Creating a community called CityPlace

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It is the combination of community infrastructure and public space that is making it work.

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Set on 55 acres of land, the odds of a residential complex called CityPlace becoming a massive example of urban blight seemed quite possible when Vancouver-based developer Concord Adex first presented its ambitious plans to the city at late 1990s.

With a proposal that would include 31 residential towers once all were built – 29 now exist – an estimated 12,000 units, critics of it at the time ranged from architects and urban planners to city politicians.

During a recent webinar hosted by the Toronto chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Lynda Macdonald, the city’s director of community planning, said at the time there was a “negative response from the community at large.

“The residents didn’t like it, the planners didn’t like it, the press didn’t like it. Paul Bedford, the chief planner at the time, agreed that it was a good approach and received a lot of criticism. “

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All criticism revolved around Concord Adex’s proposal, which would convert the former CN Railroad lands located on and around Spadina Ave and Front St. into a residential development, comprised not of single-dwelling houses, but of dozens of towers.

How it has ended up maturing and evolving was the topic of the webinar and, in addition to Macdonald, other speakers included Ken Greenberg, director of Greenberg Consultants, Gabriel Leung, vice president of development at Concord Adex, Dean Maher, founder of CityPlace Residents Association, and Jesse Topliffe, President of CityPlace Fort York, BIA.

Greenberg admitted that he was among those who originally thought the developer’s proposal “was going in the wrong direction. Some of us refer to it as becoming another St. James town. “

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But it wasn’t, largely due to the work of various parties, including Leung, who led the project through the approval processes, and Concord Adex, who committed to a long-term commitment to creating a planned community that today it accommodates more than 21,000 people. .

In the webinar, he described the bricks and mortar that make up all towers as “hardware. People, he added, represent the software, and it is that thought process that has resulted in the creation of a community that works. “

Greenberg, for example, who lives a short distance from CityPlace has gone from being a “total” skeptic to “completely converted, in large part due to the park that now exists, the” wonderful public art “and the two schools and the community. center.

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“It’s the community infrastructure and public space that has really made this work and it’s a combination of what the city did, what the city asked for, and Gabriel’s response. This really couldn’t have happened without the type of association that emerged and is in stark contrast to some of the other areas of the city.

“An example is what happened in Humber Bay. We have all the tall buildings popping up, but it has practically no community infrastructure.

“There are a lot of tall buildings following the Tower Podium model, but not much else, and I think the essence of what happened at CityPlace is that park-like community infrastructure hub which, if you include the schools, is about 15 acres. of Earth “.

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Maher argues that CityPlace could have ended up like Humber had it not been for two key initiatives: a group of residents “who wanted to get people out of the condos and into the community,” and the financial support Leung was able to provide.

“We went to everyone, but the only person who really made it through the whole time was Gabriel,” says Maher.

“We, the residents, were the ones who started the community aspect that made it so successful. The city didn’t really help us much because it took almost two decades to install a playground in that area.

“It was community involvement that helped start those kinds of things to liven up the area. When I first moved there in 2003 for the first few years, I remember going to the waterfront, they had everything. North of King St. they had everything, and then we had nothing, but we had all these buildings under construction and no one was paying attention to us. The only one who helped us from the beginning was Concord. “

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Topliffe, meanwhile, adds that the developer has always been there for merchants, “not just with marketing or emotional support, but also financially when needed. That is essential because without him, I don’t know where we would be now.

“Our business community is doing well. Obviously, the pandemic has had a negative impact and no matter what development it is, you will feel it. But we are going in the right direction and we are lucky to have all these (local) residents supporting us ”.

By the numbers:

• When fully completed, total square footage: 9.5 million
• Number of floors of the last two towers being built now: 68 and 79
• Number of daycare centers for 124 children in CityPlace: two
• Percentage of people living in CityPlace who are renters: 55
• Ages of 80 percent of the occupants currently living there: 25-44
• Percentage of CityPlace residents who walk to work: 39