Junction Triangle

I do know that a pilates studio will be moving in come January. There is also an osteopath who works out off the pilates studio.

There's an open house at Junction Triangle Lofts tomorrow, Thurs. Nov 11, 2:30-5:30PM. Details on their website:
http://229wallace.blogspot.com/2010/11/open-house-tomorrow.html

Just moved into the neighborhood and have been excited about how quickly the lofts are going up. I can't wait to see what businesses move in.

I have been following this thread with interest and concern but have hesitated to re-open the discussion.

However I feel I must as someone here, someone who perhaps has their own agenda and is hiding behind a pseudonym, has come onto this forum to make unfounded accusations, spread misconceptions and generally smear the reputation of a person I respect and a project I am proud to be associated with. This person has also misquoted me and taken comments I made out of context. All of this has been done in a manner which does more to undermine his own credibility and show his bias. Some of it, the name-calling in particular, does not dignify a response. I don’t expect anything I say to change this person’s perspective, but for the others here who have been following the discussion and weighing in, I would like to address the main concern this person seems to have.

Even after all of the posts from others, this person ends his last post accusing the developer of 229 Wallace Ave of exploiting the community. To address this person’s lingering concern and make things clear, here is what the developer of the Junction Triangle Lofts @ 229 Wallace has done to “give back” to the community to date:

- after hearing about the community initiative, he contacted FB to see if he could assist in any way. Unlike some developers, he likes to be connected to the communities he is building in. After a meeting with FB where they expressed what they would be interested in (not the other way around), it was decided that a financial contribution to assist with flyer distribution would be welcomed.

- a subsequent conversation took place where the developer offered the side of the soon-to-be-demolished D&M building to be used as a mural to bring further awareness to the naming campaign. FB took that idea and ran with it. The developer provided all materials for this, the community did the painting.

- in response to the community’s mixed reaction to the mural, the developer, in conversation with FB, decided that he would, at his own expense, do some subtle tweaks to the mural, keeping in mind the sensitivities of those volunteers in the community who worked so hard on the mural in the first place. He was willing to hire a professional painter; it was my idea to try to find some local youth and work with them. Their school actually mentioned they should do it for community hours, as the students need them to graduate. That this is warped on this forum as a smart business decision to get free labour is cynical in the extreme.

- the developer offered his site to FB and by extension, the community to serve as a place to do the reveal of the "new" name of the community. FB declined, saying that it felt the venue, even though it had the mural as backdrop, might send the wrong message, as there are elements in the community that are very anti-development and anti-real estate no matter the intent. The developer thought it unfortunate, but agreed and respected FB’s decision.

- the developer continued to follow and was excited by what was happening surrounding the naming process. As witness to strong community spirit, he wanted to honour that and name the whole project after whatever the community chose. His thought was that it would be a good thing for community spirit to see business embracing the name and providing further momentum of the naming process. He planned an event and did a mail-out, inviting the entire Junction Triangle neighbourhood and providing lunch. Often renaming a project would simply be done as a press release. It is also worth noting here that from a marketing standpoint, it's VERY risky to place the name of your project in the hands of an outside democratic process. This was pointed out to him, but he said he believed what the community was doing was a great thing and he wanted to support it, no matter what the outcome.

- the developer has established contacts for catering, however he chose to use Yasi's to provide the food, as he wanted to use a local business.

- as to the continued “giving back” that has yet to be written and others have touched on, thanks to the developer at 229 Wallace, some of the businesses considering a move to the Junction Triangle neighbourhood include: an Art Gallery and training studio, a independant coffee shop, a textile shop doing silkscreening, an animation/tv production head office, a physiotherapy clinic, a pilates studio, a restaurant, a walk-in family doctor's clinic, design firms, and many others. One of the businesses currently interested in the project plans to employ over 30 people in just one unit; these businesses and service industries benefit the local community for years, possibly decades to come.

In closing, I think it’s important to note that the developer, with sensitivity to the FB initiative at every step of the way, actually took into practice exactly what the naming process is all about. He used the name. Wasn’t that part of the point of the whole process to begin with: to get the name in use again and continue to raise the profile of the neighbourhood? I believe this very important point has been missed.

Communities can be built hand in hand with developers, not in constant opposition to them. Are there developers out there that have no concern for the community they do their projects in? Absolutely. Has the developer at 229 Wallace behaved in that way? Absolutely not. I would argue he has done the opposite. His actions speak to this fact.

If anyone wishes to discuss this further, I can be reached anytime through my brokerage office. Also, if you would like further information about the project, which is moving along quite quickly, the number is 416-535-3103.

Regards,

Michael

Michael Wacholtz
Sales Representative
Junction Triangle Lofts @ 229 Wallace
Freeman Real Estate Ltd, Brokerage
416-535-3103
michael@229wallace.com

So they are building a butt-ugly strip mall where the D&M Hardware was. The D&M Hardware building was no beauty queen either, but still it had character and people used it. Now we have theses lofts.
I'm not against development, but calling it Junction Triangle Lofts is the most suspicious thing I've seen in a while. So the real estate agents bankroll the Fuzzy Boundaries campaign to rename the neighbourhood. The Fuzzy Boundaries campaign uses the community to mobilize everyone around the name of the hood, gets press, ups the profile of the neighbourhood...the name is selected and presto, the name of the new development is Junction Triangle Lofts with Fuzzy Boundaries bragging about them and advertising for them on their website. Fuzzy Boundaries is a great name for this group because I don't know where the real estate agent starts and the community group ends. I did call the real estate agent and ask him what the company planned to put back into the neighbourhood since they worked so hard at helping them come up with the name of the lofts and promoting this up and coming area for them. He said giving them that name was giving back to the neighbourhood. Right! He said, 'Let me give you a macro example". If someone wants to call their business Toronto Restaurant, they can. I agree, but there was no group who was working the neighbourhood to change the name and get the people together to do all this work...is the name trademarked. No, and I doubt it should be, but there is something sleazy with this whole connection. Development is good, exploiting a neighbourhood to do it is bad.

The building was used as a canvas for a neighbourhood name mural during the Fuzzy Boundaries project. Now that a name has been chosen, the developers decided to name their building after the 'hood. More info and photos on the Fuzzy Boundaries site.

I was glad to see this sign go up. I've been to the website and it looks like it is for employment. The plans online say they are light industrial retail and studio/workshop lofts. And considering what is currently there, don't you think this is a good thing for the neighborhood? It also seems like a pretty good price considering you get almost 3000 square feet of loft space.