Surrounded

Ordnance Triangle (Garrison Point): Five towers are rising, all by Hariri Pontarini. Condos of 29 and 35 storeys will finish in early 2020; three rentals of 25, 35 and 39 (with a grocery store) will follow. Bentall Kennedy, one of the developers, will build Ordnance Park (by Claude Cormier) on the triangle’s tip, where there will also be new electric-train gear.

Garrison Crossing: Two curving spans are in place over the tracks. The approaches are being finished and the Stanley Park addition on the north side has been roughed in. Designed by the Spanish firm Pedelta, the crossing will be ready this spring when the bike and pedestrian pathway through an unfinished (but coming) Ordnance Park is paved.

2 Tecumseth: At the old City abattoir, developer TAS has assembled KPMB, Public Work and ERA on a complex five-acre site stretching 300 metres along the tracks. In late 2017 they proposed offices, homes and a greenhouse, all organized around the shadows of Garrison Creek. TAS and the planners have talked ever since, and there’s another LPAT hearing on May 1.

Wellington Destructor: This long-abandoned, much-studied garbage incinerator, still owned by the City, will remain public space. Engineers have stabilized the grand heritage structure for a still-undefined future. Public input was gathered. Enveloped by the irregular shape of 2 Tecumseth, it’s waiting to see what happens there.

National Casket Factory: A Core Architects design puts two cubic structures side-by-side on a common podium behind – matching the massing of – the old factories. The funky brick buildings at 89-109 Niagara were listed heritage in October 2015. Currently in live/work spaces, their tenants are being asked to leave. Site Plan Approval has been pending since late 2017.

Stackt Container Market: These groovy black piles of sea containers are coming alive as a crazy temporary market. Expect a brewery, cafés, women’s clothing, food, a florist and even a bank, plus galleries, studios and video. A remediated brownfield site with a perfect view of Fort York, it will some day be a 2-acre park.

Minto Westside: A 1200-unit condominium by Wallman Architects is only slowly being finished but will see its first life this summer. There are two volumes of 18 and 20 storeys on a full-site podium. On the corner by the bridge, expect to see a big grocery store.

Lower Garrison Creek Park: Delay is imposed while the City assures itself that this park’s eventual connection to Rail Deck Park will be seamless. A waiting design by Public Work sees a landscape of creek bed, marshland and bluff, with pathways from CityPlace to Garrison Crossing. The grim news: it’s also a potential staging area for railroad work.

Block 36 North: Zeidler has designed a nine-storey, 80-unit colour piece for Toronto Community Housing to stand beside two KPMB towers and the planned park. But a developer chosen in 2016 to build the mid-rise backed out, leaving the City searching once more for a partner.

Bentway: The Strachan Gate is nearly finished; its landscape is. At the Fort York Visitor Centre, their Zamboni garage is still in cheap siding, waiting for the steel panels needed to repair the design. An innovative bridge to span Fort York Blvd, overlooking the fort from under the Gardiner, remains unfunded.