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The West Don Lands are the site of a
neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural a ...
under construction in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. The area is bordered by the
Don River The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its ...
, King Street, Parliament Street and the rail line adjacent to the
Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...
. It is in size. A former industrial area, the area is being rebuilt as a mixed-use neighbourhood.


History

After the purchase of Toronto, the area was set aside as a Crown Reserve when
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
was founded. The area from Berkeley east to the Don River and north to Queen Street was designated for a large city park. It was sold off to private developers in the 1830s to finance the construction of a new city hospital. The Corktown community grew and was home to working-class Irish immigrants. To the south, the
Gooderham and Worts Gooderham and Worts, also known as Gooderham & Worts Limited, was a Canadian distiller of alcoholic beverages. It was once one of the largest distillers in Canada. The company was merged in 1926 with Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd., and the merged fir ...
distillery was founded, and it dumped its waste in the area. It kept cattle and pigs in the area to feed off the distillery waste, but this introduced a manure problem. Railways came to Toronto in the 1850s, entering the Don Lands along the Don River from the north, and across the Don River from the east. The Don River was straightened and the Taddle Creek which ran through the area was buried. By the late nineteenth century, most of the land was industrial or owned by the railways, and it became the site of an array of factories and warehouses, including
William Davies Company William Davies Company was a pork processing and packing company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At one time, it was the largest pork packer in the British Empire, and it operated Canada's first major chain of food stores. The Davies Company and Gooderham's were prosperous in the first half of the twentieth century, but both sites were in decline. Davies merged with other meatpackers and moved the bulk of its operations to the west of Toronto. Gooderham's was merged with the
Hiram Walker distillery Hiram Walker (July 4, 1816 – January 12, 1899) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. distillery in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Walker was born in East Douglas, Massachusetts, and moved to Detroit in 1838. He p ...
and moved much of its production to the Hiram Walker facility out of town. The Davies Company closed in the 1980s, and Gooderham's closed in 1991. By the 1980s, the area was heavily polluted and not a desirable location for the industry, which sought locations for large one-story facilities in the suburbs. The area declined and much of the land abandoned as it required expensive clean-up before conversion to other uses. Another factor against conversion to other uses was that the lands were floodplains and as such could not be the site of residences.


Failed Ataratiri project (1987–2001)

In 1987, the area was expropriated by the Ontario government at the urging of Toronto mayor Art Eggleton. The city proposed creating a new community of 14,000 called Ataratiri to solve Toronto's pressing subsidized housing crisis. The Ataratiri project was to have consisted of a mix of subsidized and market-priced housing, similar to the development of the St. Lawrence neighborhood further west. The name for the project was taken from the Wyandot word for "supported by clay" in reference to the clay soil of the area. After investing a considerable amount of money purchasing and clearing the site, the project eventually failed to attract private investors. The industrial history meant the soil was highly polluted and needed expensive cleanup before any residents could live there. The risk of flooding from the Don River also required a flood barrier to be erected. By 1992, the city and province had already invested some million, and new estimates put the final cost at more than a billion dollars more. The real estate market had also collapsed, making any private investment unlikely. The new Ontario government of
Bob Rae Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of th ...
thus decided to cancel the project in 1992. The land sat mostly unused. A number of plans were advanced for the land. For a time the provincial government considered selling it to a developer who wanted to build a
harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Austral ...
facility, but local opposition put a halt to it. The lands were also a central part of Toronto's bid for the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
. In 2001, Ontario Premier
Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...
pushed for a complete redevelopment of Toronto's waterfront, but mayor
Mel Lastman Melvin Douglas Lastman (March 9, 1933 – December 11, 2021) was a Canadian businessman and politician who served as the third mayor of North York from 1973 to 1997 and 62nd mayor of Toronto from 1998 to 2003. He was the first person to serve ...
objected to the idea of removing parts of the
Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...
. During Lastman's six years in office, no progress was made on redeveloping the site.


Redevelopment (2001–present)

In 2001, the new
Waterfront Toronto Waterfront Toronto (incorporated as the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation) is an organization that oversees revitalization projects along the Toronto waterfront. Established in 2001 as a public–public partnership between the Cit ...
agency was commissioned by the federal, provincial and municipal governments to redevelop the Toronto waterfront. It was given the responsibility to take lands owned by either of the three levels of government in the waterfront area and make them available for development, sometimes building infrastructure such as parks or roads to make development possible. A flood protection landform was built to allow development to proceed. In 2006, the agency announced a new plan to create a residential community in the abandoned area. Under the overall plan of the Waterfront Toronto initiative, plans for the area include nearly 6,000 new residential spaces with twenty percent being allocated as 'affordable' or ' subsidized' housing. Redevelopment plans include extensive integration with Toronto transit routes and of public greenspace. The new
Corktown Common Corktown Common is a park in the south eastern portion of the West Don Lands neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada which opened in 2013. It borders the Don River (Ontario), Don River to the east. It was built on remediated industrial lands t ...
is to be the recreational core of the project, linking the Don Valley Discovery Walk to the Toronto waterfront. The location is central to providing improved non-vehicular access from throughout the city to hundreds of thousands of
pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...
s,
cyclists Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
,
inline skaters Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, ha ...
and
mobility scooter A mobility scooter is an electric vehicle and mobility aid mostly auxiliary to a power wheelchair but configured like a motorscooter. When motorized they are commonly referred to as a power-operated vehicle/scooter, or electric scooter. Non-mo ...
users. The plan was envisaged to take 12 years to develop. This changed in 2009 when it was announced that the West Don Lands would be the home of the athlete's village for the
2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...
. Bounded by Old Eastern Avenue, Cherry Street, Mill Street and Bayview Avenue, the development now is being referred to as
Canary District The Canary District is a housing development in Toronto's West Don Lands mixed-use development. Six initial buildings initially served as the 2015 Pan American Games Athletes' Village for the 2015 Pan American Games. Those buildings were then fini ...
. To build the athlete's village in six years, Infrastructure Ontario/Ontario Realty Corporation contracted out the development of the village on a "fixed-price" contract with developer DundeeKilmer for $514 million. This included roadways, a
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
and
George Brown College George Brown College is a public, fully accredited college of applied arts and technology with three campuses in downtown Toronto (Ontario, Canada). Like many other colleges in Ontario, GBC was chartered in 1966 by the government of Ontario and ...
student residence. The village buildings, encompassing 787 units, were completed in time for the games and individual units will be finished with kitchens and finishings for residents after the games. Two further residential buildings will be constructed by the developer. In August 2012, Toronto Mayor Ford officially opened Underpass Park, a new public space in the West Don Lands district. The
Corktown Common Corktown Common is a park in the south eastern portion of the West Don Lands neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada which opened in 2013. It borders the Don River (Ontario), Don River to the east. It was built on remediated industrial lands t ...
park to the east of Bayview was completed in 2013. It serves as open space, recreational space and a flood barrier for the development. Bayview Avenue was re-routed around the park to connect to Front Street at the west end of the park. In 2014,
Toronto Community Housing Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) is the public housing agency in Toronto, Ontario. A municipal corporation of the City of Toronto, TCHC provides approximately 60,000 units of housing to an estimated 165,000 residents, making it is t ...
opened three new buildings in the neighbourhood. A two-building four-storey apartment complex of 115 units for families opened at St. Lawrence and River Streets. An eight-storey building of 128 one-bedroom units for seniors opened on King Street East. Two heritage buildings at the corner of Front and Cherry were preserved and will be re-purposed at a future date. In August 2015, rails for a new streetcar line along Cherry Street were completed as far south as the Distillery District. The rails are in a right-of-way along the eastern side of Cherry and Sumach streets. The new
514 Cherry The 514 Cherry was a streetcar route of the Toronto streetcar system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that operated from June 19, 2016, until October 7, 2018. The 514 operated through the financial district and downtown Toronto between Dufferin Gat ...
streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
line began operation in June 2016. In April 2016, the conversion of the Pan-Am Games village was completed. The fencing around the area was removed and residents of the Canary District development moved into their buildings in May 2016. YMCA also opened in the same month. In fall 2016, the George Brown Student Residence building opened to students.


See also

* Port Lands * Corktown *
Regent Park Regent Park is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto, Ontario built in the late 1940s as a public housing project managed by Toronto Community Housing. It sits on what used to be a significant part of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood and ...
* St. Lawrence Market


References


External links

* {{Authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto Proposed populated places Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Toronto Waterfront Toronto Gentrification in Canada