City
Residents rally to save Liberty Village from new condo
A proposed new condo building is causing a stir among a group of local residents of Liberty Village who say the planned 32-storey tower is unwelcome in the area. Liberty Market Tower project is still in the pipes, but it could mean the demolition or substantial re-working of historic parts of the Liberty Market Building complex at 171 East Liberty Street.
Lifetime Developments - the company behind the Yorkville Four Seasons hotel and the Liberty Market Building itself - envisions retail units at street level, six levels of office space, and twenty-five floors of live-work apartments in the building, which is of comparable size to others under construction in the area.
After renderings of the proposed structure were released last week, worried residents started a petition on Facebook to voice their concerns. The Liberty Market Building itself is a fixture in the neighbourhood and home to start-ups and small businesses as well as restaurants like Origin Liberty Village, Merci Mon Ami and the numerous residents of the Liberty Market laneway. They've done a lot over the past decade to move the neighbourhood forward so perhaps it's not surprising that they want to continue to expand upon a good thing.
Perhaps as a sign of things to come, the landlord recently terminated the lease of KingWest Fitness, a gym that occupied one of the units at the centre of the proposal.
"Liberty Village does not need another tower," says Kevin Knott, an 8-year resident of the area and a founder of the petition, "it's crazy how busy it is down here right now with the density and there's really only two ways in and out of Liberty Village. We're just so against it for those reasons."
The dissenting voices look like they have support. Local Councillor Mike Layton also has concerns about the effect this condo and several others like it under construction nearby will have on Liberty Village's relatively small streets.
"I had immediate concerns over just how much density we expect Liberty Village can take," he says. "My first reaction was a knee-jerk 'we don't need another condo.' When you think of it a little bit more we want to make sure we use all the space appropriately and there are some spaces there that aren't best used."
In a letter to Layton, the group say the area is "stretched beyond its limits" and call for an end to all new development in the neighbourhood.
The "live-work" units envisioned by the developer are crucial to the building getting the green light. According to Layton, the official plan for the area does not allow purely residential units, the developer must build apartments that provide workspace for tenants. The precise form that would take isn't clear, though the units could include some workshop space.
Lifetime Developments did not return my calls and emails.
A public meeting to discuss the building is scheduled for the next few weeks. The proposal itself will likely go before the local community council in January. Do you have any thoughts on the proposal? Has Liberty Village reached critical mass?
Further reading:
- What Liberty Village looked like before the condos
- Central Prison chapel to get a restaurant makeover
More images:
Images: WallmanArchitects/City of Toronto
Discussion
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It's too bad - Liberty Village is very quickly turning into a dark, dusty canyon of tall towers with micro-units. It doesn't look like there's much of a plan happening there.
Liberty Village is a perfect example of a missed opportunity. Too bad, because it has great bones too.
The streets are bullshit.
The traffic is bullshit.
The buildings are bullshit.
A perfect example of horrible urban planning.
And this whole live/work criteria is a complete scam to get away with having the project approved. Lifetime Dev's Liberty Market Lofts project also boasts the live/work environment and guess what, they just have the name the "den" the "office" and the project is considered as a live/work multi-purpose building.
If the city doesn't have the money to spend on establishing green spaces or beautifying the area with proper walkways, etc., maybe the city can bargain with the condo developers that a percentage of the moneys profitted should go back into the community.
I hardly think one more tower in there is going to destroy what has already been ruined.
I look at how much of "Freedville", as it's called, has been developed, and the scale and architecture would've been much more appropriate in L.V. What happened? The place is a travesty now, and I fear for the historic buildings that haven't been touched yet. The west end towards Dufferin is relatively unmolested, but for how long?
Liberty Village is not the only neighbourhood threatened. Little by little, private homes and private businesses will vanish, only to be replaced by towers and american-owned businesses on the ground floor. The new Aura condo at Yonge & Gerrard has an american-owned business open and the building isn't even completed! The condo madness isn't just downtown either, it's everywhere!
What a shame these condos are allowed to be built without public consultation in your neighbourhoods. Developers know how you feel but don't care about your hot air, just the $$$$. One more thing, follow the paper trail. Developers aren't all Canadian, mostly foreign-owned, includind Red Communist China.
When these new buildings go up, they don't come with new roads, new parks, or new grocery stores. They just get crammed into the existing structure with no thought to how 600 more people are going to function in the new space. Developers have to do wind studies on the proposed building, but where are the "will the neighbourhood suddenly suck" studies?
Personally, I like to funnel my money back into our own country, and that includes making sure the goods and services aren't being outsourced. Same goes for buying glass and other finishings from China; it's ridiculous. Canada has plenty of glass manufacturers on standby. Developers already charge ludicrous prices, is sourcing cladding from Canada over China really going to make/break the financials of a half a billion dollar condo development? And then we wonder why the glass explodes and falls from its framing.
I know that most people don't think you can change the development plan, but that's just not true. There are countless examples in the city of effective community participation.
http://www.legroupeibi.com/case/liberty_village.html
The profit builders make is titanic. It is a real joke. Once the builder sells the units there is zero risk for him, all of the risk is held by the buyers, then the banks. The builder gets his massive profit all at once, where the bank facilitates the loan and waits for the slow pay back from the mortgage holder. As a result of this, the builder does not give a fuck, he sells the units and wipes his hands clear of the thing. Building standards are so low that he does this in a shockingly cheap fashion.
The Toronto Star needs to do an investigative report into how builders do their thing, from the bottom up and the profits involved, and the cost to the local communities. I bet a ton of stuff would be uncovered. The fat cats have no community vision, no vision at all really, other than the vision of DOSH. Our politicians should be livid, pounding the table for redress on behalf of their constituents, and themselves, if they have any sense at all.. They are not outraged. Where is the politician with passion, who will stand up, raise the mantle, and say, "Enough is enough". It seems all the politicians are very "middle roady" with this issue, and if that's the case, they need to be thrown out of office by us. Also, what's with Ana Bailo and her desire for a casino at the EX? Citizens of her riding, please stop her.
http://app.toronto.ca/DevelopmentApplications/associatedApplicationsList.do?action=init&;folderRsn=3214227
It does seem though that the tower should be moved to the east of the site to create more separation from the high-density lot across the street. The project isn't recommending anything all that drastic. It's going to bring in more retail for the area, which might not seem important at the moment, but with all the approvals that get built over the next 4-5 years, more retail will be needed. It's also going to bring more employment use back Liberty Village, which was the whole point of LV before condos were introduced as a land use.
my support you need to build somthing in my ward that make me look good for re-election. Developer agrees and project goes through with minor tweeks to appease citizen groups. Council member gets re-elected on back of developer dollars. Start again, repeat.
The closed door negotiations between councillors and developers needs to be opened to the public.
They are from Toronto too!
Developers don't just propose a building and make a boatload of cash from building it. They get that money from the people paying for all the units in it. If a condo buyer doesn't take the time to investigate the quality and history of the company building their condo before buying a pre-built unit, then they can deal with the consequences. If they don't even bother to walk around the area they are buying into before buying the unit, then again they can deal with the consequences of an overly congested area.
Seriously, 8 years old?
"Invest in Good Design."
We did?
As a resident, I'm not against additional condos being built, and I'm not against greater density. In fact, the proposed building in question has some positive features. What I didn't sign on for when I moved into LV, and what many of the residents are protesting is against the current trend in this entire city for developers to receive permission to build high-rise condo blocks where ever there's space left, without any concrete plans from the city to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place to support the level of density.
For example, the east bound King Street car at Strachan is already packed at morning rush-hour and while the TTC has increased the service, there are no confirmed plans that the route will be serviced by the soon-to-be introduced, higher capacity streetcars anytime in the near future. At this point, there are still a number of buildings in LV under construction whose residents haven't moved in, so we haven't even begun to see the true strain on infrastructure in this area. But still, a developer wants to put in yet another tower.
So some of you can claim all you want that condo owners protesting new condos is like the pot calling the kettle black, but this protest isn't just about LV. It's about the stupid development in this entire city that permits developers to make huge profits while contributing nominally toward the success of the communities where their buildings will be located.
The argument that there isn't enough transit in the area and therefore we should stop all development doesn't make sense to me. If that were the case we would never develop in most of Toronto. Transit is a city issue, not the developers problem. If people are willing to buy condos in LV, then obviously people prefer living in a vibrant neighborhood even if it's a little congested. The gardiner expressway is right next door, and ttc will/should eventually increase service as demand increases. But the great thing about density is you can walk/bike to work instead of drive, and it makes it easier to service by public transit. Condo owners complaining about another condo next door is just NIMBYism at it's most extreme.
And no - I am not a condo owner complaining about another condo next door. I'm someone who has lived here a long time, who loved what it used to be, who got used to what it is now, and who is completely fed up with developers and city officials who couldn't care less about actual community planning.
The area is called Liberty village b/c it represented the freedom of reform of the prison system - the famous women's reformatory that used to stand in LV was infamous for torture and other horrible things. Now, there are 25 story buildings there creating their own kind of torture.
I'm selling my place and moving north to Queen or east to Leslieville. Property values will suffer from this eventually.
If you look at the planning guide http://www.toronto.ca/planning/king_liberty.htm you can see this building was never part of the original (award winning) plan where most all others were. So is it frustrating, absolutely but not because it is another tower, but one never in the plan and one the infrastructure cannot support.