Parkade entrance is in the worst possible location, I can imagine what it would look like last winter. As for fire and EHS vehicles they will have an additional hazard to cope with.

I believe somewhere in the design guidelines that planning staff go through for developments like this it is stated parking garage entrances should be located on the side street to avoid creating conflicts and traffic issues on the more important street. In this case Victoria is the side street and given the steep grade it likely couldn't be placed further back to avoid the intersection.

If they mean to keep the commercial space I can't really see anywhere else the driveway could be located.

Victoria is a single lane one way incline, fire trucks frequently come up Ochterloney and turn up Victoria. Vehicles exiting the parkade will be inclined towards Victoria and be turning left to an upward grade and during busy periods will be forced to yield to traffic. There is an existing entrance which served a previous home, obviously the volume from this new development will be a significant change. That section is not a side street, it is part of the morning flow to the bridge and Burnside.

Agreed, there isn't always a 'side' street: Ochterloney and Alderney, neither is a side street. Victoria road is as busy as Ochterloney.

It's true, that would be a tough left turn uphill from a stop in slippery conditions, not to mention the traffic coming at speed up the hill to 'get a run on it'.

Being a one-way street, that leads to even steeper grades up through the flower streets, I would think residents would be better served by having an exit on the flatter Ochterloney, where there are better routes available in slippery conditions.

If I were to give my 2¢, I don't think this is really a good project for this site, but hey, what do I know?

There was a drill truck on site this morning

Back hoe on site this morning, maybe just an occasional parking area. :shrug:

May be the same backhoe that was on the recently graded the lands at the bottom of Victoria Road ( owned by Clark Wilkins ).
The owner of Lotus Point holds a mortgage on properties owned by Mr Wilkins.

There were numerous pieces of Construction fences onsite this am. Looks like this may start.

Just checked. A construction permit for 50 residential units was issued on January 10th.

Backhoe is digging in the snow, so I guess that's progress. :shrug:

Two diggers working away this am, I wonder about the apt building at the back of the property, I expect that space is part of the development, it sits on top of rock.
http://www.lotuspointliving.com/wp-c...usPointFAQ.pdf
Interesting that they have Lotus Point as "Ochterloney and Queen"

Boris is confusing the address of Lotus with the property at Queen and Victoria owned by Clark Wilkins - 14 Victoria Road
Boris holds a mortgage on the property and now that Mr Wilkins( famous for his collapsing building on Lucknow and his subsequent conviction and fine of $60,000 for lying on a building permit application) has finally come up with the back taxes,interest and costs the tax sale has been removed from the March 14 2016 sale of properties in default of taxes.

Getting to be a big hole in the ground.

Here is a current rendering. It looks better than 6 years ago when it was first proposed. The lighter shade of grey is much more appealing. Hopefully they will use high grade materials for the cladding.

(source: http://www.lotuspointliving.com/ )
http://www.lotuspointliving.com/wp-c...2015/03/13.jpg

Ahh the classic render, where Victoria Road is replaced by a jungle inhabited by the rare silverback SUV.

I couldn't figure out why the render is so dark, but now I see that it was the background image from the Lotus Point website.

The rendering seems to show stone panelling on the upper stories. If that's the case, and these are indeed high-quality materials, this could turn out quite nice. If it ends up being Hardie board or those zinc panels, this will probably be pretty bland.

It's hard to tell. That central section almost looks like polished granite. It reminds me of One Government Place and the upper floors look like the same ceramic tile that has gone up on The Pearl and Monoghan Square.

What I like most though is how broken up the massing is on this one. So many large balconies and terraces. Not the usual small unusable balconies.

I'm always a bit skeptical of renderings. I've seen what looks like shiny stone-like material in a rendering turn out to be rough concrete aggregate panels, for example. I'd say it's better to consult the proposal documents, but they can be vague too. There is a lot of "stone or stone-like material" type language; it reminds me of what a fast food chain might say about what they put in their taco meat. :)

Does anyone know what the latest is here? This must be fully excavated by now?

I drove by it the other day and there is a huge hole, deeper than I thought it would be, I hope they can get the excavator out. ;)