Andrew Williamson likes to call them “interstitial spaces” — buildings slated to be torn down that, until the red tape clears, are caught between their future and past.“Where something has kind of reached the end of its life of its original design purpose but it’s not yet gone to be redeveloped into something new,” he says.The term is adapted from an architectural phrase used to describe intermediate space between floors to allow room for mechanical systems. But it also captures the essence of buildings destined for redevelopment. “There’s often a lapse of time in that period of, sometimes years,” as developers wade through permits and community consultations.In a city that feels like it’s rapidly running out space, these otherwise vacant buildings offer a unique, if temporary, opportunity for everything from pop-up offices, to stores, to art galleries. Williamson is leasing an old GM Chevrolet Oldsmobile dealership near St. Clair Ave. W. and Osler St. that is on its way to being redeveloped for condos. He’s turned it into an arts and event space called the Black Cat Showroom that most recently featured an exhibit displaying art from Ryerson students and will host a featured show as part of the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival in May.Read more:Would you pay $2 million to live at the end of someone else’s backyard? Oshawa couple aren’t moving, but say a change to their postal code will cost them hundreds more in car insuranceToronto’s two front doors issue pits neighbourhood character against renters’ dignity, expert saysWhen he moved into the neighbourhood about a year and a half ago, he kept seeing vacant spaces where he saw “the opportunity for making things happen,” he says. “I kept coming back to this one building that basically just looked completely empty.”Through a contact he eventually approached a representative of the developer, and ...
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