The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! II

[Metro-One]

I think it is just residents looking for river views.

[TallBob]

Great photos!! I really liked the last Edmonton photo. Really shows how spread out it is. It looks much bigger than what it is!

[Chadillaccc]

Photos by me yesterday

[travis3000]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

In the next 2 to 3 years Toronto will come back to the pack. Probably only slightly ahead of Vancouver Metro by 2016/2017 with Calgary and Montreal close behind as well.

The developers in Toronto are peeling off construction capacity. Once construction capacity is gone there will be a very, very long time to ramp up agian. Also a lot of workers will move to Alberta when things get slow, adding additional burdens on ramp up.

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I have to disagree with you Caltrane. I don't know where all your negative views about Toronto's condo market are coming from, but it's extremely unrealistic to assume that by 2016 Toronto will only have 6-7 100m projects under construction. That is simply not true. In my opinion, by this time Cityplace will begin launching their signature towers, two monster projects in the 750-850ft range, and while the market in Toronto may take a breather (that's just realistic), it will not result in everybody moving to Alberta. Toronto will continue to grow. The condo market has already cooled since the 2010-2012 time frame but will for sure heat up again as time goes on. It's all a part of the market, ups and downs. But to suggest TO is going to plunge to Vancouver numbers, that I strongly disagree with.

[caltrane74]

I didn't say everyone was going to move to Alberta. Its just that as sales slow construction activity will decline, and skill-tradesmen in Ontario are in high demand in Alberta. Not all of them will go, but when things get hot in Toronto again, maybe 3-5 years down the road, it will take some time to ramp up again.

When I said come back to the pack I meant something like 30-40 towers under construction over 100 meters. Not exactly Vancouver levels, but Toronto drops and Vancouver and Calgary move up the ladder. So the massive gap will be narrowed.

[travis3000]

^ I remember people said these same things back in 2010. All these doomsday predictions for Toronto, with all their stats to back it up... and here we are over 3 years later still doing quite well with dozens upon dozens of new 100m+ projects launched this year alone across the GTA. I think people will be surprised in the resilience in the Toronto condo market. Will it cool down? Absolutely. But it's nowhere near out, and in my opinion will continue to far outpace any other city in Canada in terms of projects u/c and proposed, although you are probably right in saying the gap will narrow slightly. It has to.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

I didn't say everyone was going to move to Alberta. Its just that as sales slow construction activity will decline, and skill-tradesmen in Ontario are in high demand in Alberta. Not all of them will go, but when things get hot in Toronto again, maybe 3-5 years down the road, it will take some time to ramp up again.

When I said come back to the pack I meant something like 30-40 towers under construction over 100 meters. Not exactly Vancouver levels, but Toronto drops and Vancouver and Calgary move up the ladder. So the massive gap will be narrowed.

I also see this scenario as well. It's not like Toronto will come down to the average national level(not for a good 6 years at least) but it will come down and hopefully level out to a sustainable level. On the other hand, Calgary has 4 - 6 towers over 100 meters that will be starting by next July (Brookfield Place, Telus Sky, Vogue, 3 Eau Claire, and hopefully City Centre II and Evolution II) with only 2 coming off our current list within that timeframe. Hopefully by next summer, we'll have moved up to a healthy 10 - 12 over 100 meters UC. Still completely eclipsed by Toronto and Metro Van though... but certainly not terrible.

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by Beedok

I think it's interesting how Edmonton's skyline only really stretches off in the one direction. There's a bit the other way, and then what looks like a sea of warehouses. Is the a geological reason for that, or just an oddity of growth?

The river valley is our ocean front property, simple as that.

[caltrane74]

Calgary has awesomely beautiful towers and while it does not have the size of the bigger cities. The landmark towers there are at least the equal to the corporate powerhouse towers in Toronto. All with a population of a million and a little bit.

[Chadillaccc]

What do you mean? The only city in Canada with towers bigger than Calgary and more numerous big towers is Toronto. Or do you just mean bigger cities in general, like Toronto-size and up? Some of our big towers are nice, some I hate. Like First Canadian Centre and Scotia Tower. Ugggh. I wish they had gone the Toronto way and built our bank towers nice. Our TD and RBC Towers are nice though.

[caltrane74]

Yes, I meant size population wise, and number of towers.

Not the height and size of the towers.

[Chadillaccc]

That's what I meant too, we have the 2nd tallest and 2nd highest number of towers over 100 meters in Canada, behind Toronto.

I meant height and number, not size.

However, if you bring the number down to 75 meters, we're third... behind Toronto and Vancouver. It'll be nearly impossible to match that kind of density Vancouver has!

[Symz]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Photos by me yesterday

Wow, what a beautiful day in Calgary, nice pictures!

[Jimby]

Bowen Island golf course by LUMIN8, on Flickr

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by travis3000

But to suggest TO is going to plunge to Vancouver numbers, that I strongly disagree with.

In times of boom it's hard to imagine next to no activity, but that's how the real estate cycle typically goes. We could very well see a third to half the proposals on the table never built and a number of years till the industry starts ramping up again.

We hope that it doesn't come to pass, but the signs are everywhere. Usually it happens just when the really big projects get proposed only to find that the industry has now pushed the market beyond what it can support. One Yonge? Mirvish-Ghery? Holt Renfrew? Oxford Place? It's all looking very familiar.

I've lived through a few cycles and no one ever seems to think it's coming. But it does. I just hope we get 1-2 of those glamour projects built before it happens.

[travis3000]

^ You and me both. Or one of them that comes back from the dead in the next boom. We need one of the super projects to go ahead. I don't care if it's One Yonge, the Mirvish Towers, or Oxford Place. One of them needs to go through!!

[isaidso]

If I had to pick between the 3, I want Oxford to happen. It will do far more for the city than those other 2. The rail track decking alone is a huge benefit.

[oiler-dude]

Originally Posted by Beedok

I think it's interesting how Edmonton's skyline only really stretches off in the one direction. There's a bit the other way, and then what looks like a sea of warehouses. Is the a geological reason for that, or just an oddity of growth?

As Coldrsx mentioned, the river front is more desirable. Add to that, Edmonton also has an industrial past (up until the 1980s we had 2 big train yards right downtown), hence why there are a lot of warehouses. On top of that, the City Centre Airport limited where bigger towers could be built as well, all contributing to why our core has grown the way it has. This is all slowly starting to change now!

[Chadillaccc]

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[ssiguy]

I really like the Calgary skyline. It has a great variety of designs, colours, architectural highlights, the buildings are well spaced and the there is a nice balance to the skyline........you don't get the Toronto volcano effect or the Vancouver "everything is a 30 story glass tower" effect.

Despite it being a relatively new city Calgary's skyline has a matured look about it like Montreal's.