Completely overshadowed by the mess of yelling and running around at last Monday’s meeting of Toronto City Council was the approval of a motion granting Planning Act and zoning bylaw approvals for the Massey Hall redevelopment project announced nearly two years ago.
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The long delay was not due to flaws in the city’s legislative process, but in behind-the-scenes surprises after MOD Developments announced it was donating a 4,800 square-foot parcel of land on Victoria St to the Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall.
The small lot is big enough to provide the 1894 venue with adequate backstage facilities.
The federal and provincial governments agreed to each contribute $8 million to the project, which involves replacing a current warren of dressing rooms and offices with something more practical, including a loading dock for stage equipment. For the past century and a quarter, all stage equipment has had to be carried in from street level.
The hall, among the city’s first public buildings with electric light, would also get new wiring, plumbing and other mechanical bits.
The Corporation announced a second phase, closing in 2020, which would renovate the interior spaces, including the crumbling plasterwork and the hopeless old seats.
With its plans in hand along with the $16 million in government funding, the Corporation needed City Council approval for a zoning variance to accommodate the new annex.
That’s when the delays started.
The building had been built and then handed over to the city as a gift by the Massey family (owners of a farm equipment manufacturer later gutted and euthanized by Conrad Black). The deal was sealed with a handshake rather than legalese.
None of the land transfers or boundaries involved in this project have been disputed in any way, but it still took lawyers and officials from all sides nearly two years to turn the details into legally binding documents that could be then given a final stamp of approval by Council.
All this hard work threatened to be derailed by the Ford Bros Circus at City Hall, but, I am told, a deft procedural intervention by Councillor Kristin Wong-Tam and the support of Council Speaker Frances Nunziata saved the approvals from further delay on Nov. 18.
I understand that the Corporation needs to begin its portion of demolition and excavation work at the same time as MOD Developments, because of the constricted building site.
That work, which involves building temporary backstage facilities on Victoria St, is supposed to start in the spring.
This means that we’ll be hearing a lot more about the plans for Massey Hall and its need for our donations in the coming weeks.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
