Top-to-bottom reno of Hazelton Lanes underway

Construction on the 87 Avenue Rd. mall formerly known as Hazelton Lanes continues apace, with city council approving the latest stage on Sept. 30.

From Oct. 1 until the project’s estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2016, the east sidewalk and northbound curb lane along Avenue Road and Yorkville Avenue will be closed to allow construction crews to finish building the project’s figurative and literal crowning achievement — a 2.5-storey mechanical penthouse that will house the building’s new electrical, heating, cooling, and ventilation systems.

“Obviously there’s a lot of disruption,” Jodi Shpigel, First Capital Realty’s senior vice-president of development, admits. “But when it’s complete, this won’t just be something that enhances the mall. It will enhance the whole community.”

Since last fall the mall, now known as Yorkville Village, has been receiving a dramatic facelift, with new owner First Capital Realty giving the 39-year-old building a top-to-bottom renovation that, when finished in 2017, will include the new wiring, new entrances, new restaurants, and more than 200,000 square feet of retail space.

The project has not been without controversy. Most of the changes First Capital wanted fell within neighbourhood zoning regulations, which meant that aside from a 2013 committee of adjustment hearing, where the company’s minor variance requests were approved, there were no applications submitted to city planning.

And that caused problems, Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam says, because Yorkville Village is connected to 55A and 77 Avenue Rd., two six-storey luxury condominium towers that share the mall’s electrical, heating, cooling, and ventilation systems. Issues that might have come up during a community consultation meeting, such as the 2.5-storey mechanical penthouse’s impact on residents’ sightlines or quality of life, or the noise generated by its HVAC systems, never had the same type of opportunity for public review.

“To be quite honest, there were more concerns about this particular project than there are sometimes with our 60-storey buildings,” Wong-Tam says. “But once we heard from the residents that this was a concern for them, my office intervened and set up a working group.”

That working group includes not only residents of the neighbourhood and First Capital representatives, but members of the ABC Residents Association and city planning staff, Wong-Tam says.

“Those discussions are still underway,” she says. “Overall I would say that the neighbourhood is supportive of the investments that First Capital is making in the area, but they did have concern with the fact that this mechanical penthouse was approved as of right without their knowledge.”

Looking back, Shpiegel says, First Capital could have done a better job of communicating with Yorkville Village’s neighbours and residents.

In response to the discussions, the company has uploaded renderings and other information, including regular newletters, to the project’s website at yorkvillevillage.com.