Canadian City Proposals

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

47 Storey Mixed Use (preliminary design) proposal for 10 Spadina Avenue.[/IMG]

101 Spadina

[TorontoDrew]

Oops.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

The mega projects continue.

http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2017/05/audacious-proposal-envisions-towers-beside-rail-deck-park

this is the proposal from the developer who has claimed they own the air rights over the train tracks that the city are proposing to build the rail deck park over.

The ORCA project

[WhipperSnapper]

Pass.

[koops65]

I think that's awesome... across the street from the Well. That would fit right into the cityscape...
My floor count estimate:

from left to right

26 - residential
38 - residential
40 - residential, could be ~135 metres
40 - residential, could be ~135 metres
45 - residential, could be ~150 metres
45 - residential, could be ~150 metres
59 - residential, could be ~190 metres, this one would be in the top 50 list
36 - office, could be ~160 metres

[FrankieFlowerpot]

On the drawings -

27,41,41,41,46,46,59,36 (office)

[biguc]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

The mega projects continue.

http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2017/05/audacious-proposal-envisions-towers-beside-rail-deck-park

this is the proposal from the developer who has claimed they own the air rights over the train tracks that the city are proposing to build the rail deck park over.

The ORCA project

— that. The rail deck park is the best idea Toronto's had in a long time, and it badly needs a large central park. More generic condos? Not so much.

[koops65]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

On the drawings -

27,41,41,41,46,46,59,36 (office)

Seems I was quite close...

Originally Posted by biguc

— that. The rail deck park is the best idea Toronto's had in a long time, and it badly needs a large central park. More generic condos? Not so much.

These towers will be on the narrow strip of land on the South side of Front, and partially over the Go train parking area. Looks like the vast majority of the park is still there...

[GeneralLea]

Interesting proposal just west of the Well, though keep in mind these look like pretty preliminary renderings, so I wouldn't fret over the design. I'm wondering if these condo buildings could possibly have some "affordable" units as part of the new legislation in the municipality....though I think that it's unlikely.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Originally Posted by biguc

— that. The rail deck park is the best idea Toronto's had in a long time, and it badly needs a large central park. More generic condos? Not so much.

Well the thing is - the ownership of the air rights above the tracks is supposedly owned by this developer and not the city.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

Well the thing is - the ownership of the air rights above the tracks is supposedly owned by this developer and not the city.

I find it passing strange that the matter seems to be in doubt.

[koops65]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

7 Labatt is an old proposal - it's been redesigned as a single tower

Known as 77 River St. - 120 metres, 38 floors: http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=112315

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by koops65

I think that's awesome... across the street from the Well. That would fit right into the cityscape...
My floor count estimate:

from left to right

26 - residential
38 - residential
40 - residential, could be ~135 metres
40 - residential, could be ~135 metres
45 - residential, could be ~150 metres
45 - residential, could be ~150 metres
59 - residential, could be ~190 metres, this one would be in the top 50 list
36 - office, could be ~160 metres

Don't get distracted by the decking. Look closer at what is actually being proposed.

The street wall including a podium stretching under 4 towers is a flat out boring density grab. The park is one storey up at a spot where the rail corridor is trenched. It's not very functional or does it add the desperately needed larger greenspaces when one third to one half is transitioning between the grades. It's all for separating pedestrians from cars and servicing. That's an antiquated suburban train of thought that put the car first. No wonder it looks straight out of the 905 or Metro Vancouver. The mayor's plan of a decked park covering the entire area more or less at grade is what downtown residences needs. Not this.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

Well the thing is - the ownership of the air rights above the tracks is supposedly owned by this developer and not the city.

The only thing that matters is who owns the corridor itself. If the city owns the corridor (?) and they are looking to rezone it all as parkland than the holder of the air rights is — out of luck to use them here. This is an act of desperation then.

[ssiguy]

Look at that development!.............every single suburban office park in Mississauga is going to be soooooooooo jealous.

[koops65]

I fail to understand why people get so picky about the details of an extremely preliminary proposal. These sorts of things often take years to iron out... like the long podium, that'll probably get split into several pieces. And the boring similarity of all the residential towers, those are likely just place-holders, not what will get built.

The main point is that this developer wants to build a bunch of towers on a long narrow strip of land on Front St. Let's wait and see how this plays out before rushing to a judgment...

[WhipperSnapper]

The specifics (like those heights) may change but, the concept of a wall of towers on shared podiums along Front and a not very useful raised green deck are not likely to change. A High Line here is a missed opportunity for something more Grant-ish even at the cost of those heighty towers.

The developer doesn't own the property. Good chance this is as far as it gets so why wait?

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

Spoke to the guys at Oxford, and the boxes will all have different textures to differentiate them as well as different features (lower box has operable windows, second box has a large sky atrium type space etc...).

If done well it could look really cool, but if poorly executed could end up looking messy. Hopefully this one gets a couple gentle tweaks to keep if from being messy.

[WhipperSnapper]

Typically Vancouver. Be better if they didn't try to differentiate the boxes from one another. I agree it would be cool or spectacular if executed well. I just don't have a lot of faith in our designer/developer relationships. Very open to compromise. Kudos for Vancouver for always trying to be original with out of the box thinking with every development. It does create a lot of awkward, busy designs that won't age gracefully in their mediocrity.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by koops65

I think that's awesome... across the street from the Well. That would fit right into the cityscape...

No thanks. For a city in a panic about where future green space will come from the idea that we'd pave over the last substantial opportunity (downtown) with more buildings is absurd.

Did New York build towers on Central Park to fund Central Park? For once I'd like Toronto to spend the money and build something properly instead of these endless compromise 'solutions'. This is a park for the next 200 years. Every inch of this needs to be green space. If we have to borrow the money to get it done right, so be it.