The pedestrianization of our streets has been a long, uphill battle in our car-centric city for along time now, but  the past few years have seen some modest progress. Partial closures of Yonge Street and areas of Ryerson have been calling our attention to the importance of having precincts that promote walkability and pedestrian safety. Our most culturally and economically vibrant areas are ones that are need to be easy to walk in, and public entities as well as businesses are starting to see the value in it, especailly considering the droves of residents moving to dense urban areas like Downtown.

Riding the wave of this trend is the ongoing revitalization of Market Street. Market Street, if you're not familiar with it, runs along the west side of the Saint Lawrence Market, north-south from Front to The Esplanade. (An already pedestrian only section runs up to King Street beside the North Market.) The plan is to bring back the pedestrian realm by not only restricting cars from using the street at busy times but also developing new restaurants and retail to be placed opposite to the market. We've got some recent pictures from the site for you check out below!

Work gets underway on fixing up Market Street, image by bar1967

As you can see above, the west side of the street has begun its makeover. Woodcliffe Properties, which is developing the whole site, is paying for the road work on the west side of the street while the City has committed to finishing the east side. It currently is not clear when the the City will complete its half of the project as the funds have not been officially allocated yet, but the latest word is that section 37 monies have been applied for and will most likely come through in tandem with the City's plan for infrastructure upgrades in the area before the Pan Am and Para Pan Am Games.

Work gets underway on fixing up Market Street, image by bar1967

In addition to the redevelopment of the existing buildings, Taylor Smyth Architects has designed a new structure to anchor the northwest corner of Market and The Esplanade. The entire project encompasses 87 Front Street East, 118 The Esplanade, and 8, and 10-12 Market Street. The at-grade levels of the these properties as well the second floors are planned to be used for the new restaurants and retail. Tenants announced so far include Pastizza—an authentic Italian restaurant from Paolo Paolini, co-owner of locally renowned eatery Mistura—and an Indian bistro named Bindia. The LCBO, currently on Market Street in a temporary location, will move back upstairs on to Front once the refurbishment of its old space is complete.

There is still quite a bit of work to be done and we plan on keeping you up to date as the rebirth of Market Street and this entire neighbourhood continues to evolve. In the meantime check out a rendering of what we might expect to see when construction is done below.

Rendering of a re-developed Market Street, image courtesy of Woodcliffe Properties

Want to learn more about this project? Check out the UrbanToronto dataBase listing below, or join the discussion in the Forum.