March 26, 2015

York Guardian

David Nickle

There are no plans to do anything with the two-storey brick building housing the Starbucks Coffee shop at the corner of Yonge Street and Davisville Avenue. But Josh Matlow isn’t taking any chances.

The councillor for St. Paul’s will be pushing to have the structure officially designated a heritage property. It sounds like there’s good reason. The building once housed a general store and post office owned by one John Davis ­— the same Davis that gave the name to the tiny, nearly-forgotten community of Davisville. The second floor lounge of the coffee shop was once home to the first town meeting of Davisville. Up the road, the Davis’ also owned a pottery business.

Sipping coffee on one of the old leather couches in the old town hall, Matlow calls the building “the heart of the area.”

“It’s not just because we get our coffee here,” says Matlow. “Its architecture defines the community — it is iconic. If it were to become a glass and steel condo, the heart of the community would be ripped out. It wouldn’t look like Davisville anymore.”

Mar 24, 2015

Inside Toronto

Justin Skinner

The Yonge and Eglinton area is facing mounting development pressures, but councillor Josh Matlow, the City of Toronto and a variety of local stakeholders are looking to get a leg up on any new proposals.

On Monday, March 23, residents crammed into a meeting room at Northern District Library to get a look at the public realm elements of the ongoing Midtown in Focus process, which will lead to amendments to a Secondary Plan that will shape development in the Yonge and Eglinton area.

City of Toronto planners Paul Farish and Helene Iardas highlighted “five place-making moves” that would redefine the Midtown Public Realm Character Area. Those moves included 12-metre setbacks from the street for new developments along Eglinton Avenue East, landscaping along Eglinton Avenue West, public squares at several intersections, a green promenade, traffic calming on Redpath Avenue and more.