Underpass Park to be built beneath a maze of overpass bridges

Underpass Park to be built beneath a maze of overpass bridges. Scarborough Agincourt Councillor Norm Kelly, Waterfront Toronto Chair Mark Wilson, Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Toronto Centre-Rosedale Councillor Pam McConnell, and Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray participate in the Underpass Park groundbreaking ceremony recently. Staff photo/JOANNA LAVOIE

"We're joining a family of international cities," said Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray at a recent groundbreaking event for the new urban park.

"This is the first time it's ever been done in Canada."

The former Winnipeg mayor and current provincial Minister of Research and Innovation, Murray pointed to similar infrastructure repurposing projects in London, Paris, Madrid, Buenos Aires, New York City, Milwaukee and San Francisco, which, he said, have all helped greatly improve property values in the surrounding areas.

Murray said Underpass Park wouldn't have happened without the dedication and contributions of area residents such as Julie Beddoes and Cindy Wilkie, a 20-plus-year downtown east resident.

"To see something tangible and real is really rewarding," said Beddoes, who has lived in the Distillery Historic District for the last 11 years and sits on the board of the Gooderham and Worts Neighbourhood Association (GWNA). The GWNA is a member of the West Don Lands Committee, a coalition of community-based organizations advocating for positive and timely development on the waterfront.

"This will be such a fun space. The whole area is just being transformed at such a rate. To have it happen in my own backyard is thrilling," said Beddoes, adding she's pleased Waterfront Toronto accepts comments from the public and does its best to implement their suggestions.

Murray, Beddoes and several other stakeholders and supporters congregated beneath a dark underpass in Corktown May 26 to break ground on the new 315-metre-long park, which is set to be built beneath a maze of overpass bridges that cross the Don Valley Parkway at Eastern Avenue and Adelaide and Richmond streets. The underused land will be resurrected into a bright, fully accessible urban neighbourhood amenity that will compliment the new developments being built in the community.

Underpass Park will be located near the northeastern edge of the under-construction West Don Lands, a new mixed-use community bounded by Parliament Street to the west, the Don River to the east, King Street to the north and the rail corridor to the south.

Vancouver-based Landscape architect Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg, in collaboration with The Planning Partnership, designed the new public space with a "focus on the everyday" by making use of available sunlight and rain as well as the bridges' concrete columns and beams.

Mark Wilson, the waterfront agency's chair, said the new public space would transform a derelict, former industrial area into a great public amenity.

"This is going to be a very, very attractive park," he said before taking a few moments to thank all who supported this endeavour, notably the three levels of government.

Wilson said the development of this new urban space is part of Waterfront Toronto's ongoing commitment to creating mixed-use communities along the waterfront for all to enjoy.

Scarborough-Agincourt Councillor Norm Kelly, who attended the groundbreaking event on behalf of Mayor Rob Ford, called the new park a space that embraces "urban-ness" in a "very unique context."

Chair of the city's parks and environment committee and a former realtor, Kelly said Underpass Park is a great example of turning a lemon into lemonade.

"This truly will be delicious lemonade," he said, thanking the provincial and federal levels of government for their support as well as local Councillor Pam McConnell for her hard work.

The Toronto Centre-Rosedale representative said a once-dark, scary and uncomfortable place would soon connect two parts of a wonderful redevelopment project.

"It's an out-of-the-box park. This is not an ordinary infrastructure project," McConnell said, crediting Waterfront Toronto for having "the guts and the vision" to undertake such a project.

She said Underpass Park is an opportunity to take back a "scary space" and make it into a beautiful one.

The new park, which straddles three development blocks of the new West Don Lands community, will turn an otherwise nondescript 2.7-acre space into an exceptional public place for all ages.

Underpass Park will also include a public art component - award-winning artist and architect Paul Raff has been commissioned for the job - as well as mobile cafes. Another unique design feature is a series of ribbon-like concrete and wood structures to help guide people through the park.

Designers have anticipated the park could include community gardens, flexible public areas for markets and festivals, areas for active recreational sports like basketball, tennis and street hockey, sitting areas, children's play and climbing structures and planting areas for native wildflowers and grasses.

Further, the new park compliments Waterfront Toronto's environmental sustainability goals by repurposing reclaimed granite cobblestones for walkways, using recycled rubber materials for the recreational court surfaces and planting more than 50 trees to beautify and naturalize the space.

Underpass Park will be built in two phases, the first of which is expected to be complete by the end of 2011.