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rfmcdonaldOn the 6th of this month, blogTO's Amy Grief wondered if Dupont Street, notwithstanding its location by active rail tracks, might yet see a condo boom. The location is good, after all ...
I would go further and say it is likely to live.
Meanwhile, somewhat earlier on the 20th of July the Toronto Star noted that my neighbourhood specifically is starting to see an influx of art galleries. I live a minute east on Dupont from Cooper Cole gallery. Gentrification is beginning.
Gentrification is good, certainly inasmuch as the only alternative seems to be decay or collapse of some kind. I like my neighbourhood--Dovercourt Park, or Dovercourt Village, or Dupont Street, or whatever you want to call it--and I want it to do well. The problem, the huge and significant problem, with this all is that if gentrification continues this will not be my Neighbourhood any more. Rents rise, opportunities for housing close off, and sooner or later I will be forced to move. (But where?)
A thriving neighbourhood is a good neighbourhood. I wish only that I could figure out some way to stay here.
Dupont might be the street du jour with developers, restaurateurs and gallerists looking to build up what was once a predominantly industrial street. Construction of Fuse Condos is already well underway, which will soon bring 23 and 27 storey towers to Dupont and Lansdowne, but the portion of the street to the east could also see a major injection of density.
Might, however, is the key word. The idea of a large scale development on the north side of Dupont just west of Spadina has been floating around for at least eight years, but the Wynn Group was never able to get approval from the city.
That's because the north side of Dupont from Kendal to Ossington runs directly in front of a busy Canadian Pacific Railway line. And, this stretch of land used to be zoned as as an employment area; meaning residential buildings weren't permitted. Now, as noted in a CBC report, they're allowed, but, according to the city, they must be set back 30 metres from the rail corridor and can be only mid-rise.
Still, the prospect of a large scale development here just won't die.
I would go further and say it is likely to live.
Meanwhile, somewhat earlier on the 20th of July the Toronto Star noted that my neighbourhood specifically is starting to see an influx of art galleries. I live a minute east on Dupont from Cooper Cole gallery. Gentrification is beginning.
"Road to Ruin" is the name of the inaugural exhibition at Cooper Cole gallery’s brand-new space on Dupont and Dufferin Sts., though its proprietor, Simon Cole, intends the opposite effect.
After years on Dundas West, the gallerist pulled up stakes and relocated to an unlikely spot, chased by escalating rents and a growing priority on late-night food and drink ― especially drink ― in his former neighbourhood.
He’s not alone: In the past couple of months, four other galleries ― Erin Stump Projects, PM Gallery, Angell Gallery and Neubacher Shor ― have begun their resettlement to this improbable nexus, anchored by the world-weary Galleria shopping centre on the southwest corner, a McDonald’s and a string of car audio and appliance warehouses.
There is already an artists’ presence here, though, with clusters of studios strung from Dovercourt Rd. west to Dundas. This recent influx only makes it official, and visible.
It comes as no surprise. Art has always nudged at the city’s frontiers in a predictable pattern of forced migration: Art moves in, imbuing a worn-at-the-corners neighbourhood with an instant cache; new businesses follow, looking to capitalize on the sudden sheen, attracting new, more moneyed residents; rents go up; and art moves out.
Gentrification is good, certainly inasmuch as the only alternative seems to be decay or collapse of some kind. I like my neighbourhood--Dovercourt Park, or Dovercourt Village, or Dupont Street, or whatever you want to call it--and I want it to do well. The problem, the huge and significant problem, with this all is that if gentrification continues this will not be my Neighbourhood any more. Rents rise, opportunities for housing close off, and sooner or later I will be forced to move. (But where?)
A thriving neighbourhood is a good neighbourhood. I wish only that I could figure out some way to stay here.
