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The Eglinton Crosstown line is going to open, here in Toronto, sometime next year -- I think. And I'm sure that it is going to be a massively beneficial addition to Toronto's transit network. But at the same time, we should be talking about this:
Urban transit stations shouldn't look like this. It's a missed opportunity, both in terms of the foregone housing (and other uses) that could be on top of these stations and the additional value that could have been captured from these air rights. Transit is a crucial lever for land values and development overall, and so it's no wonder that many of the best transit authorities around the world think in terms of "rail + property".
So what happened here?
I don't know exactly. But I do know that nearly a decade ago I called up Metrolinx and said, "Hey, so I'm a developer who can build things. I see that you're building a number of exciting transit stations along Eglinton. Want me to build on top of them for you?" Now obviously Metrolinx wasn't going to be able to sole-source to Brandon, but regardless, I thought it should happen and I just hoped to be in the mix.
In 2015, things did start to happen. Avison Young, on behalf of Metrolinx, issued a request for proposal to developers for 4 sites/stations along the line. There were two at Keele Street, one at Weston Road, and one at Bathurst Street. And at the time, it was thought that these sites could generate somewhere between $14-22 million (speaking of reasonable).
I think it was also being viewed as a bit of a pilot. If things went well with these 4 initial sites, then this same approach was going to be rolled out across all suitable sites on the line. I'm not sure what happened with the RFP or the broader intent -- maybe some of you know -- but it clearly didn't pan out as planned.
That's too bad. But I suppose done is better than perfect. Plus, now we're building the Ontario Line and so we have another opportunity to get it right. And right means lots of density on top of stations -- both directly on top and all around it.
https://youtu.be/ATUzsuOYKeE
I often hear people lamenting about all of the construction that is taking place right now at Yonge & Eglinton in midtown Toronto. But that's kind of what happens when you build a new subway line (okay, a partially buried light rail transit line). Above is a recent drone video that Metrolinx released showing the progress at Eglinton Station (I think I would have gone with a little Booka Shade for the soundtrack instead). I bet that most of you will be surprised to see how much is happening beneath street level. If you can't see the above video, click here.
This past weekend it was announced that ground has been broken (i.e. construction has started) on the new Ontario subway line that will connect Exhibition / Ontario Place to the Science Centre by way of the light purple line labeled "C" on the above map. (The other image is a rendering of the proposed Exhibition station.)
This transit line has gone through many permutations over the years and was previously called the Downtown Relief Line (but that was seen as too downtown-centric); the Yonge Relief Line (still too specific); the Relief Line (not Ontario-specific enough, I guess); and probably a bunch of other names corresponding to various lines on a map.
So it is exceedingly easy to be cynical when you hear of an announcement like this. Is it really happening? Are we actually building new and much-needed transit? And as you might imagine, if you read through the chatter on Twitter, you will find an overabundance of this sort of cynicism, along with what appears to be a general dissatisfaction with the current state of everything.
But in my simple view, I reckon that it is far better to be starting construction on an important new transit line than not starting construction on an important new transit line. So this is exciting! Let's go! If you'd like to learn more, I also tweeted out the initial renderings for the 14 stations that are planned for the Ontario Line.
Images: Province of Ontario
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