Demolished: Toronto Hydro building on Sterling Rd.
Sterling Rd.: Toronto Hydro Building #200: Photo by Vic Gedris, 2007-12-01.
I noticed this week that the old Toronto Hydro Electric System building no. 200 on Sterling Rd. has been demolished. I haven't heard any explanation of why they tore it down, or what the future plans for the site are. I don't even know the history of the building, its construction date, or what it was actually used for. I'd love to hear any details, if you have them.
However, I do think it was a beautiful old structure that helped give this short east-west stretch of Sterling Rd. its character. With the wonderful windows of Tower Automotive's facade on Sterling, the Tower Automotive chimney, Moloney Electric, and the Hydro building, this was such a well-preserved "canyon" of industry in our neighbourhood. I'm all for progress, but I hope this section of street retains its look and feel.
With the Moloney Electric building up for lease, the Tower Automotive lands up for redevelopment, and lots of new residential development in the area, Sterling Road will continue to evolve into a very different place.
Comments
Decades of PCB spills on and around Mallony land and buildings
Maloneys made transformers for decades its brick walls surrounding land and other nearby buildings are saturated with PCB's and now the new owners with out seemingly any government oversite have gone ahead with no permitts posted and turned the indside of this PCB contaminated structure into a gym ... that whole building should be leveled and all the contaminated land and bricks should be SAFELY removed as to not further expose the community to PCB's... a gym would be nice on that spot but not in a building that has been saturated over many decades with PCB's.
Putting people and childrens health at risk just to make a profit in our community is a very touchy topic among the commuintiy,,,,, if your gonna build a strong community then do it right from the start, so in the long term we can all rest asured that we are no longer living next to or playing in a old building that may make us and this new generation of young children comming up in the hood all seriously ill years down the road....
why has no minsistry info been posted on the building or sent to local residents stating what proceedures, standards have been taken to ensure public safety ?
and simply why has the owner not so much as posted any work permits during his hasty rush renovation of the site...???
the community deserves an explanation of this from the government , this site is well know to all levels of government as well as other surrounding communities in the region for its extremely serious contamination which is basically why the owner was able to buy it so cheaply in the first place because of the hazardous material permiating that site and its surroundings..
Hydro Building, Tower Auto and Moloney
Hi this is to update residents and those interested on the latest info for these areas.
The Hydro building had to come down as it was the only way to clear all the crap underneath it, the roof vent turbines were to be saved for future use but unfortunately someone stole them off the site before they could be secured.
No word from Toronto Hydro on if they plan to rebuild another transformer site on this location.
Moloney is now in the hands of private owners and it appears they have built regulation Basketball courts inside for rent starting at $60.00 an hour, a promising venture for sure.
Tower Automotive has had all of the outcropped building razed and the cleanup will now continue in the areas that were largely unable to be accessed, RioTinto Alcan has been working hard to get approvals from MOE and Metrolinx and Min of Health to complete as much of the remediation as is left, though there has been a lot of great progress and soil tests, air quality tests are all showing very small amounts of VOCs all of which are at a very deep level.
The plans to install the barrier underground are proceeding and it looks as if that will be the route most supported by all levels of science.
Castlepoint continues to consult with the resident's along Sterling and Perth and so far they have kept their word about their plans very public and have been proceeding as they had indicated.
A soon to be announced meeting will be happening and I will advise when that will be once the date has been firmed up.
The Spring cleanup which usually takes place around the 3rd week of April should show the area in a whole new light, it is amazing to see the vista without all of the buildings blocking the view, the other side of this is that maybe the participants of the CQB paintball will be less likely to roam the property now that it is all open, and a request has been made to have security night image cameras installed and sensor lighting..so we are hopeful that this will prevent anyone being injured on the site .
Cleaned-up?
Does that mean the remaining surface rubble of concrete and bricks that's sitting there is fairly free of toxins.
Thanks Philip!
Thanks for keeping us in the loop with all the details. I'm glad someone's keeping up with all the Perth/Sterling action.
As much as I mourn the loss of some great buildings and streetscapes, I think there's so much potential for that area t get cleaned up and evolve into something even better.
Cheers,
Vic
The reason is...
The site was very contaminated with PCB, was a beautiful building for sure. I was involved in preparing pricing for the site remediations. I felt bad submitting my price for demolition, but knew that when we cleaned up the contaminated soil and groundwater beneath, it was for a good reason. Unfortunately due to past practices, alot of the surrounding land/groundwater is highly contaminated. This means more of these historic buildings will come down to allow for the removal of the contaminants below. From bad comes good I suppose.
Thanks Rob (Re: Hydro building)
Thanks for the update, Rob.
It does make sense to clean up as much of this stuff as possible, now, before it spreads further and makes things worse in the long run.
"Since the walls have been
"Since the walls have been without any heat for 3 winters now, they are deemed unsafe and therefore will be taken down once development begins on this site " Funny how that happens.
Building was Toxic
Sad to see the building go, but...
The basement was welded shut due to contamination. I would like to know: what has been done in regards to cleaning up the contaminants? Was it necessary to take down the structure in order to clean up the site?
Also, it's to bad Castlepoint wont be keeping the facades of the buildings flanking south Sterling and Perth. Since the walls have been without any heat for 3 winters now, they are deemed unsafe and therefore will be taken down once development begins on this site (we're waiting Mr O'keefe - lol).
The developers have mentioned that they will incorporate some of the old architecture into their new designs - yet to be seen. But I really hope its not Styrofoam and plaster, like these hit and run developers use.
The developers really have a chance to shine here on the old Rio Tinto Alcan site (its like an entire city block). Hope they don't mess it up, in the name of profits.
Contaminated
Yeah, I don't doubt that this place is contaminated. That corner is PCB Central. The basement is wide open now, for anyone to wander into. I considered having a peek this morning when I passed by :) I wonder if they'll have to dig everything out to clean up the soil. Although....my understanding is that there are different standards for industrial sites vs. residential/parks/etc., so they may not be required to do an extensive cleanup yet.
TOhydroStn200
That's very disturbing news; obviously there is no process available to examine the removal of "private" buildings
from the City's landscape unless they have been previously deemed to be 'historic'.
Somehow i feel sure that if there was a process now, to consider giving that building historic standing, the result would be positive. [Oops; too late, it's gone!]
I think there is an important City project there somewhere..................
Should private interests trump public interests; maybe the answer lies somewhere in the middle via due process.
sterling building
Sad. I always thought this was such a lovely little building, beautiful proportions and nicely placed as a surprise when you round the corner going south on Sterling. Big changes!