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Originally Posted by terrynorthend
Any idea/news about this? How big is this proposed? That lot seems like a small footprint for any significantly sized development.
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I don't really know how big it is supposed to be, but I think the plan would be to include some nearby buildings, possibly the rest of the block, and build on top of them in the same way that Founder's Square was built. In other words, some heritage buildings might be reduced to facades. I would expect that some people will go ballistic over that, and I don't know if it's a good idea or not. It really depends on the quality of the proposal.
There are already some issues because, like I said, the developers have applied for a demolition permit to tear down a three storey wooden building. In my opinion, this building is not up to par with other heritage buildings in the area and shouldn't necessarily be preserved, particularly if it makes development of a larger part of that block uneconomical. This is one of those cases where it doesn't make sense to keep something around just because it is old.
There are other examples of buildings like that, such as the Midtown or KOD. I think those are nearly 150 years old but they were very basic structures when first built and have been stripped of whatever special features they had originally.