Canada's 10 Tallest U/C

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I know Toronto's never going to be New York and wasn't expecting a One 57 or 8 Spruce Street, but it's still disheartening that this is what absolute top-of-the-market prices gets us in Toronto.

Toronto doesn't want to be New York nor should it. Toronto should be the best Toronto it can be. The city has come a long way in a very short time and is still in rapid ascension. Rather than dwell on the fact that we're not where we want to be yet we could acknowledge that we're going in the right direction.

This is arguably the fastest rising city in the western world. Perhaps a little perspective is needed.

[WhipperSnapper]

His point rests with quality over quantity. We're adding quantity. I'm unconvinced we're adding a lot of quality in the new spaces Torontonians habitate privately and publicly.

[isaidso]

A culture always lags a city or country's economic status. When a city is predominantly blue collar/industrial and transforms into a white collar global city it takes a few generations before the culture shifts and people demand a better standard. Likewise, a city that used to have power/wealth then loses it behaves in the reverse. A city may no longer be wealthy but the populace still has a penchant for the finer things/quality.

Toronto is the former and there's not a thing one can do to speed things up. A culture takes a lot longer to change and it's only recently that Toronto has started caring about what the sidewalks look like, design, quality. I'm not suggesting that no one in Toronto in the past cared about these things, but the masses certainly didn't.

Till Toronto's masses start caring about Miele appliances, architecture, and granite sidewalks we'll get more of the same/low quality.

[Gresto]

^I would not tout Miele as a company at all. We bought an expensive Miele vacuum at Costco years ago, and we have brought it in to have the flimsy plastic lid hinges repaired under warranty about 5 times. I wrote the company years ago to ask for a better solution, and the company gave a thoroughly unsatisfactory response, essentially washing its hands of the problem. I would avoid Miele.
/off-topic rant over.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by isaidso

A culture always lags a city or country's economic status. When a city is predominantly blue collar/industrial and transforms into a white collar global city it takes a few generations before the culture shifts and people demand a better standard. Likewise, a city that used to have power/wealth then loses it behaves in the reverse. A city may no longer be wealthy but the populace still has a penchant for the finer things/quality.

Toronto is the former and there's not a thing one can do to speed things up. A culture takes a lot longer to change and it's only recently that Toronto has started caring about what the sidewalks look like, design, quality. I'm not suggesting that no one in Toronto in the past cared about these things, but the masses certainly didn't.

Till Toronto's masses start caring about Miele appliances, architecture, and granite sidewalks we'll get more of the same/low quality.

Vancouver seems to have a higher standard yet hasnt been around as long i wonder why? Maybe because its condo boom started before Toronto's?

[WhipperSnapper]

I don't buy that argument. First, it's being 50 years or two generations since "downtown Toronto" become the centre of commerce in Canada. Second, I've lived in predominantly blue collar cores of cities and towns and their standards weren't any lower that the nearby white collar cities and towns cores.

Don't get me wrong, the renaissance is night and day from the dark ages of the 1990s. The city and BIAs have also done commendable jobs renovating tired spaces. It's private development which is also less and less being driven by actual Torontonians. I used to proudly hold Toronto above Chicago because downtown averted garbage like YC or the Sutton Place renos. We're also seeing more and more character architecture given away to mediocre tall towers. We're also seeing better architecture and from international stars. It just feels standards have dropped from years ago without going into deeper analysis. We can't blame developers entirely either. They are struggling in their own ways as much as those office workers are to afford a mortgage or monthly rent.

[Coldrsx]

www.twitter.com/kmoorephotos

[caltrane74]

Massey - 208 meters

[caltrane74]

Massey

[koops65]

10 tallest U/C diagram: http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=80809352

With the addition of The Prestige, E Condos is now back to #11 again...

[Coldrsx]

www.twitter.com/ianoyeg

[Airboy]

Stantec is about a month away from being the tallest in town.

[Coldrsx]

Fox Drive/Whitemud off-ramp


www.twitter.com/ianoyeg

[dleung]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Ah, yes, the usual mocking response that says nothing at all.

Please. Don't spare us. How is it not a luxury in places like Yorkville, The Entertainment District, King West compared to less dense, masterplanned communities like Cityplace/Southcore, Mississauga City Centre or Humber Bay Shore? Owning parking is a luxury in places like King West, Yorkville and, King West too. (So is being able to drive faster than the pedestrian around you.)

My definition of "urban living" is being very specific in light of this being about a Yorkville project than urban living being defined as something like having the option to walk down the block to buy a latte. I've lived at 5 to 10 FSI density. I've also lived 10 to 20 FSI density. They are totally not the same.

Obviously some would beg to differ since the units are selling, but if I have to choose between a corner unit a block away with views of the city and a same-price shoebox with no view in a ultra-luxury tower that has a doorman, I'd choose the former.

That said, I don't doubt the quality of the finishes at the One. What suburbanite kept calling spandrel appear to be shadow boxes with a textured interior lining similar to Richard Roger's Neo Bankside building in London:



The window benches are a risky sell, but if I ever lived in a building where the windows don't come all the way to the floor, I'd be the first to incorporate built-in benches to eliminate the lame bit of wall underneath, so that it doesn't look like I couldn't afford full-height windows.

[Coldrsx]

@CGWM_Muhs

[caltrane74]

10 York - 224 meters



488 University- 207 meters

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by dleung

The window benches are a risky sell, but if I ever lived in a building where the windows don't come all the way to the floor, I'd be the first to incorporate built-in benches to eliminate the lame bit of wall underneath, so that it doesn't look like I couldn't afford full-height windows.

You do venture into the absurd sometimes... just so you can be right. Floor to ceiling glass is popular atm but to argue that it's a mark of luxury? Believe it or not but some people like having actual walls.

Those window benches look fabulous and are a selling point. They're far nicer than if they'd incorporated floor to ceiling glass, afaic. If you prefer the latter that's your prerogative. That seems to be what millennials like but they're not representative of the overall population. I chose my condo building specifically because it didn't have floor to ceiling glass.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by dleung

Obviously some would beg to differ since the units are selling, but if I have to choose between a corner unit a block away with views of the city and a same-price shoebox with no view in a ultra-luxury tower that has a doorman, I'd choose the former.

That said, I don't doubt the quality of the finishes at the One. What suburbanite kept calling spandrel appear to be shadow boxes with a textured interior lining similar to Richard Roger's Neo Bankside building in London:



The window benches are a risky sell, but if I ever lived in a building where the windows don't come all the way to the floor, I'd be the first to incorporate built-in benches to eliminate the lame bit of wall underneath, so that it doesn't look like I couldn't afford full-height windows.

Personally, i'm probably happiest in my prewar suburb. There are different levels of urbanity that are attuned to different lifestyles. Floor to ceiling glass is not for me either. I have a fear of heights and have had a life defining moment. After school, I had a second interview for career position. Suffice to say I didn't get this virtually locked up job. I was put into a small conference room with an oversized table and a retrofitted raised floor. The floor to ceiling glass extended at least a foot below the raised floor with a gap remaining between the mullion and the inset glass. All I could think of was one the casters dropping into that void. It was the same building someone decided to test the strength of the glass panes and ended up falling to his death.

I'd be pleasantly surprised if the exterior cladding on One Bloor ends up as nice as your example.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

It was the same building someone decided to test the strength of the glass panes and ended up falling to his death.

This is like the urban legend of Bay Street, accept it's actually true. I went to a CF Christmas Party the last two years at Canoe (or maybe Strata?) and someone always tells the story of the leaping lawyer. Also without fail, someone will bring up that the glass actually didn't break, it popped out of its frame.

[Coldrsx]

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