As a child, Carmelo Pastore recalls preferring Chips Ahoy to any other Christie cookie brand. However, as district manager with demolition company Delsan-AIM, he knows the former home of Christie, Brown and Company isn’t going to be softened up by dunking it in milk.
The bakery was built in 1948 on land purchased from the provincial government at Lake Shore Boulevard West in Etobicoke, Ont. The plant had provided employment for 600 workers as it wafted the aroma of baked goods into the cars of Gardiner Expressway commuters for decades. The bakery was shut down in 2013 by company owner Mondelez International Incorporated. First Capital Realty Inc. purchased the 27-acre site in 2016.
While the Christie name represents an iconic Canadian brand, the real Mr. Christie exited the premises long ago. The biscuit company was founded by William Christie in 1853. Earning prizes for the quality of his baked goods, he grew the business rapidly before his death in 1900.
Son Robert Christie took over the business and created something of a legacy — of Canadian businesses selling their assets to American interests. The company was purchased by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) in 1928. All Nabisco brands sold in Canada thereafter simply had the company logo stripped away to be replaced by the Christie name.
Delsan-AIM began demolition on the 420,000-square-foot facility in September. The plant consists of a two-storey head office building and a series of one-storey warehouses and bakery facilities. All of the construction is slab on grade.
“The machinery and ovens have already been sold or auctioned off,” says Pastore. “There are only a few flour silos left inside.”
The facility’s iconic water tower with the familiar red Christie’s triangle emblazoned on its side is not part of the demolition permit. It’s being spared by First Capital as Ward 6 Etobicoke-Lakeshore Councillor Mark Grimes continues to advocate for the tower to be recognized on the city’s heritage register.
Initial work involved asbestos abatement, typical for a building of its vintage. Next came interior stripping of architectural finishes, including removal of carpet, ceiling tile, drywall and hardwood flooring from the building.
Clifford Restoration Ltd. was hired by First Capital to remove the limestone facade from the factory’s Mad Men-era head office for possible use in future developments on the site.
Remaining utilities — gas and hydro — were disconnected before structural demolition could begin.
“There was a billboard and a cellular tower on either side of the water tower that were still being powered by electricity supplied by connections located inside the facility,” says Pastore. “O’Connor Electric disconnected the cabling and reconnected both items to a new power source.”
Flattening the factory buildings is simply a matter of mobilizing excavators to demolish them in an orderly sweep from one side of the property to the other, leaving behind the concrete slab.
“We hope to have the concrete crusher in place by late November or early December to begin crushing the remaining slab,” says Pastore. “We’ve been instructed to leave the crushed concrete in a stockpile for possible future construction.”
Steel beams, columns and roof support channels are being shipped to Delsan-AIM’s parent company, American Iron and Metals, in Hamilton.
Equipment brought to the site includes several large excavators, most in the 45- to 60-tonne range. A handful of Bobcats and mini-excavators are being used for interior work and sorting scrap. They’ll also be used to clear the slab following the conclusion of major demolition.
At the peak of activity, the contractor had 30 workers onsite.
“It’s a nice job, with a spacious site,” says Pastore. “There’s a lot of room to work, without the restrictions of downtown projects. We’re surrounded by residential condominiums, so we’re not planning on any weekend work and we’re mindful of making sure that dust doesn’t migrate to those developments.”
First Capital hasn’t yet announced official plans for the site, although various stakeholders suggest that development could include anything from residential buildings to new transit infrastructure.
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