The 1939 Machine Shop, the easternmost heritage building on the Foundry Site, is to be preserved and adaptively reused as a Community Space, owned by the City of Toronto. Developer Aspen Ridge as part of their responsibilities as the owner of the heritage site will do the design and heritage work required, and then hand it over to the City of Toronto.
The CDNA is working with the developer, the City, and neighbouring community associations to ensure that the eventual design and use of the space meets the needs of present and future residents.
Why It’s Important
This will be the only publicly-owned, programmable Community Space available to residents in the Canary District Neighbourhood. Our population today is more than 6,000, and that number will double in the next decade to more than 12,000 residents in 2029. It is vital that we treat the design of this Community Space with the forethought and care it deserves before work on the building starts.
Image: DRAFT Ground Floor Plan per Waterfront Toronto presentation of October 2023, amended to show Community Space (tinted green, under the letters "AFT" of "DRAFT
The Story
A community space is mentioned in the Minister's Zoning Order for the Foundry site, and making the 1939 Machine Shop into a community space is recommended in the June 2021 Heritage Impact Assessment, which to some extent guides the development. Aspen Ridge have indicated that they intend to build the community space and then hand it over to the City of Toronto as an in-kind component of the Community Benefit Charge developers are required to pay when building in Toronto.
Designs submitted to Waterfront Toronto in October 2023 show a basic box, wired and metered independently of the rest of the development, and with the entrance embedded in an awkward part of the site, buried deep in an area where pedestrians will have to contend with delivery vehicles while trying to find the front door.
The Community and the City have given feedback that the Community Space should have an entrance on Palace Street.
As representatives of the Community we are working with the City and with Aspen Ridge to ensure that sufficient thought and community input is applied to all aspects of the Community Space (not just the entrance) right from the beginning, so that its fundamental design will be sound and strong for future use.
According to Aspen Ridge, work on the heritage aspects of the building will start as early as summer 2024.
What You Can Do
- Learn about the Foundry Site here.
- Stay in touch with us by newsletter and social media to stay abreast of developments.
- Be prepared to contact City officials and/or other entities if need be to make the strength of our wishes known.