Subject: Ten Editions Bookstore
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2017
From: Carolee O.
Major Heritage Decision Impacts University of Toronto and Daniels Corporation Plans
Ten Editions Bookstore building at the corner of Sussex and Spadina received unanimous approval for heritage designation from the Toronto Heritage Preservation Board on Jan. 26, 2017. This initiative will be considered next by Toronto and East York Community Council, then City Council.
The University of Toronto and Daniels Corporation have applied for a re-zoning to build a 23-storey, 549-bed residence for mostly first-year students on the site, a plan which would require the demolition of the Bookstore building. A heritage report prepared for the University as part of the re-zoning had declared the building had no heritage value. City staff did not agree.
Designation is the highest form of protection and would impact the University’s plans. At the HPB hearing, Wendy Duff traced her family’s 34-year history operating the second hand bookstore in the ground floor of the Victorian building. Long time Robert Street resident Norman Track, who in his youth knew the building as the first owner’s grocery store, gave an eloquent account of the importance of the bookstore to a community so close to a University. HVRA has supported the designation and asked the City to ensure no demolition take place while the heritage process is underway.
Heritage Preservation Board denied a request for a deferral from the University of Toronto’s lawyers, who described the process as ‘hasty.’ (The designation arose through a motion for heritage evaluation by then Councillor Ceta Ramkhalawansingh in 2014).The University could challenge a Council approval at the Heritage Conservation Board—a body similar to the OMB.
HVRA has commissioned a story on the bookstore and its significance to the community for our spring newsletter. We welcome your thoughts and memories. The City’s designation recommendation has a full history and analysis of the building.
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/pb/bgrd/backgroundfile-100475.pdf
In a separate but related process, City Planning is continuing its evaluation of the University’s application. Among its concerns are height, density, wind, massing, shadow and transition to the neighbourhood. The public meeting on the application was held Jan. 16, 2017. While the University has moved to include an unspecified but greater proportion of older students, the community once again expressed worries about the numbers and demographic mix of students, the presence of a cafeteria, the height and massing of the buildings. For the preliminary planning report see:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2016/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-96746.pdf