Bay St. tower will shadow Berczy; elevated park planned

Eric Morse —

About 50 residents from the St Lawrence Neighbourhood attended a Jan. 11 public meeting convened by the city to respond to a proposal by developer Ivanhoe Cambridge to construct a 58-storey (265 metre) commercial building at 141 Bay St. on the site of the current GO Bus terminal.

The complex will stand on the Bay St. side while the seven-storey mixed-use (with retail, amenities and commercial tenants) will lead toward Yonge St.
It is the second and matching phase of an already-approved proposal (phase 1) on the site of 45 Bay St. south of the railway tracks. The first phase will also include a cantilevered tower overhang extending up to ten metres over the trackage.

According to the proposal, the north and south towers are to be linked over the tracks by a landscaped bridge 27 metres above the tracks, providing in essence an elevated park, which for security reasons would be open to the public only during the hours of operation of the towers themselves.

Entrance to this elevated park would be from the Bay St. side, which would also be the entrance to the commercial tower.
The application also provides for eastward and westward PATH linkages to Union Station westward and the L-Tower and Backstage condos eastward. The GO bus station is projected to be moved to an indoor location in 45 Bay (south of the tracks) in 2018. That site will also make provision for a later station of the planned East Bayfront LRT.

To the north of 45 Bay, across a narrow (nine-metre) lane—which is to be preserved with retail frontage and green space on the north face of the proposed development—is the heritage Dominion Building at 1 Front St. W., which presents a unified Neoclassical facade with Union Station itself.

The presentation noted an odd anomaly with the Federally-owned 1 Front site, in that in 1996 an OMB permission was attached to the site (not the owner, the site!) to build a 137-metre structure on the premises. It was never acted upon, and the presenter noted it as a sort of looming abstract menace for which, since it never got to the design stage, no one present could imagine a use, either residential or commercial. In conversation with The Bulletin afterward Deputy Mayor Pam McConnell’s office noted that the Dominion Building is about to be designated a heritage property, which will obviate the older permission and any possible issue along with it.

The major public concern that emerged in question period was the potential traffic congestion in an already intensely concentrated Bay/Yonge/Lakeshore quadrilateral. It was noted that present GO bus arrivals and departures run between 20 and 30 per hour and the new terminal will have twice the capacity, without taking into account the traffic into and out of the additional 440 parking spaces planned for the 141 Bay St. project. There will also be 536 bicycle spaces.

A related concern was that traffic overflow not be permitted into The Esplanade east of Yonge St. which remains a quieter tourist, entertainment and residential area, and taking into account that The Esplanade itself is very narrow.

A second major concern was that—as planned—the 141 Bay tower’s shadow at the autumnal equinox (which is the standard reference date) will clip the southwest corner of Berczy Park, which is in process of being redesigned as a significant public space.

A third issue was the amount of wind that might be expected both in the streets around the development and on the elevated green park space that crosses the trackage.

Finally, one participant (who also expressed gratitude that this was one of the few proposed developments that refrained from describing itself as “iconic”) asked that the city and developer consider including community amenities such as a library in the podium space. He noted that with the ongoing development in the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood, many amenities are shifting eastward toward the Don, which is leaving the eastern stretch of the neighbourhood with something of a dearth.

Phase One (45 Bay) should begin excavation this year with scheduled completion in 2019. Phase Two (141 Bay) is now proceeding through the applications process with the intention of breaking ground in 2019 and a completion date of 2021.