Toronto is Bursting with Activity - You Just Have to Look for it!

Let’s put aside the statistics for a moment. Forget the sudden comeback of multiple offers and the endless debate

about emerging neighbourhoods (although if you’re interested, the finest resource of late has been the Globe and Mail’s property map).

Toronto is literally buzzing with changes that suggest excitement. From the larger scale initiatives to more modest community-centric investments, there’s a palpable and consequential change out there.

Zip along Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway and there’s still a sea of cranes - finishing the Bay Richmond Centre, breaking ground on the much anticipated M5V, swinging bits into Midtown’s Burano and transforming West Queen West with the Bohemian Embassy. Toronto’s waterfront is finally feeling exciting again, with Corus Entertainment’s building well underway and the upcoming rejigging of Queens Quay Blvd all but confirmed. Just wait until Tedco releases the next phases of the Donlands area. Or don’t wait, and explore Corktown (thanks to Streetcar Developments) or the slow march forward of the Distillery District.

The cranes also mark some very important social renewal. Whether it’s the expansion of St. Michael’s hospital with Li Ka Shing’s Knowledge Institute, the total re-imagination of Regent Park or the brand new social housing projects near King West and King East in the downtown core, this city is changing in meaningful ways. On the heels of th

e cultural building renaissance of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the ROM and the Four Seasons Centre we now await the Sony Centre and Bell Lightbox at Festival Centre. Not to mention Ryerson’s growing presence in the Yonge and Dundas area.

If it all seems like a lot - it is! This city is building again. And dreaming again: new TTC streetcars, a new pedestrian-friendly design for Roncesvalles and Jarvis Streets, the Wychwood Barns renewal, the Evergreen Brick Works coming back into use and a massive street furniture program that is finally showing some results. It’s bloody exciting.

Despite the ‘challenges’ of the last several months, there are important projects and changes afoot that will improve the city’s standing as a place to LIVE. Keep your eyes open today, and look around you. The cranes, the hoarding, the public consultations and the online blogs all point to a richer Urban Experience in Toronto. I’m bloody delighted to be experiencing it.