[URBAN NOTE] Toronto man faces charge of arson in Yonge and Gould fire

[rfmcdonald]

The intersection of Yonge and Gould, just north of Yonge and Dundas, is highly visible, not least since Gould Street is a major artery of the campus of Ryerson University (subject of a [PHOTO] post this April past) and is hosting some showy new architecture as that university expands.

Back in January 2011, Yonge and Gould was also the scene of a spectacular fire as a heritage building already damaged in a partial collapse burned to the ground. Arson was suspected from the beginning, and today, police announced an arrest.

Toronto police have charged a man in connection with two separate downtown fires, including one that prompted the demolition of a Yonge Street heritage building last year.

Insp. Gary Meissner told reporters on Monday afternoon that a male resident was arrested last Friday on an unrelated matter.

That arrest started a process in which officers investigated the suspect's connection to two fires — the blaze that gutted a three-storey building on the southeast corner of Yonge and Gould streets on Jan. 3, 2011, and a fire in a Toronto Community Housing building on Sackville Street last week.

The six-alarm blaze at 335 Yonge Street started at around 4 a.m. ET on Jan. 3, 2011. It took at least four hours to bring the fire under control, and firefighters were still hosing the building down at noon that day.

The building had to be demolished after the fire, leaving several tenants without a home, including the popular Salad King restaurant that has since relocated to the other side of Yonge Street.

I'll be curious if this did, as suspected, have anything to do with real estate speculation.