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Newsstand: January 29, 2015
As January draws to a close, let's take a moment to check in with all those resolutions that were made a few short weeks ago. Are they still alive, or have they been kicked to the curb yet? In the news: A Liberty Village condo project gets nixed, Maple Leaf Gardens gets evacuated, and the new TTC streetcar facility will likely sit empty when it opens.
After three years of waiting, close to 200 would-be condo owners learned that the Liberty Village condo project they had invested in has been cancelled. While the building site was behind schedule, people who paid deposits said they had no indication from developer Urbancorp that the project would be cancelled in favour of turning the site into rental units. Since making the announcement, Urbancorp has promised that all deposits will be returned with interest. Toronto real estate developer Brad Lamb says that turning projects into rentals is becoming a trend in the city because it eliminates a lot of stress for developers when they can coordinate the sale of units with a single investor.
Toronto Fire Services began receiving calls at 7:40 p.m. on Wednesday about a strong odour at Maple Leaf Gardens. Shortly after they arrived on the scene, the building was evacuated, including the neighbouring Mattamy Athletic Centre, while hazmat crews searched for the source of the irritant. One person who reported throat irritation was taken to hospital, while several others reported coughing and trouble breathing. By 9 p.m. hamzmat crews said that the irritant no longer appeared to be in there air, but the entrance to the building remained blocked and the building remained closed until 10:30 p.m. The source of the irritant is still unknown.
The swanky new home for the Toronto Transit Commission’s fleet of swanky new streetcars will likely be practically empty when it opens later this year because of delays in the delivery of the vehicles by maker Bombardier. The Leslie Barns are located at Leslie Street and Lake Shore Boulevard, and cost $500 million to construct—nearly double the original price. Intended as home of the 204 new streetcars purchased by the TTC in 2009, the Leslie Barns were to house the 43 new cars that were supposed to be in service by this time. That expectation was eventually scaled back to 15 by the manufacturer. As of today, only three are in service with a fourth car joining the fleet next month. Beyond that, no strict timelines have been set for any other deliveries. Bombardier has placed some of the blame for its tardiness on supply-chain issues and a nine-week strike along with the unique needs of streetcar construction for the Toronto market, but new TTC chair Josh Colle says it is time to put more pressure on them to deliver faster. “My hope and part of my job is to make sure that that barn is not as empty as it probably will be. We need this fleet to get on the road. The reason we’re building this barn is for these streetcars,” says Colle.