Just received an update from City councillor Paul Ainslie regarding the Guild Inn!!
Guild
Inn:
NO condominiums on the grounds of the
Guild Park & Gardens by Centennial College!
After being elected in 2006, I created
the Guild Park Advisory Committee (GPAC) to actively look for a proponent to
redevelop the Bickford Residence within the Park.
Membership on the Committee included people
from the executive of the Guildwood Village Community Association, as well as
the Guild Renaissance Group.
We
established a set of parameters we felt the community at large would accept for
anyone wishing to occupy the Bickford Residence.
During the search process we turned
many different potential applicants away.
The GPAC settled on Centennial College which said it recognized the
significance of the Park to the community and its history.
Representatives of the school expressed a
strong desire to work with the City of Toronto as we developed the Culture
Precinct around the Bickford Residence.
Centennial's plans were outlined as a
two phase project including office space for its world renowned Culture &
Heritage Institute, a restaurant, banquet facilities, a spa, and boutique hotel
in the second phase of construction.
Centennial College signed a Letter of
Intent with the City of Toronto and never wavered from what the school intended
to build..until this year when I and City staff started to pressure the College
as they began to miss deadlines.
After
reviewing a hotel feasibility study, and a fund-raising study the College began
to raise concerns they may have which would delay and may even need to revise
their proposal.
Between March and June
2011 the scope of their project changed from purely office space, to potential
classrooms, maybe needing to build some condominiums to help finance the hotel,
to finally a project which completely eliminated any discussion of a hotel, and
constructing and selling condominiums to the general public to finance the
project.
As I said at the beginning I will not
support condominiums being built in the middle of a City park. Such permanent residences could and will have
a huge impact on any public use of the park land.
It is a complete 360 degree change from
Centennials original proposal. If they
had made this presentation to GPAC in 2007 the Committee would have completely
rejected such a project and accepted another proponent.
Needless to say, this change in scope
will cause delays in seeing a successful project constructed on the
grounds. I feel if we had approved
another proponent we would see a working entity on the grounds of the Guild.
If
Centennial is unwilling to revisit their plans the City of Toronto under my
direction will be asked to release another Request for Proposals for the
Bickford Residence for a restaurant & banquet
facility.
It goes without saying I am deeply
disappointed in the change by Centennial College.
I think it portrays a deep lack of respect
for the Guildwood community, and a misunderstanding of what all interested
parties see as the proper utilization of the Guild Park &
Gardens.
Cultural
Precinct
The Culture
precinct is the area surrounding the Bickford building (Guild Inn), the work to
bring the area back to its original function as an artist colony is essential to
the parks integrity. The Precincts plans
for redevelopment have been a separate project from the rehabilitation of the
Bickford itself. The City's Culture
Division and my office are the lead on Cultural Precinct re-development; plans
are still going ahead and have not been stalled.
On June 27th, 2011 a Guild
Park Advisory Committee meeting was held where the City's Manager of Culture
Affairs updated committee members on the Cultural precinct plan for Guildwood
Park.
Plans are continuing to move
forward. A Request for Proposals was
issued on June 30, 2011 to hire an architect to design the Guild craft studio
building through the renovation and expansion of Building 191. The City received five submissions from
architectural firms by the deadline of August 12, 2011.
City staff are currently reviewing the
submissions and checking references. Staff, in Cultural Services will recommend
a winning firm to City Purchasing by the end of October 2011. When complete, the building will include
studio space for ceramics; kiln casting; fine metal work; textiles and the
appropriate support spaces.
This recommendation will then go
through the City's approval process including the execution of a legal agreement
with the winning firm. It is anticipated
that the chosen architect will be able to begin work on the design of the Guild
studio building by the end of 2011.
Further information can be obtained here:
The Guild Renaissance Group (GRG): http://guildrenaissancegroup.com/
Further information can be obtained here:
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