Canadian City Proposals II

[ScreamingViking]

For more context about the redevelopment of much of Hamilton's former Stelco complex, the local news story has an aerial view of much of the lower city showing how the proposal fits in. The image covers roughly 12 km side to side and more than 8 km top to bottom. Much of the operation of Dofasco (now owned by Arcelor-Mittal) is in that other large dark rectangle just to the left of the redevelopment area (in this view, east is to the left and north to the bottom) -- it will still be there as a working steel-making plant, so there should be no illusions that what's proposed won't have to be compatible with surrounding industrial lands. Incidentally, Dofasco aims to stop using coke and begin making steel with natural gas before switching to hydrogen eventually... this is also ambitious but will do a lot to "clean up" pollution issues.



Slate must have a reasonable case or knows it can get government funding to help with remediation where it's needed, unless this is just window-dressing.

From the story:

Due to its long history as a steel manufacturing hub, much of the land will to be remediated before anything new can built. However, Dejonckheere said because much of the area is proposed to be home to advanced manufacturing facilities, the requirements for clean up are less severe than they would be if a residential project was being built there.

Even so, he said Slate identified 20 to 40 acres of the property that are being designed as “hot spots” that will need intensive clean up. Depending how the remediation is done, the process could take years.

“You can do everything from what is conventionally called a 'dig and dump,'” Dejonckheere said. “You can do that in a couple of months. Or there are several versions of land farming which can take much longer. Five to seven years.”

Dejonckheere said Slate assumes it will bear much of the cost of the cleanup, but the company will also seek to take advantage of funding for environmental cleanup available from the City of Hamilton and other levels of government.

The areas that may become public access zones are not located in these hot spots, he said.

What's buried within the fill that the steel facilities were later built upon is definitely a big unknown, and there will be surprises. This was all done in a time when environmental regulations were not stringent and there was probably little oversight.

[TorontoDrew]

That Stelco redevelopment will be a game changer for Hamilton if it goes ahead!


Here is a a resubmission for a proposal at Isabella and Yonge in Toronto. All I can say about this design is it's tall.

Source: urbantoronto.ca
Address 619-637 Yonge St, Toronto, Ontario, M4Y 1Z5
Category Residential (Condo), Commercial (Retail)
Status Pre-Construction
Number of Buildings 1
Height 781 ft / 237.99 m
Storeys 70
Number of Units 803

Here was the original 57 storey design which imo was far better.


And here is the new box.

[TorontoDrew]

Another Master Plan development this one at St Clair and Kennedy at the Scarborough GO station.

Source: urbantoronto.ca


Address 3585-3595 St Clair Ave E, Toronto, Ontario, M1K 1G3
Category Residential (Townhouse, Market-Rate Rental, Condo), Commercial (Retail), Institutional (Community Centre), Transit, Public Space / Park
Status Pre-Construction
Number of Buildings 12
Height 618 ft / 188.30 m, 562 ft / 171.40 m, 560 ft / 170.55 m, 546 ft / 166.50 m, 540 ft / 164.60 m, 526 ft / 160.20 m, 502 ft / 153.15 m, 500 ft / 152.30 m, 402 ft / 122.50 m, 391 ft / 119.25 m, 347 ft / 105.85 m, 347 ft / 105.80 m, 264 ft / 80.55 m, 226 ft / 68.75 m
Storeys 58, 52, 52, 51, 50, 49, 46, 46, 36, 35, 31, 31, 23, 19, 1, 1
Number of Units 2018, 1249, 1248, 669, 555, 501, 495, 444, 276, 200

[Nouvellecosse]

With the Hamilton steel site, a lot of toxic land remediation can be done with certain plants that draw toxins out of the soil up through their root systems allowing the plants to be harvested and disposed of safely. Not sure of those specific toxins but such advances can make it less expensive than in prior years. The revenue could be partly as the entry fee as a cool urban park. The render shows a variety of attractions like wall climbing and an observation platform. As a comparison, the regular adult admission price for the Montreal Botanical Garden is just under $25, so I don't see why this type of garden couldn't also attract visitors at that price. And then any additional revenue from vendors within. If the botanical garden can sustain itself at that revenue level and it's pretty large as well, then this might work out.

[WhipperSnapper]

Slate like everyone with a large commercial portfolio had a bad 2023. Fingers crossed though.

That Scarborough Junction proposal doesn't surprise me next to rail transit. The skyscraper heights and the population greater than a small town makes no sense.

[niwell]

Amongst the fake business names in the Scarborough proposal renderings they also included a real one - Eastbound Brewing, which has a brewpub on Queen East in Riverside. I'm guessing that was an accident as this is all very preliminary and the chance of actually getting a business like that isn't too high to begin with!

[WhipperSnapper]

That's funny. I wouldn't have got that as this is the first time I've heard of Eastbound Brewing. Stick to sign stores

[Hawrylyshyn]

125 Napier St | Hamilton | 41+39 floors (132m+126m) (currently a surface parking lot )

[ericmacm]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

With the Hamilton steel site, a lot of toxic land remediation can be done with certain plants that draw toxins out of the soil up through their root systems allowing the plants to be harvested and disposed of safely. Not sure of those specific toxins but such advances can make it less expensive than in prior years. The revenue could be partly as the entry fee as a cool urban park. The render shows a variety of attractions like wall climbing and an observation platform. As a comparison, the regular adult admission price for the Montreal Botanical Garden is just under $25, so I don't see why this type of garden couldn't also attract visitors at that price. And then any additional revenue from vendors within. If the botanical garden can sustain itself at that revenue level and it's pretty large as well, then this might work out.

I work in the environmental industry - phytoremediation practices like the ones you are describing may be well researched academically, but they are extremely rarely used in practice. I have personally never seen or heard of it being used in Ontario or even Canada. The issue is that it is not practical when you are planning to do something with the site afterward, mainly because developers have timelines and want guarantees. A remediation program dependent on putting plants in the ground, ensuring they take, making sure they have enough water, waiting for them to grow, and then sampling the soil to determine if your program actually worked or not simply doesn't offer any guarantee that the soil is actually cleaned up to the appropriate standards, and would take way too long.

A site like this is very large, complicated, and the remediation program will likely find a little bit of pretty much everything you would typically run analysis for. It is going to be an expensive remediation and there isn't much way around just removing the contaminated soils. Given that portions of the site are on the water, there is a good chunk of the site that will be held to some of our most stringent environmental standards. Even some highly specialized remediation techniques like in-situ groundwater injection/treatment/recirculation don't always offer a guarantee that anything will actually improve. I have seen some cases where contamination that is deep and difficult to remove has been capped with geosynthetic fabric to contain it. Fortunately these days, though, there is now technology that allows the treatment of contaminated soil, where it can be improved enough to a point where it can be brought back and backfilled in again, which saves a ton of money and avoids just sending it all to the landfill. Sometimes this can even be done on the property itself with a mobile treatment plant, which saves even more money.

What will happen all depends on what they find and how much money the developer has to get this property cleaned up.

[Nouvellecosse]

^ That's too bad. Hopefully they considered the options and found a way to deal with the cost or the proposal probably won't amount to more than pretty renderings.

[ericmacm]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

^ That's too bad. Hopefully they considered the options and found a way to deal with the cost or the proposal probably won't amount to more than pretty renderings.

They would have most likely gone through at least a round of due diligence environmental assessments anyway prior to purchase from Stelco, so they would at the very least have some kind of idea what they are getting into. Subsequently, they wouldn’t have purchased it if it looked like something they couldn’t handle cost-wise. However, you never really know until you start digging.

I think the fact that the white-hot commercial/light industrial market in the GTA/SWO is working in their favour here.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by niwell

Amongst the fake business names in the Scarborough proposal renderings they also included a real one - Eastbound Brewing, which has a brewpub on Queen East in Riverside. I'm guessing that was an accident as this is all very preliminary and the chance of actually getting a business like that isn't too high to begin with!

I know a few people that work over at Eastbound and I know they've been looking to expand out so I'm not surprised to see them opening in Scarborough (if the render is accurate). A few smaller brewers in the city have started to expand out like Left Field that started in a back ally in Leslieville now has a location across town in Liberty Village.

[WhipperSnapper]

Not being built anytime soon. The made up name is coincidential.

[TorontoDrew]

I guess you would know better then the staff at Eastbound.

[WhipperSnapper]

This is ten years, optimistically, from being occupied. No one is leasing space here today. That doesn't mean your buddies aren't looking for space anywhere else.

T.F.D.

[craner]

ROM’s $130M revamp to target improved visitor experience

http://https://www.constructioncanada.net/roms-50m-revamp-to-target-improved-visitor-experience/

[TorontoDrew]

Sorry if this has been posted but I can't find it anywhere.


source: https://www.bdpquadrangle.com
128 Peter
Located in the heart of Toronto’s bustling Entertainment District, 128 Peter is a 39-storey condominium tower designed in dialogue with the surrounding brick and beam warehouse context in a sensitive juxtaposition between old and new. The tower features dramatic cantilevers sheltering Victorian houses that sit on the site which will be respectfully restored.

[Maldive]

1255 Bay | 143m | 39s | KingSett Capital | BDP Quadrangle l Approved

The resubmission of this one @ 4 storeys taller has been approved.


UT

UT

[Maldive]

The Notable | 172m | 50s | Graywood | Turner Fleischer l pre-construction

This one is most notable for resubmissions for more height every time the proponent’s ask is refused: refused 35s via its SPA, appealed to the OLT after being denied 40s (via Minor Variance while its SPA is under appeal) and now… resubmitted for 50s lol. Located near Yonge and St. Clair.


UT

UT

Big changes for the Yonge and St. Clair neighbourhood:


steveve

[TorontoDrew]

That name is so bad.