Large donation expected to spark Gardiner underpass transformation

Sources say philanthropist Judy Matthews will announce a lavish gift on Tuesday to bring vitality to one of the city’s bleakest spaces.

Thestar.com
Nov. 13, 2015
By David Rider and Jennifer Pagliaro

A Toronto philanthropist is set to announce a major donation to kick off a transformational “animation” of a stretch of bleak grey below the Gardiner Expressway, the Star has learned.

Judy Matthews, an urban planner, volunteer and benefactor, will announce her gift Tuesday at a news conference, with dignitaries including Mayor John Tory and Waterfront Toronto chief executive John Campbell.

Sources told the Star, on condition of anonymity, that Matthews’ “very significant” donation should help transform the waterfront-area underpass from Fort York east to Parliament St.

Ken Greenberg, the celebrated urban designer, principal of Greenberg Consultants and a former City of Toronto director of urban design and architecture, is expected to take a leading role in the project, which will be overseen primarily by Waterfront Toronto.

Greenberg did not return the Star’s calls Friday.

Reached at her home, Matthews was not able to offer immediate comment.

While Toronto has made steps toward revitalization of such derelict spaces with projects including Underpass Park, located under overpasses west of the Don Valley Parkway, some cities have turned them into attractions unto themselves, with public art, parks and even restaurants.

A source called Matthews’ gift one of the biggest investments in “public realm infrastructure” in Toronto history, adding it should help to leverage other funding to help bring life and vibrancy to the controversial elevated barrier between the business district and an increasingly interesting waterfront.

Two sources compared the project’s scope to that of New York City’s wildly successful High Line, a park built on an elevated railway line through Manhattan - while cautioning that “the Gardiner Expressway is not coming down.”

In apparent homage, “Underline” is one of the names bandied about for the Toronto project.

A University of Toronto article about a volunteer award given to Matthews by a professional fundraising association said her “catalytic leadership has ranged from the anti-Spadina Expressway campaign to the creation of a pedestrian piazza and music garden at Harbourfront.”

She has helped U of T, Artscape, the Canadian Opera Company, Park People and Evergreen. And with her investment banker husband, Wilmot Matthews, she has made big donations to causes including the Royal Ontario Museum.

Tory touted the benefits of underpass revitalization during a June speech, in which he argued for the so-called “hybrid” plan that will keep the crumbling east end of the Gardiner aloft and connected to the Don Valley Parkway.

“London, England - one of the greatest and oldest cities in the world - has developed one of the most expansive animated expressways in the world,” he told the Empire Club. “Today underneath the Westway Expressway there are tennis courts, rock climbing walls, skateboard parks, riding stables and sports fields.

“It’s incredible. It’s what we can do here in Toronto - imaginative animated public space without increasing congestion and damaging the economy."