The New North Toronto C. I.

the redevelopment of North Toronto Collegiate Institute 2003-2010

Contents:

1. A short history of the building (updated Dec 2005)
2. Towards TDSB Approval
3. The Feasibility Study
4. The Design Process: towards rezoning
5. The Design Process: continued . . .
6. Post Design, Pre Construction
7. Construction (to summer 2010)
8. Demolition of 70 Roehampton (February 2011 to …)

• November 28, 2005 – Community Meeting Information is on our main page.
• November 17, 2005 – The first community meeting for the redevelopment project is Monday, November 28 at 7:00. Click here for the official announcement. We are moving towards the rezoning application.
  Of course there have been changes to the location of specialty programs (gym, music, drama, library, auditorium, etc) since the feasibility study. The form and shape of the building have been further developed. However, detailed drawings showing the exact form of the building are still a while away…
  Sustainability issues are high on the priority list – there has been discussion of geothermal, solar, green roof, low VOC, and much more…
  A new committee has formed to study possibility of a pool in the new design – of course who will pay to build and maintain it are the major obstacles…
  One issue that has continued to dog the design committee is how to keep our 4 legged friends from leaving souvenirs for our morning gym classes. This is rumoured to be one of the major problems for facility services (along with wet socks in the elementary schools)
• October 26, 2005 – The architects met with the North Toronto staff to go over the basic design plan to date and listen to the staff’s concerns. The current desgin is still over the required square footage and therefore will change – however some features include, a triple gym at basement level, Auditorium (“off Broadway”) on the main floor, Music and Drama on the main floor, Library on the 2nd floor, the remaining classes on the second, third and fourth floors, a courtyard for light and air, a green roof which may be accessible, and an innovative way of leaving room for future expansion. Some of these elements were present in the Teeple study, but all have changed as the design has progressed. The staff had concerns over parking, the field, and a variety of design elements which will be studied (wind) or have yet to be addressed such as teacher offices and standard classrooms.
• September 26, 2005 – After an exhaustive set of over a dozen meetings with departments last week, two preliminary options were preseented. These depart from the Teeple feasibility study but feature a “town square” foyer/cafeteria/student space and will be very friendly to community use. Preliminary plans should be unveiled at the next design meeting. NT staff will discuss these plans in late October. If all goes well, a public meeting may be scheduled for November 2005.
  Other areas of concern are:
  • the lack of pool facilities – further high level discussions on this issue will occur before the next meeting.
  • the “heritage” of the new school and Bill Greer has been retained to help in this regard.
  • sustainability – the TDSB and Tridel are both very interested in a green solution which may contain a roof garden, solar power and more.
• September 12, 2005 – First meeting of the new school year. A review of the Teeple feasibility study and its associated programme showed the programme to be very inadequate for the school. Meetings with departments will be scheduled for next week to address these short comings.
• June 27, 2005 – First Design Team Meeting – The new school will be a 4 story, 156,000 sq. ft. 1206 pupil school with an auditorium, triple gym and a “full size” football field with track. Two proposed project schedules show construction starting between Feb 2008 and July 2009 – these construction dates allow for a possible 18 month rezoning process and a 14 month pre-sale period for the condos.
• June 23, 2005 – Wednesday evening at 10:40 the Board of Education approved the re-building project for North Toronto Collegiate.
  The re-building of the school was first approved on February 4, 2003.
  However, last evening’s meeting solidifies the financial package that makes the re-build possible. The approval was given in private session of the Board because of the financial discussion. In the end, one trustee voted against the plan, all others voiced their support.

  The development partner will be Tridel and the architects for the school will be Carruthers Shaw and Partners Limited (now CS&P Architects). The specific architects who will be involved are Paul Cravit (principal) and Maureen O’Shaughnessy (associate). This is the same firm that built Riverdale and Earl Haig. The architect for the condos wil be Rosario Varacalli (Burka Varacalli architects).

  A Design Team will begin discussions shortly. This committee will be composed of staff members, students, parents, alumni members, members from the community as well as Board staff. The parent representatives will be School Council co-chairs Eric Miglin and Toby Rosner.

• April 25, 2005 – GlobalNews segment on the NTCI redevelopment proposal – 4 MB RealVideo
  http://joshmatlow.ca/files/joshglobal25april2005.rm
• Feb 2, 2005 – The developer and architect interviews were conducted in January and any recommendations will likely go to the Board in April. Look for an announcement then…
• October 28, 2004 – Sheila Penny told NT staff that 10 proposals had been received. A short list of 5 will be selected then narrowed to 3. Interviews will be conducted in December and a developer/architect will be choosen and sent to the TDSB for approval in January or February.
  Following the public meeting on Feb. 19, 2004, which outlined the problems with all restoration options, the TDSB negotiated a memorandum of understanding with community groups. This included the following – 2 residential towers of less than 24 and 27 stories, and green space (regulation football field).
  This means that the design process will begin in Feb/March. Rezoning may take 12-18 months. Depending on the phasing plan for the project, ground will be broken in the spring of 2006. It would take approximately 18 months to build the project. Sheila Penny would only commit to saying that the earliest we could have a new school is September 2006 and no later than January 2009.
• September 17, 2004 – “Proposals” from developers are due at the TDSB. These may or may not include an architect for the school itself.
• May __, 2004 – In the Spring 2004 NTCI Foundation (Alumni) Newsletter, architect, grad and Foundation Board Member, Paul Raff wrote the following open letter regarding the redevelopment of North Toronto: Click here to view the Foundation Newsletter,
  Click here to view just the letter. Please distibute this letter!

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All information on this page has been entered by Mark Kinoshita (NT staff & grad ’82)