There's no doubt that Toronto is in the middle of another one of its big-thinking phases. The last one, which spanned the 60s and 70s, bequeathed us things like St James Town, Alexandra Park, and scores of slab buildings reaching out to the airport and beyond. Projects like the Lawrence Heights revitalization, whose draft plan was announced last week by Mayor Miller and
Toronto Community Housing (TCH), will determine whether this phase's legacy, which also includes
CityPlace, the Regent Park reconstruction and Concord Adex's planned $2-billion Park Place development of 42 acres along Sheppard between Bessarion and Leslie stations, leaves the city a better place or not.
The plan, which aims to begin demolition of the 1,208 social housing units in the 100-acre area by next year, will add between 4,300 and 4,800 market-price units, in addition to replacing the demolished social housing units. All of the approximately 3,500 people who currently lives in one of those units will have the right to live in the new community, with their moving costs covered by TCH.
As with most of the city's newdevelopments, Lawrence Heights will be a green project.
"Revitalization is about much more than just replacing housing that is in poor repair," says Keiko Nakamura, CEO of Toronto Community Housing, in a press release. "We're using the opportunity to incorporate green technology into new buildings and work with partners to improve parks, schools and transit and increase local jobs, training and community services. It will also mean the community has access to shops and services."
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: TorontoCommunity Housing