The Etobicoke Guardian

The new passenger pickup and dropoff facility will temporarily replace the existing 'Kiss and Ride' to the west of the station when it is closed due to construction of a $35.5-million major interregional transit hub.

The new 'Kiss and Ride' and its accompanying new east subway entrance will then become permanent.

Kipling station's future east entrance will be built on St. Albans Road under the Kipling Avenue bridge. The 33-parking spaces 'Kiss and Ride' will be located immediately east of the entrance.

An additional 40 parking spaces will be created during closure of the 'Kiss and Ride' at the station's west end and construction of the future interregional terminal.

GO Transit will own and operate the future multi-million dollar interregional terminal, a connecting station for the TTC, the inter-regional GO Transit and Mississauga Transit.

"The new east entrance is a very important component," Brian Gallaugher, a senior planner with the city's west district said yesterday, May 8. "The east entrance will enable people to access the subway from the Westwood (Theatre) lands, which over the course of how ever many years - I believe sooner rather than later - will all be redeveloped for fairly dense uses."

Last year, councillors approved the two-year use of Westwood Theatre's 300-parking spot lot by TTC commuters who drive to Kipling subway station. Yet few commuters seem to be parking there.

Parking lots at Kipling subway routinely become full long before the 8 a.m. weekday rush.

Westwood Theatre parking lot is an alternative, albeit likely more attractive once an east entrance to the subway opens.

Presently, the Westwood Theatre lands is the site of a decades-old strip plaza of retail businesses, and an abandoned movie theatre.

The lands are generally considered a real estate jewel, prime for redevelopment.

High-density mixed uses of properties in the Kipling Avenue-Bloor Street West area is prescribed by the Etobicoke Centre Secondary Plan. The plan identifies the Westwood Theatre lands as a focal point for the Etobicoke centre area.

A city initiative is currently studying numerous locations, including the Westwood Theatre lands, for a property on which to build new city employee offices.

The Westwood Theatre lands could now gain prominence in city plans to develop an Etobicoke city centre.

SNC-Lavalin had planned to construct a 20-storey building at Islington subway station, meant to spur development of an Etobicoke city centre, but the company walked away from the project earlier this year.