London Construction - Development News Thread#1

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Same in Mexico City, supposedly now the world's largest metropolitan area by population. Never saw any highways more than 6 lanes there; their investments are in expanding the subway system. I did see a couple surface streets that were 8 lanes, but they were the exception rather than the rule.

Aren't there some major thoroughfares in Tokyo that are only 2 lanes?

Tells you the contrast from one continent/style of living to another. Tokyo has very few 6 lane roads, and only one short 8 lane cross-section. Then again most people drive here and take the train there. Similar story in Mexico City.


In London, it's through traffic that's supposedly the problem for the 401. The reason why the Wonderland Road/401 interchange has been delayed for so long is that the MTO initially called for the bridge to span 6 lanes then told the city and their contractors to redesign it to span 8 lanes (plus accel-decel lanes).

The new Wellington Road bridge can comfortably accommodate 10 lanes as it was designed to span it.

Is the MTO is on steroids or are they right in their judgement? Only time will tell.

[Wharn]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Aren't there some major thoroughfares in Tokyo that are only 2 lanes?

There's one that I'm aware of, I heard some Japanese tourists talking about "Haido Pāku Rōdo". A two-lane throughfare that runs halfway across the city, most people try to avoid it since it's always choked with cars.

...wait a minute...

[bolognium]

Went for a bike ride this evening (July 26, 2011) and decided to take my camera with me.


The Shopper's on Richmond. There's some stucco work done on the rear, but the main attraction is obviously the newly installed glass.



Random building on King across from the JLC. Does anyone know what's going on here? Is it just some masonry students learning to build a funky-lookin' wall?



Renaissance. Really wasn't much to see in the way of progress, hence only one photo.



Building on the corner of York and Richmond. The sidewalks have been boarded up for ages, but that structure on the rooftop is relatively new.



Seniors walk-up at Princess and Colborne. Dunno if any of you remember how slummy this place looked prior to restoration. Looks absolutely stunnin now.



Medallion's Crown on King. I was pretty amazed that you could already see the building from Colborne and King, once these are complete they really will dominate King Street. A fair amount of windows have been installed on the lower floors, unfortunately they're a lot grayer than I had hoped for. I'm optimistic that the towers will still look nice with the gray glass, but I really was hoping to see some blue-green for a change.



Seniors building at 637 Dundas. The foundation for the tower is well underway and the 3-story terrace thingy on Dundas is starting to take shape.



I wasn't sure whether or not this was construction or just the aftermath of vandalism, but as I was taking the photo I ended up talking to a dude in front of The Comic Book Collector. Apparently the facades are being restored and the building's insides are being renovated into apartment units. Let's hope that's the case, eh?



In one of the first LFP articles about the Medallion developments there was a sentence about two red-brick duplexes at Dundas and Ontario streets. The buildings were to be renovated and converted into eight loft apartments. I've been watching them over the past few months now and there's definitely been some activity here.



Two random shots. Left picture is Old East and Downtown from the Western Fair (still can't get over seeing these cranes in Old East, what universe is this?), and the right picture is the Crown on King as seen from the Quebec overpass.

[sparky212]

Great pic. You know whats funny Toronto foromers are always sayin stop with the green glass and then there is us who would love some in our city. To bad ya cant trade highrises lol

[Wharn]

I'm especially impressed with how the place at Princess and Colborne turned out. I remember that building being a total dive back in first year university, but you're right, it really looks sharp. It's nice to see developers making an effort to use older structures.

[Simpseatles]

Richmond street development is really coming along!





Also, stopped by the beautiful King Street Bike Path Bridge. I Understand it underwent a major restoration last year.








http://s1141.photobucket.com/albums/n596/Simpseatles/

[MrSlippery519]

There are a bunch of new buildings going up around town...have no idea what is going there though.

Argyle mall in front of Wal-Mart the dirt pile is finally being developed, nothing special but will make the area look a lot better and will add a few new stores and or restaurant.

Also Wonderland/Southdale South West corner there is a new building going up on that corner beside Home Depot. Also on Wonderland South of the Toy's R Us they look to be starting to build up a bunch of new buildings.

[manny_santos]

There's something under construction on the northeast corner of Hyde Park and Oxford. Years ago there was a gas station there, and more recently it was an auto collision centre, demolished 2-3 years ago. Water servicing appears to have just been installed.

Anybody know what's being built there? The only sign of anything on the site is a Sifton "for lease" sign.

[Simpseatles]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Anybody know what's being built there? The only sign of anything on the site is a Sifton "for lease" sign.

I've heard a rumor that it is a long awaited Tim Horton's for Oakridge.

[joeymac]

As for the construction at wonderland and southdale (Southside group) I heard the following from a Home Depot clerk: Buffalo wild wings restaurant and PetSmart, along with others..

Buffalo wing place is supposed to be good although sounds a lot like shoeless joes which is just down the street.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by joeymac

As for the construction at wonderland and southdale (Southside group) I heard the following from a Home Depot clerk: Buffalo wild wings restaurant and PetSmart, along with others..

Buffalo wing place is supposed to be good although sounds a lot like shoeless joes which is just down the street.

Wait... there's something going up at Wonderland and Southdale and something else at Wonderland and Bradley. By the size of the thing going up at Southdale it could be a restaurant but way too small for something like a petsmart. That's probably going in at Bradley.

See the thing going up at Wonderland/Southdale here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AXq0Mst1C0 (about 1:15 in).

As much as I hate Big Box development, I welcome a pet store to the Westmount area. There hasn't been one in this end of town since the one in Westmount Mall closed like 15 years ago.

[joeymac]

I refuse to call that Wonderland and Bradley until it is connected
But yeah, I assume it is one of the spots beside toysrus where the petsmart is going, in fact an earlier version of the site plan posted on their site had a petsmart there.

I also found another developer who has a site plan for the wharncliffe/wonderland that includes a Lowes, but it is from 2009 so no idea if this was abandoned or not. Surely there is not enough demand for the proposed smartcentre at wonderland / exeter with all this other development.

[haljackey]

Wal-Mart owns the land at Wonderland and Exeter, I think it's the southeast corner.

They initially wanted to build one of their super-centres where Wally World once stood, but the landlord wouldn't sell the land to them, only lease it. Wal-Mart has to own their land so that's why there's a Home Depot there instead.

[MolsonExport]

what the hell is so great about chicken wings? once, the cheapest (edible) part of the bird; basically unwanted, so sold for a pittance. Now, not cheap at all ($10 for a pound; which about half is unedible bone), but still fatty, veiny, and basically pretty lousy. Extremely dirty eating. Never understood what all the fuss was.

[MolsonExport]

Watching Westmount Mall "transform" is like watching the erosion of the Appalachian mountains, except the latter is much faster.




Behold the swiftness and magnitude of the transformation: http://www.westmountshoppingcentre.c...nt-update.html


What is with the marooning of Urban Planet, Sirens, and Metro in the satellite mini-mall?

[bolognium]

Dunno how many of you have noticed this parkade in the past, but it won't be with us for much longer. It's the parking garage behind the London Club on Queens, in the block of Richmond/Queens/Clarence/Dundas. About a month ago I saw a Demolition Notice posted on the structure. According to a neighbouring business owner, the place wasn't structurally sound and needed to come down.

This is going to add to an already monumentally large surface lot behind my building. On the plus side, the Music Hall should be able to expand its outdoor performances

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Watching Westmount Mall "transform" is like watching the erosion of the Appalachian mountains, except the latter is much faster.

Behold the swiftness and magnitude of the transformation: http://www.westmountshoppingcentre.c...nt-update.html

What is with the marooning of Urban Planet, Sirens, and Metro in the satellite mini-mall?

I had thought that once the initial transformation was completed, the structure between Metro and the other stores was going to be demolished, Urban Planet and Sirens becoming open-air stores, and Metro expanding. I could be completely wrong though.

[Snark]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

what the hell is so great about chicken wings? once, the cheapest (edible) part of the bird; basically unwanted, so sold for a pittance. Now, not cheap at all ($10 for a pound; which about half is unedible bone), but still fatty, veiny, and basically pretty lousy. Extremely dirty eating. Never understood what all the fuss was.

Mmmmmmm.... veins.....

[6042905]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

what the hell is so great about chicken wings? once, the cheapest (edible) part of the bird; basically unwanted, so sold for a pittance. Now, not cheap at all ($10 for a pound; which about half is unedible bone), but still fatty, veiny, and basically pretty lousy. Extremely dirty eating. Never understood what all the fuss was.

Boneless wings, my man. Boneless wings.

[6042905]

Erosion in London, Ontario exposes more soil contaminated by PCBs

The City of London, Ontario announced Monday that it has found more PCB-contaminated soil along the bank of Pottersburg Creek, as part of a testing program in areas requiring construction work to control erosion.

“Erosion has exposed these small areas of historic contamination and the City will continue to seek technical advice from the (Ontario) Ministry of the Environment to develop a plan of action which will include some materials being removed,” the City of London stated in a press release. “As a precaution, and in keeping with normal site work protocol, the City will continue to maintain a fence around the area.”

In July, the City of London received preliminary PCB test results of sampling carried out in preparation for the design of bank remediation works.

The site is owned by The London Assembly Hall of the Jehovah Witnesses at 459 Second Street and is in the vicinity of what was once the largest storage site of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the province.

In 1984, Westinghouse Canada, which manufactured electrical equipment in the area, was ordered by the Ontario Ministry of Environment to create a PCB storage site. During the 1980s, a committee determined that soils with PCB levels of less than 20 parts per million could be placed safely along the Pottersburg Creek floodplain and capped with a 15-cm layer of soil and grass. The committee that made that determination had representation from the federal and provincial Environment ministries and the National Research Council.

Initially, contaminated soil was stored in non-permeable vaults in London. After the federal government changed the PCB regulations in 2008, the Ontario Ministry of Environment paid for the removal of soil with concentrations of more than 20 ppm from the site. The province declared the cleanup complete last year. But in the summer of 2011, four soil sample results were discovered to have higher concentrations of PCBs (128, 108, 84.6 and 37.3 ppm) in two isolated areas that measure approximately two square metres each.

The Middlesex London Health Unit said there is no public health concern.

“Ongoing management and care of the watershed will always be required to ensure the situation continuously improves and that any identified issues are addressed,” the City stated. “It is important for the community to understand that data show the overall situation is much improved along Pottersburg Creek and that the City, Health Unit and MOE will continue to monitor and take appropriate action as needed. The City intends to complete the design of these and other remediation measures for the creek and proceed with the work early this fall.”

http://dcnonl.com/article/id46343

This site is amazing for daily infrastructure updates, btw. And its quite Ontario-centric