The proposed big box development in Leslieville has been getting a lot of attention lately, and not because it's a welcome addition to the retail streetscape in the east end. The land, the soon-to-be-former home of Toronto Film Studios, is currently zoned for employment purposes, which means that it's supposed to be used to provide jobs that pay better than retail. The city and SmartCentres, the property developer, have danced all the way to the......

"Honest Ed" Mirvish dies at 92. As the man himself would say: He may be gone, but his bargains sure aren't. Torontoist's obituary for him can be found here. Details on the funeral are here. Toronto police board still making up its mind about whether or not to approve Tasers. Insert bad joke about "shocking" here if you want to pretend that you are actually listening to Humble and Fred rather than reading Torontoist. New......

Welcome to Bad Buildings, Torontoist's new resident (anonymous, outspoken) architecture critic. Bad Buildings will appear every Wednesday. Hi there. So glad you could make it. Then again, you didn't really have a choice, did you? This being Toronto, bad buildings, alas, are all around you. Which is why we at Bad Buildings exist—not merely to chastise, decry, ridicule and spite (though there will be plenty of that) but, ultimately, to make our own selves obsolete.......

Picton residents cautiously unshuttered their windows and unbolted their doors after a 20-pound Japanese snow monkey was successfully sedated by police and returned to his home at a roadside zoo. A neighbour spotted the animal, which was taken down by police with a tranquillizer dart about half a kilometer from his cage. The Japanese macaque was first noticed missing from Bergeron's Exotic Animal Sanctuary on Sunday morning. Police immediately began an intensive monkey-hunt, with officers......

Last Thursday's 20th Anniversary bash for Artscape was a who's-who of Toronto arts philanthropy: the guest list boasted big names from around the city like Councillors Joe Mihevc and Gord Perks, Toronto Arts Council Executive Director Claire Hopkinson, Poet Laureate Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, and more. It was an evening of being seen, sampling a whirlwind of savoury hors d'oeuvres and trading congratulatory speeches with some of Toronto's most influential arts personalities. Artscape can......

Last week, we covered the Ontario Municipal Board's approval of a plan to build several condo buildings in the area of the Queen West Triangle. The plan has been controversial from the beginning, and has been strongly opposed by a residents group called Active 18. One point that has some particularly saddened is the teardown of the structure at 48 Abell, a one time industrial building converted to lofts which are used as live-work......

Almost 80,000 high school students applied to Ontario universities this year, and the universities are using the surge as a powerful bargaining chip. If you're a student of the University of Toronto, you'll know that the current strategy for dealing with this increase in enrollment is to pack the students in tight. With their debt climbing into the $100-million range, universities are demanding financial assistance from the government or they will stop accepting so......

Drake, you ho, this is all your fault. The Ontario Municipal Board has approved a high-rise residential project on Queen Street West at 48 Abell Street, just steps from the Gladstone and everything hipsters cherish about Toronto's arts scene. Developers intend to build 7 condos in total with affordable housing, and the ratio of "normal people" to "artists with cool hair" will be thrown into upheaval. Unfortunately, there's not much that we or neighbourhood-preservation......

Artists Jenn Goodwin and Jessica Rose are known around town as the artists behind the Movement Movement, a series of art performances that involve running around art venues like the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, or the Theatre Centre and even non-art venues like City Hall. This time the artists will be running for their homes. It turns out Jessica Rose lives in the condo threatened 48 Abell building. A long time home for artists......

The TTC has gotten approval to start construction on the St. Clair Right of Way. Hopefully this ends the protracted legal squabble that had more twists and turns than a John Grisham novel, including a decision overturned because one of the judges had a conflict of interest. Torontoist, has strongly supported faster, better transit and honestly doesn't feel that a ROW will destroy the neighbourhood like the folks at Save Our St. Clair claims. Inconvenience......

Young urbanites who want to own property have two choices. The first is to scour Toronto neighbourhoods for neglected houses that may prove to be financial albatrosses in need of repairs and renovations. The second choice is the condo. Or at least that's what Toronto Life would have you believe. February's issue (not online yet) touts the rise of the Condo Generation, 20 and 30-somethings that have decided to buy condos as starter homes, choosing......

At a party last Saturday night, I ended all my conversations with the snappy phrase, "You're Fired!" I thought this was a pretty funny way to exit a conversation, what with the popularity of the Donald Trump's new show The Apprentice. You see, in The Apprentice, Trump asks losing contestants to leave the show by telling them "you're fired" at the end of each episode. So I just took the line "you're fired" and put......