A District Refresh

Brookfield Place - Allen Lambert Galleria

June 25, 2014 • Business, City, Features, In the Magazine

With plans to beautify, rejuvenate and improve Bay Street, a different kind of BIA is now sculpting the Financial District.
By Grant Humes, Executive Director of the Toronto Financial District BIA

Toronto businesses have a long and unique history of creating Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) to represent their neighborhoods. Funded directly from a levy on property taxes within the area, a BIA determines how to best expand, market and advocate for area businesses. Common BIA initiatives include adding streetscape elements such as improved sidewalks, signage and greenery, and hosting events like Taste of the Danforth. Beginning with Bloor West Village in 1970, Toronto now has 77 BIAs representing distinct neighborhoods, from Little Portugal to the Entertainment District. The rest of the world has taken Toronto’s lead, with similar organizations founded in neighbourhoods from Singapore to Los Angeles.

This leads us now to our BIA, the Toronto Financial District. Since its inception in 2012, it started as a different type of organization suited to represent the unique characteristics of Canada’s premier central business district, an area of 15 square blocks where 200,000 people work each day (about 15% of the city’s jobs).

We knew that we were a different kind of business area from the beginning and sought advice from experts in the Financial District and throughout the city as to how we could best represent the interests of businesses and employees in the area. Our overall goal is to create conditions that further promote economic growth in the Financial District. If the downtown core is filled with great jobs, everyone is better off, from the property owners and businesses in the area to the employees and greater public throughout the city.

First step: improving our public face to the world, or the street-level experience. The Financial District has world-class architectural marvels with marble lobbies and granite sidewalks, not to mention the highest concentration of publicly accessible art in Canada. But it also has decaying sidewalks and public spaces not befitting of a premier world financial centre. Our BIA now has an inventory of all public elements, from garbage cans to street poles, and we’ve developed a long-term public realm strategy to improve the aesthetics and operational function of each street over time.

By working with the City, building owners and other area associations, we will identify projects each year to best collaborate and share resources on improvement projects. You can see our initial 2013 pilot project on Bay and King Streets where a uniform look has been applied. This includes anti-graffiti pole wraps, new garbage bins and street banners that highlight soaring architectural elements found in the area.

Our next goal is to highlight the excitement that’s going on each day in the Financial District. We have a dedicated online presence that includes daily updates on news, events, sales and promotions in the Financial District and the PATH underground walkway at MyTOFD.com and on Twitter @MyTOFD. There are concerts, pop-up art galleries and fantastic sales in the area each day and our goal is to have a central source of information for busy Bay Street employees who don’t have time to walk past every store in the PATH or read emails from every retailer. We will also provide regular updates about our improvements in the area through e-newsletters, and road closures and construction bulletins that can be subscribed to on our website.

Despite its role as the most valuable economic generator for Toronto and Canada, there has never been an advocate representing the Financial District itself. Our most important role is to be an area-specific voice for the Financial District on issues that impact the area, including transportation connections and the PATH, infrastructure improvements and tax competitiveness issues. We have a dedicated urban planner on staff and an integrated planning approach to consult with experts in the area, the City and the public, to ensure the

Financial District’s best interests are always represented.
What type of improvements will you see over time as the result of our BIA? The street-level experience will have a new look and feel that creates a sense of order and security befitting a world-class financial centre.

There will be more conversation online about what’s going on in the area each day and information will be regularly shared about the impacts of construction and development on area businesses. Ultimately, more towers will be built, more great jobs will be created and the area will move efficiently as we insert long-term impact considerations into development and planning conversations in the area and throughout the city.

Bay Street BIA business Business Improvement Area toronto