redevelopment | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘redevelopment’

The Place

Posted: March 28, 2015 in locations, old buildings
Tags: Belljar Cafe, Benner Coin laundry, boarded up, city, convenience store, Dundas St. West, empty, intersection, laundromat, Ok Gifts, redevelopment, stores, street, Thuc Pham a Dong, Toronto, urban

The Place, believe it or not, is here,
where Howard Park Ave and Lynd Ave meet Dundas West.

The new next to the old… the old square top, two storey brick stores built in rows that are still common in Toronto even though many are being replaced.

watching it come down

Posted: March 9, 2015 in history, locations
Tags: apartment building, bricks, bunny, city, concrete, cranes, demolition, Dundas East, eating away, gone, history, machinery, poser, redevelopment, Regent Park, revitalization, Sumach St., Toronto, urban, workmen

Along with many other people, I have been watching the demolition on the southeast corner of Dundas & Sumach streets, part of the Regent Park redevelopment. This 14 storey apartment building was designed by Peter Dickinson; it was built in the late 1950s.

January 31st, 2015

I first saw this building being demolished on a grey day at the end of January.
I’m not sure when the demolition actually started.

A large 14 storey brick clad apartment building in the initial stages of being demolished.

Looking north up Sumach Street.

View of the interior of some of the apartments that were exposed when the exterior brick was removed. Some of the rooms are painted in bright colours, purples, pinks and greens.

The colours of past lives.

3 February

A workman dressed in orange coveralls works on the street in front of a building being demolished

It would have been a cold job, working outside during the coldest February on record.

Part of a 14 stprey apartment building that is being demolished. The exterior walls have been removed and some of the interior walls are buckling.

In the midst of demolition.

10 February

Two very large cranes are being used to demolish a large apartment building on the corner of Dundas and Sumach streets. Some men in bright yellow vests are directing traffic as some of the debris is falling towards Sumach street.

Looking across the intersection of Dundas and Sumach.

A purple and yellow sign against a metal fence that says Regent Park Revitalization Phase 3 has started. Demolition of an apartment in the background.

A view from the south.

Hydraulic crane and truck and other machinery used in the demolition of the building.

Looking west from River Street.

Vacant lot in the forground with demolition of a building in the middle. In the background are the new buildings that have been built in that area

Another view from River Street.

12 February

17 February

23 February

27 February

A man is taking a picture of a demolition in progress of an apartment building.

There were always a number of people taking pictures whenever I was there.

As part of the upper stories of an apartment are brought down, a cloud of dust forms as the debris hits the ground.

dust storm in the sunlight

28 February

… after 5 weeks, 6 March

A large hole in the ground where a building once stood, vacant land is around it. A street of houses in the distance, machinery to one side.

Just another hole in the ground.

it used to be Kromer Radio

Posted: November 27, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bathurst st., construction, development, graffiti, Kensington, Kromer Radio, lane, man, no Walmart, painted, purple creatures, red face, redevelopment, RioCan, street art, Toronto, Walmart, words

In February 2014, plans to build a large Walmart store on the site of Kromer Radio (420 Bathurst St., just south of College) were shelved. Kromer Radio was an electronics store and they occupied the building between 1974 and June 2012.

The alley behind the building has been a graffiti site for a number of years.