New life for an old strip
Paula Kulig – Toronto Star
When Larry Blankenstein talks about St. Clair Ave. W., he sounds like a father watching his child get on a bike for the first time: The ride is a little wobbly initially, with a fall here and a scraped knee there, but progress is steady and the open road beckons.
For Blankenstein, the tired, old strip of St. Clair west of Bathurst St. is ripe for growth and opportunity. As it turns out, his development company is both a driver of that growth and, along with the community, a beneficiary.
“We’re in the middle of a transition for this whole neighbourhood and I think the neighbourhood will reap the benefits,” says Blankenstein, president of Lash Development Corp., which, along with The Goldman Group, is building two highrise condominium towers at the northwest corner of St. Clair and Bathurst.
“People are very happy that we’re developing it and they hope that more developers will come in, because it’s changing the whole face of the neighbourhood.”
Another thing that has changed the face of the neighbourhood is the new St. Clair streetcar right-of-way, which Blankenstein says is a major reason why the developers chose to locate the condos where they did. But he acknowledges that not everyone has embraced the line, in part because the lengthy project created upheaval in the community.
“There have been a lot of growing pains because it took longer than expected. But I think it will be the way of the future,” he says, noting that new restaurants and stores have been popping up along the strip.
The construction of the streetcar line came in for some criticism in January when a study by transportation experts Les Kelman and Richard Soberman was released. The two were hired to provide an overview of the experience on St. Clair W. and suggest ways to prevent similar problems from occurring with Transit City, Toronto’s plan to build light-rail transit on several major routes.
The consultants noted how the cost of the 6.8-kilometre St. Clair line, from Yonge St. to just west of Weston Rd., ballooned from $48 million in September 2004 to what is expected to be about $106 million when the final section west of Lansdowne Ave. is completed this spring – more than five years after construction began.
They pointed to four contributing factors: how the scope of the project constantly changed, adding transit upgrades and the burial of hydro lines; a lack of centralization and control; too many small contractors who lacked experience with big projects, hindering efficiency; and a public consultation process that gave too much influence to opponents and, with the involvement of the environment ministry, resulted in a judicial review that brought construction to a halt for eight months.
“Long after the start of construction, project scope definition continued almost as a ‘moving target,’ contributing, in the process, to cost escalation, schedule delay, and a large number of complaints about community disruption from affected residents and businesses,” the report says. “This is the main reason why the affected community appears so frustrated about just when the ‘pain’ of disruption will actually end and just when ‘gain’ of improved transit will actually begin.”
Connie Lamanna, the chair of the Corso Italia Business Improvement Area and owner of Ontario Fashion Textiles on St. Clair just east of Lansdowne, says that pain of disruption still isn’t over, even though construction of the streetcar line in front of her shop is complete.
During construction, she says, “it was terrible. People couldn’t get here. The only reason we’re still standing is we’re just celebrating our 50th anniversary of business on St. Clair, so we have long-standing clientele who still made their way here. But we lost business because it was confusing – communication wasn’t there.”
Now, she points to a “clutter” of signs and too many street lights at any one corner that only confuse motorists and pedestrians, and streetcars that get backed up on the line when one of them breaks down.
“One streetcar has a problem, nothing moves. It’s not like a bus that can go around the problem.”
Lamanna says despite the loss of some businesses, new ones are arriving, and the BIA has been doing what it can to beautify the area with new street lamps and planters. “I think we’ve taken the attitude that we’re going … to make the best of it,” she says. “We’re going to make a go of it, definitely. But the city has not made it easy.”
Tony Bassels, who owns EXIT Realty Prestige and heads the Wychwood Heights BIA, which includes St. Clair from Bathurst to Christie Sts., says the disruption caused by construction of the streetcar line doesn’t outweigh the good things the line will bring to the area, like new development and businesses.
“I think that in order for the city to really grow, the most important thing is that we have transit,” says Bassels, who takes the TTC to work from his home at Yonge and Sheppard Ave. almost every day.
He is just as excited about the St. Clair Avenue Study, which encourages development on the street from Bathurst to Keele Sts. Endorsed by city council late last year, the consultants’ study recommended amending the official plan and a zoning bylaw to bring about the revitalization of St. Clair largely through higher densities. A reliable transit system is tied in with the plan.
“I think it’s going to encourage development, it’s going to encourage taking down some of these lowrise buildings that really need to be changed,” Bassels says, noting that the neighbourhood has too many thrift and dollar stores and he hopes many of them will go elsewhere. “We don’t need that many. We just need a good mix.”
St. Paul’s Councillor Joe Mihevc, whose ward includes St. Clair between Spadina Ave. and Winona Dr., says the new streetcar line was a prerequisite to attracting a good mix of development to the street. “Good public transit planning fits hand in glove with good land-use planning.”
The city’s official plan, he says, “recognizes that people are coming to Toronto in the tens of thousands on an annual basis,” so it’s been decided that major arterial streets, including St. Clair, will see an increase in density.
Buildings on the south side of St. Clair can now rise to nine storeys, while those on the north can be seven storeys. The previous maximum height was generally five storeys. The plan also allows buildings up to 25 storeys at the major intersection of Bathurst and St. Clair. The condos being built by Lash Development Corp. and The Goldman Group are 19 and 23 storeys. Mihevc says while he can’t reveal details at this point, developers have been expressing an interest in the area. “I’ve been here for 18 years now and no developer has ever come to me saying, ‘I want to do a development on St. Clair.’ Now they’re coming and they’re checking out properties, and (looking at) what’s possible and what’s not possible.
“So the St. Clair line has obviously spurred the kind of investment that we want.”
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