Cabbagetown is an exceptionally pretty place in a great location close to downtown. It was one of Toronto’s original emerging neighbourhoods. It was once considered a depressed and neglected area of Toronto. Today, for the most part, the gentrification process is far along, though the neighbourhood continues to morph and change, and there is a big transformation south of Cabbagetown in Regent Park.
The Character
In the 70s and 80s, Cabbagetown saw a huge influx of media folk and gays and lesbians ready to renovate and revitalize. And the influx has continued to this day to the point where Cabbagetown has become one of the most coveted neighbourhoods in the city.
Cabbagetown Real Estate
The real zinger for this neighbourhood is its Victorian architecture; Cabbagetown has the largest continuous area of preserved Victorian housing in North America, and some of this city’s most impressive and well preserved.
Just to walk in this neighbourhood and see all the restorations that have taken place with incredible detail will leave you in awe. And then there’s Riverdale Farm. What other neighbourhood can you see goats and cows and chickens in Toronto?
Because of all this revitalized historic architecture, Cabbagetown has been deemed an historic district. Sometimes you even have a nice plaque on your house to remind you that you live in designated historic house.
This both protects the building from ugly renovations maintaining its timely design, but also restricts the owner from renovating the exterior the way that they may like. It both restricts a homeowner and protects what is best about Cabbagetown. It really depends how you look at it.
Revitalization
Just south of Cabbagetown, the huge public housing project from the 1940s known as Regent Park is undergoing a large scale transformation. A massive redevelopment under the Daniels Corporation has already made its mark.
Though the multi-condo project is still under construction in parts, it has proved to be a successful mix of affordable public housing mixed in with condo units that are affordable to purchase considering their central location. A dreary, failed public housing project has become a successfully mixed neighbourhood with one of the city’s best pubic pools, soccer fields and a community centre.
While considered an established neighbourhood, Cabbagetown does have some grit to it. Panhandling and drug-dealing are still part of the area along with gourmet shops, a neighbourhood film festival, and wine-tastings at local restaurants.
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