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Complaining about our city is one of the things Torontonians love to do best. But enough already. Toronto is a great city and it’s about time we took a step back and recognized some of the things that we do right! And, what better way to experience this great city but on a bike? ULI Toronto was pleased to embark on their very first inaugural Tour de Toronto led by ULI Board members and real estate industry veterans Richard Witt and Robert Freedman. The ride was inspired by Pedal Pittsburgh, an event that Mr. Freedman, of Urban Solutions, participated in for many years – and one that helped Pittsburgh residents witness that their city was making a come-back after years of decline.

Starting bright and early on Sunday May 25, the leisurely 20 km bike tour kicked off from the George Brown College Waterfront Campus at 8:30am. With over 100 participants in attendance, smaller sub-groups set off at staggered times on their own guided tours. After cycling through the PanAm Games Athlete’s Village and Regent Park, Chantall Crockett of Global Spectrum met the groups at Ryerson University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, formerly the Maple Leafs Gardens, to tour the redeveloped site. The $60 million project opened in 2012 to much anticipation and includes an epic Loblaws retail store and a new 2,700-seat hockey rink lifted to be right under the structure of the historic roof. The Gardens holds a special place in the hearts of many Torontonians so it was comforting to learn how the project was developed with respect for the building’s heritage while giving it a new purpose and relevance to the city.

After this pit stop down memory lane, the groups continued on through the University of Toronto campus and past some of Toronto’s recent notable mid-rise infill projects to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) on Queen Street West. CAMH has a storied past that harkens back to its days as the Provincial Lunatic Asylum. Alice Liang of Montgomery Sisam Architects and Eric Turcotte of Urban Strategies shared anecdotal stories with the groups as they rolled in for a coffee break. Alice has been involved with this multi-phased project since 2001 and her passion was evident when she spoke of their goal to create an “urban village” that seamlessly blended with the rest of the community.

Mid-way through the tour, participant Carmen Gucciardo from the City of Mississauga took a few minutes under the leafy shade on Queen Street with her fellow bikers and remarked how much the City of Toronto has changed in the last 20 years – apparently the greater story here. There are new projects popping up every day, but the adaptive reuse projects tell a far richer story of our city. Like the Gardens and CAMH, these types of projects play a key role in the continuity and reimagining of our City as they are redeveloped and adapted to meet today’s need while retaining elements of a bygone era. This layering of our past and future, the mixing of old and new was readily apparent as the groups continued on through Liberty Village past projects like the Toy Factory and 60 Atlantic.

Things got interesting in a different way as the cyclists reached the vicinity of the Fort York Neighbourhood, Railway Lands West and new Southcore Financial District. The mix of a charity walk, Blue Jays home game and construction in full swing on Queens Quay provided quite the obstacle course for the final kilometers of the route, but didn’t inhibit the richness of the stories told by Fort York Director David O’Hara, Peter Zimmerman of Freed Developments and City of Toronto Planner, Al Rezoski. Luckily, everyone returned safely to a welcome reception, which was held at Against the Grain in the base of Corus Quay.

The participants were finally able to kick up their feet and celebrate the inaugural Tour de Toronto in style! Cycling in the City can be hard work sometimes but no one can deny that it’s an ideal way to take in the sights on a beautiful, sunny day. “Great planning and care went into the development of the route”, confirmed co-organizer Richard Witt of Quadrangle Architects, “we took a map and drew a big circle around the city core”. That big circle went through all major recent developments in the downtown core and participants were bombarded with a huge volume of development insights on a comfortable ride which used bike lanes where available.

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