Toronto's newest development The Well a pedestrian oasis but misses mark on affordability, some say

CBC.ca
July 17, 2023

More than a decade in the making, a sprawling mixed-use development in Toronto's fashion district is finally nearing completion, but some are concerned the city missed a chance to require affordable housing as part of it.

The development, called The Well, aims to inject some European-influenced, pedestrian-first space to the city's downtown core, and includes apartments, offices, retail space and a public square resembling an open-air atrium.

"There are no roads on this site," said David Pontarini, co-founder of Hariri Pontarini Architects, who created the project's master plan. "It's all pedestrian focused and pedestrian oriented. So it really is about connecting to the community and providing a five-minute or a 15-minute city where people can live here, walk to work, walk to shopping."

David J. Lieberman, an associate professor emeritus at the University of Toronto's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, said there positive aspects to the development but has concerns about its upscale nature.

"I think prioritizing the pedestrian is very good," he said. "But are we not building yet another neighbourhood for the privileged few? Yes, there are rentals. But if we read the not-so-fine print, the rentals are all high-priced rentals."

A spokesperson for The Well declined to comment when asked about Lieberman's comments.

City says it didn't 'drop the ball'
Ken Greenberg, president of the Wellington Place Neighbourhood Association, says the association has been involved in the project from the outset and that one of their priorities was for it to include the pedestrian path network that will bind it together.

But Greenberg says when it comes to the price of the rental units, which start at $2,524 per month for a studio and go to $6,553 per month for a three-bedroom unit, the city should have used inclusionary zoning to make the residential units include affordable housing.

A path between residential buildings with a glass canopy.
A path leading to the public square at the Well. (Paul Borkwood/CBC)
The city's inclusionary zoning policy is supposed to require new developments to include affordable units.

"The city wasn't prepared to require that or work with the developers to achieve that," he said.

The city pushed back against Greenberg's assessment.

"To clarify, the City of Toronto did not "drop the ball'," said an email statement from Toronto's city planning division.

At the time that The Well's zoning by-law amendments were approved, in 2017, there was no provincial inclusionary zoning regulation and the city didn't have the ability to require new affordable housing, the statement said.

The city is still waiting for provincial approval to implement inclusionary zoning and it won't apply retroactively, according to the department.

While there may be no affordable housing there, a number of other community benefits were secured as part of the project, the planning division added. These benefits include, among other things, a lease for a not-for-profit childcare centre and money toward streetscape improvements, the completion of a local YMCA and a new crosswalk on Wellington Street West.

Not another shopping mall: developers
The most public facing portion of the development is the open-air retail space connected by public pathways to a public square.

The retail space, expected to open this fall, was designed by London-based BDP, who wanted King Street West's industrial past to inform The Well, according to principal Adrian Price. BDP also designed Maison de Radio Canada in Montreal.

"What was great for us was that the brief was not to design a shopping mall. It was not to be another Eaton Centre," Price said.

To create a multi-level shopping centre without having it look like a mall, architects took inspiration from surrounding buildings that had former lives with industrial uses. According to a city website, during the first half of the 20th century, the space around the development was Toronto's primary manufacturing and warehouse area.

"So we thought, we'll actually think of this like warehouses, with these bridges crossing," Price said.

Minimizing need for air conditioning
The retail space is three floors. The lowest level connects to a public square, flanked by wide staircases with amphitheatre style seating. That square will be home to outdoor performances and public events, according to Pontarini.

A man stands in front of a shopping area under construction.
David Pontarini, of Hariri Pontarini Architects, says the space was designed to maximize on breeze and shade in place of air conditioning. (Paul Borkwood/CBC)
Covered by the canopy but still technically outside, the retail space is noticeably cooler than standing on the street. That's thanks to studies on how the residential and office towers cast shade and the way wind moves through them, according to Pontarini.

When it comes to sustainability, minimizing air conditioning needs plays a large role, he said.

"A traditional enclosed mall, which this is not, would have had a completely air conditioned space and that's what we've become used to," Pontarini said.

Lieberman, the architecture professor, says that's another positive aspect of the development.

"What I would call climate-modified rather than climate-control makes sense," he said. "So there are some good principles at work."