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Lower Don Lands Redevelopment | Waterfront Toronto l u/c
Getting closer to unpluggin' the plugs for the Don River's new path. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...pm-jpg.556284/ hawc https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...7-jpeg.556833/ skycandy Sticks and stones playground construction. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...2-jpeg.556832/ skycandy https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...4-jpeg.556829/ skycandy Easily the busiest industrial business still in the Portlands (a lot of towers u/c = a lot of concrete needed). https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...pm-jpg.556310/ hawc |
Huge improvement to the street level of a downtown intersection due to Cobalt Luxury Residences On King | 97.5 & 97.5m | 2 x 30 fl in Hamilton, ON.
Before (2011) https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...88-png.557376/ After (2024) https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...87-jpg.557357/ |
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Yikes. While I'm sure the new towers have injected some life into the neighbourhood, the 2-storey art deco building that they replaced was far more attractive. It's especially a shame as there are still a ton of surface parking lots in the surrounding blocks. Poor Hamilton - it's finally starting to see a surge in demand and all they seem to be getting out of it is worst of 905 investor-driven condo design at the expense of their heritage building stock. Has anything attractive actually been built in the past decade? |
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Early versions of the development had proposed heritage retention, but what got built went away from that for whatever reason. The original building had also been abandoned for a very long time prior to redevelopment. Hamilton's main restaurant street, which is pedestrianized in the summer months, is going from this: https://i.imgur.com/H5qK4Ti.png to this, with restaurants at grade: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9895d7f3_b.jpg https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread....27790/page-21 The project also did replace a smaller parking lot beside the old art-deco building. The King St frontage went from this: https://i.imgur.com/UaGPtcL.png To this: https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...09-jpg.548663/ https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread....27790/page-19 |
I will say the McMaster graduate residence down the street is also turning out quite nice, though it disappointingly does not have grade-level retail:
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...28-jpg.554950/ https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...73-png.542749/ https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cc307889_b.jpg https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread....32338/page-27 |
Yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised with how this turned out. I can't think of a better Graziani and Corrazza. It's problem is that its downtown where there are authentic pre war buildings and streetscapes. This would look less plastic in Burlington.
The public boulevard off King is stark and this is where you feel the imposing massing of the towers. It ain't Mercer in Toronto. |
Augusta Block is also looking great:
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...15-jpg.547459/ It's going to have an amazing rooftop restaurant space overlooking the downtown: https://i.imgur.com/fvkQE28h.jpeg It's sister building also looks good, and is getting a new high-end mini-grocer as the retail tenant: https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...72-png.516796/ https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread....32780/page-13 This Instagram post shows the market: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5lV3..._web_copy_link |
Wow uniform windows. It sounds simple but, it's seldom done. Great corner building. However, the sister building looks like a chain retirement home
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They are topping out the 40 floor tower at Centro in London. Another 29 floor tower is still under construction. (Taken by me from the 15th floor of the new 131 King tower)
https://i.imgur.com/9r8Z8wj.jpeg |
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Meh, not impressed. I see lots of spandrel, banded glass balconies, chunky massing, black plastic colour blocking, and pre-cast brick panels with random colour changes to give the illusion of narrower street frontages, and no logical cohesion between podium and tower. Brings to mind YC condos in Toronto (also a G+C project) - IMO one of the worst towers built in this cycle. The retail frontages look like they could be decent, but it's still completely out of scale with its surroundings and devoid of context - a low-rise, vernacular retail street like this wasn't really calling for a pair of 30-storey towers to spruce it up. The King St. frontage also would have been better served by a restoration to the existing heritage building with a mid-rise addition above & behind. This development looks more appropriate for a suburban TOD or something. I remember seeing renderings for the McMaster graduate residence some years ago and being excited for it, but the execution of it is a bit disappointing. The metal cladding appears to be more of a dull grey than the champagne bronze that was originally shown, and there's a whole lot of spandrel on the window sections. Nice brick detailing at ground level though. Augusta Block does look quite good - I actually thought it was a restoration of an old warehouse with an addition on the top. Impressive that it's all new construction - though it makes the choice of the juxtaposed faux-historic and modern sections all the more baffling. Not sure why they didn't just continue the traditional brick motif up to the top 3 floors. This new-build faux-heritage loft building next door is really well done though. In any case, Hamilton's a city with some great bones. It could be a lot better if more of it were built like the above two rather than importing the worst development tendencies of the 905. Smaller-scale mid-rise buildings that reinforce the existing character of the city would go a much longer way in filling its gaps in the urban fabric than generic towers do. The same problem seems to exist in Kitchener, Ottawa, and pretty much everywhere else in Southern Ontario - where I'd maintain that the quality of new development, outside of central Toronto (and even there, it's maybe 50/50 at best) is almost all uniformly terrible. |
I'm not understanding the lack of enthusiam for the improvements in Hamilton with the addition of these new towers.. they're literally replacing some hideous looking buildings (history aside) and vastly improving the overall aesthetic. I say well done Hammer :cheers:
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Not sure why it has to be a zero sum choice between no development or taking any garbage that developers throw our way. This sort of tacit acceptance of mediocrity is precisely why most of our urban environments outside of a small handful of cities are so ugly; and more broadly, why Canada is floundering as a country. "Good enough" or "better than an abandoned building" just shouldn't cut it for a multi-millon dollar development in a prime location in the downtown of one of our major cities. |
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Agree about those towers in Hamilton. They look just fine, both at street level and the towers themselves.
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Humber Bay construction at sunset.
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...ay-jpg.558035/ Lucastphotography The Capitol | 60.35m | 15s | Madison Group | Turner Fleischer l u/c https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...2-jpeg.558138/ TwinHuey https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...61-131604.jpeg UT 2444 Yonge Street | 114.27m | 31s | Main and Main | Hariri Pontarini l excavated https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...7-jpeg.558133/ TwinHuey https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...6-jpeg.558132/ TwinHuey Some welcome colour. https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...20-168966.jpeg UT The Pemberton | 215.79m | 68s | Pemberton | a—A l u/c Inching out of the ground lol (on the left). https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...8-jpeg.557807/ Benito https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...300-137048.jpg UT https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...4-jpeg.557808/ Benito Auberge On The Park | 148.9m | 45s | Tridel | Graziani + Corazza l u/c Wrapping up work on the third tower. Not a fan of G+C’s work, but these siblings turned out fine. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...02-jpg.557871/ flonicky https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...83-106822.jpeg UT |
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Yonge Street rising.
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...bc-jpg.558610/ Albion_Sky Toronto House | 186.53m | 58s | Westbank | Hariri Pontarini l nearly complete One of the better executions in the gaggle of new builds in the Entertainment District. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...2-jpeg.556582/ rdaner https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...9-jpeg.556389/ RyanD Still working on the sidewalks in front of the beautifully restored heritage building. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...38-jpg.557680/ AHK https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...8-jpeg.556664/ Red Mars Some curtain-wall light magic. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...43-jpg.559035/ AHK CAMH Discovery Centre | 41.6m | 7s | CAMH | KPMB l u/c The jewel in the Discovery Centre crown (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health). https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...00-148299.jpeg UT https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...331-168282.jpg UT No room to move on site ;-). https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...9-jpeg.556593/ rdaner https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...331-168279.jpg UT https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...20-jpg.558255/ cereal https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...63-jpg.559079/ Alley Kat 50 Scollard | 147.62m | 41s | Lanterra | Foster + Partners l u/c https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...87-jpg.558421/ Northern Light Nifty white vertical cladding appearing. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...92-jpg.558423/ Northern Light https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...93-jpg.558424/ Northern Light Peeking through. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...9-jpeg.557809/ Benito https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...9-jpeg.555933/ Johnny Au KING Toronto | 57.6m | 16s | Westbank | Bjarke Ingels Group l u/c Nice aerial of all the BIG’s lego creation with about 4 floors to go (“the east and west mountains”). https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...66-jpg.558295/ mr24 https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...92-jpg.558280/ Stefan https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...543-101846.jpg UT https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...6-jpeg.558236/ thecharioteer Bathurst Quay Revitalization | City of Toronto | Kearns Mancini l u/c Silos - Before https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/image/VUPtH7TSXm.jpeg bowen Silos - After https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/images/Ncfy56JpRj.jpeg 70Challenger Silos glimpsed from a distance. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...57-jpg.558611/ kotsy https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/images/i9wmQwAaDw.jpeg rdaner |
Yeah the new stuff in Hamilton is depressing. I wish they'd have strict height limit of 10 storeys, red brick facades and generally high quality designs. They're turning the city into a vertical mcmansion town.
I skip Hamilton now and just go to Buffalo. |
45 Strachan | 131.97m | 39s | BentallGreenOak | Hariri Pontarini l u/c
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...4-jpeg.559567/ TwinHuey https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...0-jpeg.559570/ TwinHuey 980 Dufferin | 124.63m | 37s | Hazelview | Turner Fleischer l u/c This one called “Block B” has switched from aluminum/metal cladding to brick with stone at grade… yay ;-). https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...-2-jpg.559501/ UT https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...py-jpg.559503/ UT 5 cranes on site. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attach...8-jpeg.558883/ rdaner |
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