as market rate and how many units are reserved for replacement public housing?

-Will the number of public housing units increase, decrease or stay about the same?

-How successful have the market rate units been?

-Are the market rate units listed as for sale, rental, or a combination of both?

-What are the qualifications to become eligible for the public housing units (is there a graduated scale of income caps for particular units and/or family sizes)?

-How much retail is being included and are there any other mixed uses such as office space?

This project is far better than the vast majority of public housing replacement projects underway in the US. I genuinely want know if the financing, programing and housing mix is any different.

[J. Will]

Originally Posted by Chicago Shawn

Looks fantastic.

Do you know where I could find the answer to the following questions...

-What is the break down of the new housing? How many of the new units are listed as market rate and how many units are reserved for replacement public housing?

-Will the number of public housing units increase, decrease or stay about the same?

-How successful have the market rate units been?

-Are the market rate units listed as for sale, rental, or a combination of both?

-What are the qualifications to become eligible for the public housing units (is there a graduated scale of income caps for particular units and/or family sizes)?

-How much retail is being included and are there any other mixed uses such as office space?

You can do a search yourself, but I couldn't really find any details beyond what I posted here.

This project is far better than the vast majority of public housing replacement projects underway in the US. I genuinely want know if the financing, programing and housing mix is any different.

I could be wrong, but I'm under the impression that well-off Americans are less conducive to living amongst poorer people and near public housing projects. In Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal it is quite common to have poor, middle-class, and wealthy people all in the same neighbourhood.

New York City has loads of areas that could use this treatment - even in Manhattan. In fact, they look almost identical to pre-revitalization Regent Park (cross-shaped brown buildings, no balconies, very little retail, unused grassy spaces between the sidewalk and the buildings, few and far between thru-streets), only in New York they are much taller thus more densely populated. Yet I haven't seen any recent proposals to tear any of them down and give them this kind of treatment.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by J. Will

New York City has loads of areas that could use this treatment - even in Manhattan. In fact, they look almost identical to pre-revitalization Regent Park (cross-shaped brown buildings, no balconies, very little retail, unused grassy spaces between the sidewalk and the buildings, few and far between thru-streets), only in New York they are much taller thus more densely populated. Yet I haven't seen any recent proposals to tear any of them down and give them this kind of treatment.

Why tear them down? They're not the crime-infested ratholes that tower projects are/were in most other American cities. In fact, I hear they function quite well.

The pressures to live in New York are so great that any sort of redevelopment would inevitably turn into a major gentrification - the opportunities to make money are just too great. I would not trust politicians to do redevelopment in an equitable manner. Hell, I wouldn't even trust them to get a damn subway built, even when pretty much everybody agrees it's a good idea.

[J. Will]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Why tear them down? They're not the crime-infested ratholes that tower projects are/were in most other American cities. In fact, I hear they function quite well.

To improve the public realm (some of them are very bad for crime, but that's another issue). It's not just about crime. Even if they had no crime, they break up the city's grid, and provide little (in some cases no) retail to enliven the streetscape and give anyone not living there a reason to go there. Plus they too have the useless open space/parking space between buildings and the street, and between buildings and other buildings. These are the identical issue pre-development Regent Park had/has.

Even if they're not going to tear them down, they should at least encourage lowrise retail buildings to be built on the unused open space. Thousands of people can live in a single housing project. Easily enough to support 50,000+ square feet of retail. I'm not talking Dolce and Gabbana, just basic everyday stuff - grocery stores, drug stores, dry cleaners, mid-market restaurants, convenience stores, etc.

Read about the Tower Renewal Project:

http://knol.google.com/k/a-future-vi...erican-suburb#

The pressures to live in New York are so great that any sort of redevelopment would inevitably turn into a major gentrification - the opportunities to make money are just too great.

Yes, that's the idea.

[ardecila]

I mean that middle-class residents of those towers would be forced out - of Manhattan altogether, since there's no way they could afford units at market-rate. How is it fair or equitable to shifts tens of thousands of middle-class workers to the outer boroughs or suburbs?

[J. Will]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I mean that middle-class residents of those towers would be forced out - of Manhattan altogether, since there's no way they could afford units at market-rate. How is it fair or equitable to shifts tens of thousands of middle-class workers to the outer boroughs or suburbs?

Did you even read the thread? It seems based on your comments that you didn't. What I suggested was NOT a reduction in subsidized units.

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

The moreso centre towers are from the Regent park redevelopment, including the one under construction. I took this yesterday.
TJ286888 by Josh Kenn Photographics, on Flickr

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

I took this today of some a new phase going up...
DSC_1316 by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr

[buildoutbuildup]

That’s looking pretty good. I think, as long as they help to support the middle class people in that area and work with them to get the right housing needs in place, it’ll be a really solid change compared to some other cities that have done similar projects. Canada is typically pretty good at thinking about what is best for the community, and the gradual changes here exemplify that pretty well.

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

This phase is called Artworks...it's a 33 story building with a midrise extension (foreground)
Construction by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr
This view down this street used to be lowrise apartments...it's weird thinking how different this place looks now.
Construction by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr
Well, mostly.....the north section of Regent Park remains.
Construction by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr
Another phase....(Artworks in the background)
Construction by Draulerin Photographics, on Flickr

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

I really need to post more here, or well, do a comprehensive photo update of the site. Most of the neighbourhood is built out now. (well, 60-70%).
The northern end of the neighbourhood is being cleared for redevelopment, though some apartments will not be demolished yet. You can see the whole (newly redeveloped) neighbourhood in the background in these images.
I took these yesterday:
Sunny August by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr
Sunny August by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr
Sunny August by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr
Sunny August by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr
Sunny August by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr
Sunny August by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr
Sunny August by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr
This building will be 25 floors.
Sunny August by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr