01-07-2016, 02:56 PM
So maybe take that "retaining wall" (which is really just a windowless wall which allows for cut-and-cover parking), lose a few parking spaces, and make a nice sidewalk along King with uptown/downtown-style storefronts packed along it. But the inside of the stores need only go back howevermany feet, whereupon you could still have parking behind that. Add in internal staircases that go up the 1-3 floors of that street facing streetfront, and you can have "rooftop" areas which fill into the main height of the common space.
Given that there is an unavoidable pedestrian nightmare, the enclosed, inactive underside of the rail bridge, it is critical that sidewalk-facing interaction begin as soon as possible on either side of the train tracks. The breithaupt block is already unappealing on the northeast side, as is the pharmacy school on the southwest side. If either of King's Crossing or the intermodal hub extend the dead area that will exist underneath the railway (which will feel like going under one of the many GO bridges in downtown Toronto, or, obviously, the Weber grade separation), the dead zone will risk becoming so large as to become unsafe, vandalized, and a true barrier between those who are north and south of the tracks.
If I had the money, I would have loved to see the grade separation be so wide as to have at least one floor of retail space extend *under* the bridge, so as to put eyes on the street for this otherwise shaded area.
Given that there is an unavoidable pedestrian nightmare, the enclosed, inactive underside of the rail bridge, it is critical that sidewalk-facing interaction begin as soon as possible on either side of the train tracks. The breithaupt block is already unappealing on the northeast side, as is the pharmacy school on the southwest side. If either of King's Crossing or the intermodal hub extend the dead area that will exist underneath the railway (which will feel like going under one of the many GO bridges in downtown Toronto, or, obviously, the Weber grade separation), the dead zone will risk becoming so large as to become unsafe, vandalized, and a true barrier between those who are north and south of the tracks.
If I had the money, I would have loved to see the grade separation be so wide as to have at least one floor of retail space extend *under* the bridge, so as to put eyes on the street for this otherwise shaded area.