Local Hero: Annex resident donates $25 million to revamp Gardiner underpass

No stranger to philanthropy, Judy Matthews has been Toronto’s veritable guardian angel for years, working behind the scenes with many not-for-profit organizations including Park People and Artscape. Now, Toronto has come to know her as the generous benefactor behind the recent plan to revitalize the 10-acre stretch of land underneath one of the city’s most notorious eyesores: the Gardiner Expressway. 

The $25-million project will transform the area from just west of Strachan Avenue to Spadina Avenue, connecting 70,000 residents and several parks and trails in a vibrant community space under the Gardiner. 

Matthews happens to be the great-granddaughter of E. J. Lennox, the architect who designed Old City Hall and Casa Loma. Educated in urban planning, she worked on the Stop Spadina campaign back in the ’60s, the St. George St. revitalization and many other civic initiatives over the last 50 years.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that when her longtime friend Ken Greenberg, of the landscape architecture firm Public Work, approached her with his transformative designs earlier this year, Matthews offered her full support. She and her husband Wilmot will use the money earned from his long career as an investment banker to fund the multimillion-dollar project.

“We saw very quickly what enormous potential it had,” said Matthews, who added that the concept will be a relief to many of the larger families living in cramped apartments nearby.

"Public open space that everyone can share is very important and the city can’t keep up with it. It’s too late for the city to buy up a central park or large piece of land, they’re all gone. So it’s really these smaller parks that are dotted around, and if you can connect them, then the sum is much greater than the smaller pieces," she added. 

The initiative includes a 1.75-kilometre trail, a bridge over Fort York Boulevard, a grand staircase at Strachan and a series of spaces between the Gardiner’s towering columns that Matthews said could be used for the odd chamber concert, marketplace or skating rink. 

The first phase of construction is scheduled to start in the summer of 2016, and Matthews said she plans to be there every step of the way.

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