North Market demolition delayed up to 12 months due to costs of archeological survey

Dennis Hanagan —

City planners wanted to hold off demolishing the St. Lawrence Market North building until the cost to build the new market is confirmed.
But there’s a problem—the archaeological assessment that needs to be done on the market’s 92 Front St. site can take place only after the current building is demolished.

This past September an archaeological assessment of the site showed evidence of foundation piers and a large arched flagstone sewer from the 1831 building. The market has been rebuilt several times.

With that discovery, Ontario’s tourism, culture and sports ministry ordered the city, in a Nov. 9 letter, it must carry out a stage four mitigation including demolishing the existing building so archaeologists can safely examine the site.

“It was staff’s original intention to not demolish the existing building until the construction tender process for the new building was completed and the bid price of the new building known,” the city’s chief corporate officer (CCO) said in a report to the government management committee in January.

“This no longer is possible given that the stage 4 archaeological assessment of the site requires the demolition of the existing building … to allow for fieldwork to be completed.”

Front and Jarvis streets have been home to a market and market activities since 1803. The first permanent brick structure was built in 1831. It was destroyed by fire in 1849 and replaced with new buildings in 1851, 1904 and most recently in 1968.

According to the CCO’s report, schedule milestones for the new market “as they now stand” call for the demolition and archaeological contracts to be completed by the third quarter of 2016, and construction to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2018.

The city’s archaeology consultant has indicated the timeline could be delayed six to twelve months “depending on the extent and significance of further archaeological findings.”
Staff are working with Adamson Associates Architects of Toronto and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners of London to bring the design of the new $91.5 million market within budget. Funding is provided in the city’s 2016-2025 facilities, real estate, environment and energy capital budget.

“Cost control continues to be an issue on the project,” says the CCO’s report. “The architect’s efforts to design within budget have been unsuccessful to date. Value engineering and redesign to bring costs within budget is ongoing …”

City staff will issue a tender call for demolition of the old building, including the archaeological assessment, once architects have confirmed the construction cost estimate for the new building.

Features of the new five-storey building include 250 underground parking spaces run by the Toronto Parking Authority, a restaurant, kitchen incubators, courtrooms, an atrium and, of course, farmers and their produce.