Bullish City Sets its Sights on the Matador
In a thinly veiled attempt at reclaiming some real estate, city officials are setting their sights on the famed Matador after-hours bar, and are apparently stopping at nothing to ensure that it's leveled to the ground and paved for parking. The city initially approached the Matador's owners with an offer of $800,000 which was quickly turned down by the bar's owners, who are prepared to sell, but want a hell of a lot more than the initial offer.
While the city's prepared to make another offer, they're also ready to strong-arm the bar into closing by expropriating the land if the next one is rejected. All of this for, get this, a mere 20 parking spaces that the city wants to make available for the area.
The country music club has been around for over forty years, and appeals to those who think "last call" is just a suggestion, serving clients from well into 5am Friday to Sunday. Called "a pure piece of Torontonia", and "a club with a difference", since it's owned by grandmother Ann Dunn.
Over the years it's also been host to a number of celebrities, and its iconic signage and atmosphere make it one of the classic bars in Little Italy. Too bad that officials want to see the bar paved over to make space for a paltry 20 parking spaces at the highly coveted (and valued) College & Dovercourt location.
Toronto Parking Authority president Gwyn Thomas claims that they have "...identified that area as high-demand (for parking)," but what kind of precedent does this set for the city, and how does this represent its priorities in terms of the livability of the neighbourhood. Sure, some might argue that more parking for area residents might be more beneficial than a 4am drinking hole, but with traffic already a disaster at best in the city, do we really want to encourage more drivers to get on the road?
In the same vein, let's not kid ourselves; a parking lot in the city of Toronto exists for about as long as a free round of shots on the Matador's bar at 3am. The space is destined to become a condo construction site (with inevitable underground parking), so this move to me reeks of a city desperately looking for ways of generating cash, historic businesses be damned.
As the city continues to face issues like this that any cash-strapped city would, I think it's important to preserve our culture, and more than anything, for city officials to be mindful of how moves like this look to area residents and to the rest of Toronto. It sets a dangerous precedent, one where a city will stop at nothing to salvage some cash to fund the repair of an sinking ship.
Update: A couple of Facebook groups have sprung up shortly after this went live: 'Save The Matador', created by Joe Farrell (who claims in the comments to be Ann Dunn's grandson) and 'Save The Matador! Stop the City from Bulldozing it!' by Michelle Bake. I should re-state, as I did in one of the groups, that the owners want to sell, just not for $800k. So maybe they don't necessarily want saving.
Photo by blogTO Flickr pooler inventor_77. Thanks!
Comments (24)
One more reason why the City of Toronto should not be in the off-street parking business. If every lot TPA owns was privatised, it would go some way towards paying for replacement streetcars on College Street for all these parkers.
It had to be done.
I created a Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7493925714
Thanks Adam & blogTO for the news!!
Has it occurred to Toronto Parking Authority president Gwyn Thomas that the area is "high-demand (for parking)" BECAUSE the Matador is there?
I have a rather insider view of this whole ordeal as Ann Dunn is my grandmother. I'll be posting updates in the facebook group I created.
Thanks blogto for caring!
Regardless of how you feel about the Matador, I love it, the price is way too low. There are other spaces in that area that sat vacant for years and the City did nothing. What about 14 division which moving across the street a block south...c ould they not use land that they already own to make a lot ?
Wow! What a perfect example of how creatively bankrupt the City bureaucracy has become. The Matador has an almost legendary status in the City's collective psyche and the best we can come up with is ... parking lot? Even if the current owners are not interested in running the place, I'm sure any promoter with a pulse could turn this into a interesting, club, bar, hall, gallery, ... whatever. Even some sort of themed tourist-trap version of the Matador would be better.
This even makes the Leon's proposal for the Roundhouse look good in comparison.
Ugh.
Maybe the city saw the horrific state of disrepair that the signage is in and assumed that the place was abandoned? I know I would.
First I would like to say that the prices for the houses on Dovercourt are selling for half a million, and the city wants to buy the Matador for a little more than that? Not to mention the fact that this piece of property is larger than all houses on Dovercourt and buyers would have flexibilty to turn the place into a commercial or residential space. Now a 20 car parking lot!? FYI - there is a parking lot right beside 14 division just a couple of minutes from the Matador and the YMCA which personally, I never see full.
The city did purchase something very important recently and has no intention of tearing it down- the Brunswick Theatre. Creatively bankrupt?
Just a block away, there is already an open lot... its been sitting empty for years, probably an old gas station.
This article reeks of editorialising. The matador wants to sell, the city made an offer. I agree with people posting here, the bigger story should be how the city can make such a big offer while whining about budget woes. The city isn't bullying anyone... you've got the wrong spin on this story.
However, if you really care about run-down bars which the owners obviously aren't keeping up and its melancholic hipster ?character? appeal.... instead of making facebook groups, go to city hall and voice your opinion - or better yet recommending that readers speak to their local counselors...
Anyhow if you want to write a story, do so, instead of whining and feigning outrage.
FYI: No, it's not a possessive. It's a contraction, and a grammatically acceptable way to say "the city is".
Derek, thanks for your comment. I never claimed that they didn't want to sell (as I've stated twice in the post), only that the city is planning to expropriate the land if the next offer is declined.
In my eyes, that behaviour is bullish.
i just can't get over that the city, which pleads poverty, is willing to spend over a million to make 20 parking spaces. The building is a historic building!
http://www.toronto.ca/councillors/giambrone1.htm
This made me laugh. The city councillor, Adam Giambrone who stands behind the expropriation of the Matador SAYS that he "has ambitious goals for increasing TTC ridership and improving service." So, a 20 car parking lot is the solution?? for the YMCA!? where people go to work out and be physically fit... not to mention, people of the community (which means they dont have to travel that far to get there)Funny, isn't it? Why then, isn't the money going into the TTC to allow better access around the city, or to the YMCA? Or to other health facilities??
Back from City Hall!! People Got The Power Baby!!
Victory! It took less than 2 minutes for the City to vote to rescind the expropriation of our venerable Toronto music landmark - The Matador.
It got heated, lots of passion spilled out into the hall outside Room B at City Hall today shortly after 4pm.
I'm uploading photos and video shortly.
It's not over yet. Now it's time to re-imagine The Matador! No last call, no 20 parking spots!
:)
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