Hume: Attempt to liven Bloor/Islington

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Bloor and Islington is not the sort of place you’d find pictured on a postcard of Toronto, or even Etobicoke for that matter. Indeed, it has almost nothing to recommend it other than the enormous potential of the intersection, especially the northwest corner. Today it’s the location of a large transit hub; that will soon be moved to the Kipling station further west as it takes over as the main transit point between Mississauga Transit and the TTC.

Plans call for a street-friendly development with three towers lined up along Bloor. There will also be sidewalk-level retail and amenities. They will make a welcome change from the large swaths of asphalt and the rather mean public realm.

But travel off the main roads and immediately one encounters lowrise neighbourhoods made up largely of post-war housing and highrise enclaves that have not fared as well. Islington, which has little to offer, functions as a city highway, hostile to pedestrians.

Eventually, of course, the area will be transformed by development, much of which will be more urban in its densities than Etobicoke is used to. Given the presence of the subway and other forms of public transit, this makes a lot of sense. Through it all, Bloor east of Islington appears to be a healthy urban street whose buildings are occupied by shops, restaurants and the like. But that ends abruptly at Islington, where the old version of the new city begins. It was all about the car, not people, and the results are plain to see.

chume@thestar.ca

Condo Critic

Kingswood on Bloor, 3391 Bloor St.: Sitting on the southwest corner of Bloor and Islington, this midrise condo does its fair share to bring a much needed sense of urbanity to the intersection. It addresses the street directly, which means it fits its site better than many such buildings in this part of the city.

The glass-and-concrete structure stands 11 storeys at its high point at the corner, but then drops down to six to the west. The complex rests atop a one-floor podium that helps bring it down to human scale. It provides welcome relief from the leaden quality of so many residential towers constructed in Etobicoke. In another context, 3391 might not stand out as it does here, a happy addition to the neighbourhood.

GRADE: B

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Email us at condos@thestar.ca

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