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| Toronto Union Station: C$150 million redevelopment collapses https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20509 |
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| Author: | BB9004 [ Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | Toronto Union Station: C$150 million redevelopment collapses |
From today's Toronto Sun: Union Station deal collapses JENNIFER LEWINGTON CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF The city's $150-million deal to refurbish Union Station, dogged by controversy during the past five years, is dead. The deal's collapse, announced yesterday by the city and its private-sector partner in separate press releases, is occurring just weeks before the two sides were to wrap up the last details of the agreement by May 31 -- a deadline imposed by council last year. Mayor David Miller, while expressing regret, told reporters late yesterday he is not prepared to ask council to grant another extension to get the project back on the rails. Such a request would need the support of two-thirds of council's 44 members. "I don't think an extension is really going to solve the problem," he said. "It is regrettable, but it is time for us to move on." In theory, the two sides still have until May 31 to pull a political rabbit out of the hat to save the 100-year lease agreement. But neither city officials nor a spokesman for Union Pearson Group, the six-member consortium selected by the city in 2003 to refurbish Union Station, held out any real hope. "We just ran out of time," Union Pearson spokesman Ron Taylor said. He said the consortium's investors and lenders need time to reach a range of agreements -- still under negotiation -- between the city and others. For example, the city needs to complete a lease agreement with GO Transit and Via Rail, both major tenants of Union Station, a 1920s-era heritage building and the most important passenger rail transportation hub in the country. In addition, the city still does not have an agreement with the federal government on the makeup of a new public-sector agency to oversee the proposed renewal of the building. The revitalization of Union Station was predicated on expanded capacity for transit commuters and a refurbishment of the building's interior to make it a new shopping and entertainment destination linking downtown Toronto to the waterfront. ===== |
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