Cityzen plans for 154 Front St. E. meet renewed opposition

By Anthony Marcusa –

Cityzen’s proposal for a 34-storey building to replace the Greyhound depot at 154 Front St. E. met with ready opposition at the community consultation on June 28.

A hostile crowd poured into the Nathan Cohen Studio Theatre at 165 Front St. E., eager to denounce the proposal of architects for a proposed building in the neighborhood. The audience wasted no time harassing the speakers, chuckling at comments, and uproariously applauding any comment from their ranks.

Two previous community consultations (in December 2010 and March 2011) had resulted in the community’s praise of the innovative design, green elements, over 500 bicycle parking spots, podium design, and retail element flexibility.

However, the most important issues for the community—design, traffic, overall height and unit size—failed to meet the community’s expectations. It was less engagement, and more simply enragement, on the part of the community members.

Susan McAlpine, senior planner, tried to appease residents. “This area of the city is going under quite a bit of change and one area of the city that relies on change is development applications,” she said, stressing the procedural nature of the evening’s event.

“It is intended to attract reinvestment,” she continued. “Regeneration projects allow for different land usages, from recreational to institutional, and they will attempt to possess the unique characteristics of each area, to respect and improve the neighbourhood.”

Still, community members would not have any of it, and virtually everyone in attendance was vehemently against it, whether or not for sound reasons. While one person raised the concern that high-rises are death traps when the power shuts off, and another claimed that residential buildings means more dogs, ”territorial creatures” that are destroyers of gardens and sidewalks, others were concerned with the precedent set by such a towering structure.

The primarily residential high-rise, located on the north side of the thoroughfare between lower Sherbourne St. and the quieter Frederick St., will be far taller than any building in the area and far exceeding the 30 metres allowed by the area’s zoning bylaws.

The design incorporates a five- to seven-storey podium, with a retail space at the bottom and a red brick façade to match the historical nature of the area. While previous versions of the proposal had set the height at 20 storeys, the current version incorporates a 24-storey and a 34-storey tower at 108 metres, dwarfing the surrounding buildings, the highest of which is a modest 10 storeys tall.

“We should not be destroying the very heritage we have here,” said one resident. “It simply doesn’t fit, it’s one of the ugliest buildings in Toronto,” echoed another.

The design was the most notable of all objections to the building, though the list also included too small of a projector screen for the presentation and a lack of microphone.

A five-story parking garage is proposed below grade, but the entrance would be on Frederick St., as well as the main entrance to the building, an aspect much resented by the crowd.

“I think there is potential for gridlock on our little street called Frederick,” said one resident.

The lack of family-sized units was also a concern, suggesting to the crowd the developer was simply out to maximize profit.

The current proposal only includes four bachelor, 449 one-bedroom, and 84 two-bedroom apartments—none of the family-sized units deemed essential by the area’s current residents at both of the previous community consultations.

A lone gentleman clad in a “science rules” tee shirt, entered the meeting late, sat in the front row, and left early, but made his presence felt. His question, one delivered standing up with a clarion and sincere voice was met with thunderous applause: “How are we proposing something that discourages family in this area?”

His second pithy statement before his early exit was received with the same adoration: “It’s like a red tumor in the middle of the neighbourhood.”

 

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