As I say repeatedly in the video, Liberty Village is one of my favourite neighourhoods in the downtown core.
But the insane traffic coming in, and going out of the area has to be considered in your purchase decision…
Liberty Village is certainly unique, to say the least.
It’s also home to a very young demographic, and if you’re a 20-something, it’s a location you should consider for your first condo purchase.
While waiting for my clients in the courtyard in the townhouse complex, I watched about a dozen different dog-owners mingle and chit-chat, and it kind of reminded me of the greatest show ever produced on television: Melrose Place.
Billy & Allison, Michael & Jane, and Jake. Oh, rugged, manly, sexy Jake! And special guest star: Heather Locklear! And there’s Charlotte from Sex & The City before she was Charlotte from Sex & The City! Wow – Alyssa Milano! And soap-star, Jack Wagner! Then there’s the Matt from Baywatch, Nikki from Swingers, the girl from Profiler, and who could forget KIMBERLY! Remember when we all though she died in a car accident and Sydney was to blame?
What does this have to do with traffic in Liberty Village? Nothing. But seriously – can we talk about Melrose Place a little bit?
Liberty Village was, is, and hopefully always will be a great place to call home, and a good investment.
I still believe that the townhouses in the area represent great value for the simple fact that there will never be any more townhouses built – the land is too valuable when you can build a 30-storey condo instead. It’s simple supply and demand, and those townhouses have appreciated rapidly.
I like the three Monarch buildings to the north section of the Village, but I loathe the new CanAlfa buildings to the south.
And in between, you’ve got enough infrastructure to support the residents.
The area is represented by four of the five major banks, there’s an LCBO, a GoodLife (this one was rated the #1 gym to pick up a date…), Bell World, Rogers, Dollorama, Metro, multiple bars and restaurants, multiple coffee shops, and everything you could need within a five-minute walk.
But the traffic is insane.
Even when the construction on the Go Train tracks is completed, it doesn’t solve the problem that the corner of East Liberty & Strachan has triple the traffic it can handle.
Would a stop-light solve any problems? Or just create new ones?
I don’t have any suggestions here – I’m not an urban planner.
I’m just saying that when you consider Liberty Village for your condominium purchase, you owe it to yourself to drive into and out of the area a few times at 5pm on a weekday, just to see what you’ll be up against in the future…
Graham
at 8:17 am
This:
http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/libertynewst/
IanC
at 8:18 am
Heh heh….
I disagree with placing Liberty Village in the “core” of downtown….
Maybe if your reference point is Stouffville (no offence to you, Dave, or the fine people of Stouffville). It’s all relative, I guess.
If it was in the real core of downtown – more of the residents could give up owning a car. I know not everyone can, but remember, there’s now the the trifecta of Autoshare, Bixi, and Car2go. I own a bike and am still a member of all three. You can interchange Autoshare with Zip if you like – but with Car2go offering 1 way trips – it’s a game changer.
Many residents would love it if Bixi expanded there…. More Bixi might give a bit of relief – and make the neighbourhood even more fun.
Back to the traffic… Perhaps a round about turning circle? Supervised by police until people can figure it out??
With more condos on their way – they will need to figure out something to avoid gridlock.
It would be interesting to see what the intersection looks like in 12 months – perhaps at 7:30am or 8:00am when everyone is leaving for work… And again at 5:30 pm.
Scott Plex
at 11:02 pm
I agree, LB is not core at all. I was just walking through here tonight after taking in the CNE (The Zipper is still amazing) and I must say while the area has certainly carved out a nice niche for itself (Origin 2 looks great), the human scale is a bit lacking and cars still rule there. Compare this to what will become the West Donlands in a few years and I think it’s safe to say if the city could they would do it over a bit differently.
Two things can certainly help though: 1) what Graham posted above and 2) the Fort York bridge – anyone remember that? Yes it should have been dome by now if fatty Ford hadn’t got his grubby paws all over it, but it will make a comeback (the earliest start will be 2014, probably will take 18-24 months or so to complete).
moonbeam!
at 8:27 am
Wow, where’s Waldo! in your video, I saw rollerbladers, skateboarders, dog walkers, joggers, bicycles, motorcycles, taxis, trucks large & small, cars…and pedestrians. what a busy spot!
1
at 10:27 am
Why do you loathe the canalfa towers to the south?
Adam
at 9:07 pm
Liberty Village sucks!! Feels like a suburb.
Scott
at 2:20 am
The construction going on has to do with lowering the existing train tracks and raising Strachan, which will eliminate the level crossing. It’s not an additional GO train line. The ‘no left turn’ is a recent and temporary situation while the construction is happening.
That said, the traffic in that area is extreme. If they build the relief road (and they should), it will help out a lot, as it’s pretty dangerous trying to walk in that area as it is with the amount of cars trying to get in and out.
The real question is why the city did not do this infrastructure work before allowing the redevelopment of this formerly industrial area into such a large residential one. There are 5 more towers being built at this moment, with at least 2 more planned. If they don’t put in a road, and ideally put in a traffic light once the level crossing is gone, then the situation is going to be even worse in a couple of years once all the towers are done.
buk
at 10:27 pm
you should go film that intersection after a TFC game.
liberty village has fallen to prey to greedy developers and poor city planning. the east end has been ruined by god awful buildings. plazacorp has built one of the ugliest buildings in toronto on the south side. it was a great area to live in, i’m not sure it is anymore.
Irena
at 10:33 am
I agree with you. The new Plazacorp building looks like a huge jail cell. I can not imagine living in those buildings. I politely disagree with the assessment of the Canalfa buildings to the south. Compared to the other towers, they stand out as modern and pretty. Yellow brick is a terrible design choice.
Sprat
at 1:38 pm
They don’t look the greatest on the outside but the units are very nice and great value.
EdenRam
at 2:51 pm
I enjoy reading your blog, especially as I discovered it when I went to view a property you listed that sold awfully quick earlier this spring. The property you listed was a condo townhouse just north of LV. In fact, you can see the development in the screen cap of your video. When I read your archived articles, you blast condo townhomes and couldn’t tell us enough how much you hated them. Yet you indicate the great value of the ones in LV.
Just wondering if there was any particular reason for the reason you are changing your tune.