Photos of 51 downtown Toronto constrction projects

[G W North]

ArchivisTower of Urban Toronto took pictures of 51 different buildings/projects (some of these projects conists of multiple buildings) under construction in downtown Toronto at this site:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/ybbk/BK/index.htm

[Delta]

It seems very thorough and a lot of work putting it together. An excellent record!!

Just going by the map, it seems that the current developments are spread all over. Are many buildings worthy of heritage are going under the hammer?

Also how much space in general is left for redevelopmet in the dowtown areas or is Toronto busting at the seams?

[G W North]

I don't have any numbers where I could say "MOST", but many (perhaps most?) of the projects are just going up on surface parking lots or empty, unused (and occassionally fenced off with barb-wire fence) parcels of land. If you could look at aerials of downtown Toronto from 6 or 7 years ago you'd see FAR more surface parking than exists now, probably 10s of acres worth. Where structures have come down they've been mostly small, insignificant, and unremarkable buildings.

There are still quite a few surface parking lots that could be developed. You don't really get a sense of this from oblique (angled) aerial pictures because unlike some other cities, most of downtown Toronto's parking lots are small (except by the freeway), and thus are hidden behind buildings in pictures. Yet even though the lots are fairly small, they're big enough for development.

[Delta]

O.K. G W North. Thankyou. No worries about figures, just an overall view.

I guess the world-wide phenomena of 'sexy" city-living ressurgance has deemed such parking lots redundant. Sitting there on million dollar land $$$. Also stack the cars on top of each other in a multiude of multi-story carparks, either underground or above...just out of the way and more economically vialbe. Makes sense.

A very different scenario of the cities in my country, which didn't see an abundance of parking lots in its cities (few but sparse), so it was a reflection, of what is happening more so here in my previous question.

Who would have thought all those car parking areas would have become developers' paradise without destroying any heritage buildings.

Lucky Toronto!