Another parking garage for Old Town?

By Ken Smith —

A proposed six-level parking garage across the road from the L Tower is “a GO” but questions remain.

The treed site at the southeast corner of Yonge St. includes a small GO Transit parking lot and retaining wall capped by a wrought iron fence (matching the railway underpass beside it).

The garage will be just across Yonge from the GO Transit bus terminal, with the 2,000-car Toronto Parking Authority (TPA) parking complex to the immediate east behind the Novotel, and the 57-storey L Tower condominium projects to the immediate north across The Esplanade.

This new underground garage is intended for cars from the L Tower and will be linked to the iconic tower by a pedestrian tunnel beneath The Esplanade. Tunnel construction may close The Esplanade.

Pam McConnell and city staff worked diligently to address the challenge of eventually having two separate car parking garage complexes functioning side by side.

Cars will still be turning left and right, in and out at each garage, crossing paths with each other, but it all could have been so much worse.

Progress is also possible on other issues relating to the public realm, and transportation—how the site relates to the flow of people, bicycles, cars, buses and trains, including possibly access even to new trains to the airport.

On the two streets immediately west of Yonge (i.e. Bay and York), the city has bolstered pedestrian connectivity between Harbourfront and the Financial District by expanding the public walkways and bicycle lanes under the railway tracks.

The city has also made progress developing the new Yonge St. promenade and its bike lanes. The promenade still remains pinched to one-third its width as the expansive walkway up from Harbourfront goes under the tracks at Yonge. This is a far cry from the advanced levels of pedestrian connectivity being achieved on Bay and York.

The Yonge St. promenade is, however, a vast improvement to the way things were just months ago.

Metrolinx, the new regional transportation authority, with its business partners, is reshaping a key part of downtown and laying, at long last, the groundwork for new rail service between Union Station and Pearson International Airport, and also expanding rail commuter services.

The Union Station Development Plan speaks of coordinating development with districts that flank Union Station. Decisions being made in and around Union Station, including those at Yonge and The Esplanade, may have perpetual implications. For its part, redevelopment of the site at 5-7 The Esplanade was largely restricted to transportation purposes.

Metrolinx appears to be moving forward boldly. Some 25 km of new track is being put down between Union Station and the airport, a new rail passenger complex is slated for Pearson Terminal One, and an intermediate airport passenger train terminal facility will go at the Bloor GO/Dundas West TTC station.

Back downtown, the opportunities are no less exciting—all of which may get more attention given the news of the Pan-American Games.

Not protecting options for the future upgrading of the Yonge St. promenade may possibly demonstrate shortsightedness in collective due diligence.

On Jan. 21, Metrolinx announced details of the airport link plan, along with other GO Transit infrastructure and service improvements, making it clear that Metrolinx recognizes that public transportation is a core focus and priority, and that includes serving the airport properly from Downtown and to a peerless standard. Metrolinx said “we need world class rail service to Canada’s largest airport.”

Metrolinx appears to be considering the relocation of its own head office from Harbourfront to Union Station itself, instead of building on top of the underground parking lot at 5-7 The Esplanade (at the southeast corner of Yonge and The Esplanade).

An expanded pedestrian viaduct under the tracks on Yonge might provide access up to expanded train platforms above at some time in the future—much like what has been done from the spacious pedestrian walkway under the tracks on Bay and York.

Needing a proper link between the Financial District and Harbourfront via Yonge may not be a priority now but safeguarding our connectivity options may be smart given the outlook.

Already five million people a year travel between Downtown and Pearson International Airport. By 2020, Metrolinx predicts that number may be expected to increase to nine million people.

The new airport rail service is estimated to take 1.2 million cars trips a year off our roads.

The city’s design review panel is looking at possible development of the mostly transportation-zoned site at 5-7 The Esplanade.

In artist’s conceptions of a possible condo/parkade vision for the site at 5-7 The Esplanade, a new Plus 15 pedestrian bridge would run across Yonge to the GO Transit bus terminal to link the condos/parkade with Union Station.

This bridge would resemble those crossing the tracks to the west from Union Station to Rogers Centre and the convention centre’s south building.

There has been some talk that Metrolinx, teaming up with federal authorities, might try instead to build a much larger multi-level bus terminal on the back of the historic Dominion Federal Building, with ramps connecting the floors of bus bays—then putting some highrise structure on the roof of this mega-bus terminal.

There has been some suggestion that the GO Transit bus terminal should be located west of Union Station, possibly above the tracks between York and Simcoe, freeing the cramped bus terminal site altogether.

Of immediate interest, for example, is the simple question of whether and how the future transportation needs of the region might possibly be advanced by having the city or province keep the site at 5-7 The Esplanade from redevelopment in the interests of long-term transportation needs—local or otherwise.

GO Transit or another service provider, for example, might be able to run longer train sets some day in a quest for economies of scale or simply to accommodate growth. Platform access from Yonge ultimately might be a boon. Terminal tracks could be reconfigured.

There had also been interest in reconfiguring the intersection at Yonge and The Esplanade possibly by moving the north face of the railway bridge further south for reasons of public safety.

The city’s own transportation study appears to have possibly excluded the impact special events at the Rogers Centre and Air Canada Centre may have on traffic at this site.

There may still be value in re-examining carefully the impact on the neighbourhood of car traffic associated with major league games and spectacles and the possible impact on parking garage entrance/egress arrangements.

As one member of the design review panel said recently about the importance of the site at 5-7 The Esplanade: “This is a site where the idea of the public realm ratchets up to the power of 10.”

Meanwhile, site preparation work is underway for the L Tower residences and the roof has already been replaced on the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.