Toronto to begin environmental survey for future park at stackt grounds

Toronto’s well known shipping container market stackt has announced it will be closing over March and April for planned city maintenance.

CityNews has learned that the City of Toronto will be conducting an environmental site assessment (ESA) of the area which will involve “drilling of boreholes, installation of monitoring wells, and sampling of soil and groundwater.” The work will require heavy machinery and equipment, necessitating the closure of the market and several of the businesses that operate therein.

The shops that run along Bathurst Street on the outer edge of the market will not be affected and will continue to operate during the survey.

The City of Toronto tells CityNews the timeline of the survey was mutually agreed upon with stackt to mitigate any losses to the vendors as March and April are typically slower months at the market.

But the owner of cookie and ice cream shop Pandoughra’s Box, that has been at the market since November, 2020, says the timing isn’t ideal for them.

“I’m sorry to use these words, but it sucks, big time,” said Rujuta Agate. “Jan. and Feb are already the slow months for most businesses, because the holidays are over, people don’t want to to spend. March and April is when you start seeing a little bit of pick up and — the closure.”

Matt Rubinoff, founder of stackt told CityNews in a statement that they learned about the closure in 2020.

“The work period for March and April 2022 was always included in the ground lease with the City and in the resident agreements,” he said.

Agate confirms that they received sufficient advance notice, but given that it is their only storefront in the city, it still affects their bottom line — especially during Easter, when they have seasonal specials.

“I just hope that everything gets done on time … because being ice cream, it’s very seasonal. We have specific months, we don’t have a lot of time. It’s Canada,” explained Agate. “We’re just hoping we can go back on May 1.”

However, since they have moved their production offsite, they are still able to offer customers a pickup option. Agate says that the vendor community at stackt is very supportive and open to collaboration and Milky’s Cafe and Aunty’s Supply that will remain open have offered to serve as pickup locations.

“The closure makes sense because the site is a public space and ultimately the customer needs to feel safe in this environment,” said Ken Chow, owner of Krane Design, who moved into the market in July, 2020.

Chow says while he understands that many businesses at the market will be negatively impacted, he is able to take the closure in stride as the pandemic lockdowns had him well prepared.

“During the first wave … online became more important,” he said. “I would totally have an issue with it if I didn’t build up the website part of my brand. I feel like as a business owner, you have to be resilient, especially in this time.”

Future park development

According to a 2017 city staff report, the plot at 28 Bathurst street is slated to become a park.

The grounds were previously used for industrial purposes including for the storage of coal gas in two large gasometres and as a lead smelting facility until the late 1980s.

“The east portion of the lands toward Bathurst Street is contaminated while remainder of the site was previously remediated. All remaining on-site contamination has been capped and is being monitored,” reads the report.

The land was leased by stackt from the city in 2017 and after two extensions, the current lease is set to expire in March 2023. As per the 2017 city report, it “would occupy the site for a period of two to three years or until such time as the city converts the site to a park.”

The market opened its gates in 2019 and quickly became a vibrant community hub with several small businesses running the gamut from hair salons to plant shops. Throughout spring, summer and fall it hosts several artisan and food markets and serves as the site for several pop-ups and local events.

Stackt will have to vacate the plot when the city builds the park on the land. The city says depending on the outcome of the ESA and other protocols, it could potentially be three to five years before construction begins.

Rubinoff says the market’s more than 130 shipping containers and other materials can be re-located when its lease expires.

“The concept has seen great success at this location and stackt has expansion plans for scalability with other locations beyond Toronto’s vicinity,” he said.