30-40 Margaret Ave | 3 fl townhouses | Planned

[westwardloo]

On the more positive side, we have the KPL and CITS thanks to some of the demolition that went on back in the day.

I think CITS is a great building internally, but for location and external design is it really something to be thankful for? If it built in a fully urban location, on Duke/King/Charles, it'd probably do wonders for downtown vibrancy on event nights. Right now most people see the walk as just a little too far to get dinner somewhere downtown, and just drive in and park at CITS. The building also has terrible street interaction. Not that concert venues tend to be great at street interaction, but I'd say it's much worse than average even within its category.

I think that whole block dates to an era of separation of uses (civic buildings all in one area), and of "X in the park" which has not aged well. I'd much rather have the old houses, and all the civic district buildings somewhere more central downtown with better urban form.

I have to agree. The street presence of the CITS is awful/ non existent. Not entirely surprising for a building built in the 1980's, but The civic centre definitely needs some work in regards to bringing people downtown for a dinner and a show. I hate to use Brampton as an example of good urban planning, but look at the Rose theatre.
[attachment=6542]
Built right downtown with a large urban square in front and a pleasant enough street frontage.