TORONTO | Highrise Developments Compilation Thread

[icescraper]

Originally Posted by LordMandeep

I wonder how a 75 story Rocp 3 will look. I see 60 stories for that max though.

Appartently they're going to repropose to the city at 70 stories with some reductions in density. The saga continues...


As for the amazing diagram whats all the new stuff Maldive on the left side of First Canadian Place/BMO? - ice

[caltrane74]

She knows something we dont. I guess.

But even better rendering than before.

[WhipperSnapper]

^how can you possibly not know this tower. It is probably the most talked about project of all time on the forums



Verve & 500 Sherbourne? are among the others in the background

[caltrane74]

ahhh.... Sapharrie or whateva. I tried to put that building out of my head. It wont get built anyway.

Why doesnt Harry Just give up already.

[Maldive]

Good eye, Better Than Average Lookin' (meaning Verve etc. Not "The Verve")

[WhipperSnapper]

"ahhh.... Sapharrie or whateva"

at first glance, I actually thought it might be a redesign for the Concourse Tower - took me few minutes longer to realize it was Sapphire

[WhipperSnapper]

nothing average about this face

[icescraper]

I think its Verve and 500 whatever (?). PS Damn I wish I had a digital camera, I was thinking of posting a picture of my butt in a loin cloth. - ice

[Beatrix]

Your rendering looks fabulous as usual, Maldive.

Trump tower looks MUCH better now. Hope it turns out that way when it's built!

[LordMandeep]

It appars the new trend is massssssssiiiivvvvvveee residental projects in the former burbs of Toronto.
One at Finch and Warden- 1100 apartments
http://p083.ezboard.com/ftorontoskys...cID=5271.topic

Yonge and Steeles
Condos: 39, 39, 32 floors (1380 units)
Office: 10 floors
Parking: 3032 required, 2410 requested
On Yonge, also in Markham, this project south of the 407 could contain:
Condos: 28,28,28,24,24,21,18,16,16,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8 (3000 units)
Hotel: 8 floors
Office: 20 floors
http://p083.ezboard.com/ftorontoskys...tart=1&stop=20


Others...

Tower plan alarms critics
City intensifying transit corridor, but some residents near Sheppard line disagree

Nov. 28, 2006. 06:21 AM
PAUL MOLONEY
CITY HALL BUREAU
www.thestar.com


It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Put more buildings on Toronto's main streets to make room for hundreds of thousands of new residents. In the process you would cut urban sprawl and maximize use of public transit.

But implementing the city's master plan is causing concern.

Several enormous projects underway or proposed along the Sheppard subway line in North York demonstrate the plan in action. And not everyone is happy about the construction cranes populating the Sheppard corridor.

Some fear the trend will spread across other parts of the city as Toronto seeks to intensify usage of other main streets from Scarborough to Etobicoke.

Former chief Toronto planner Paul Bedford downplays any concerns.

"Generally the strategy in the official plan is to encourage development where the transportation exists," he said. "On Sheppard, the strategy obviously is to develop there, given the subway. You don't build a subway and keep two-storey buildings on Sheppard."

Passed this year, the city's official plan was the first post-amalgamation reform of the way the city should be designed.

"The development is going where it fits," said Councillor Brian Ashton (Ward 36, Scarborough Southwest). "You build bigger densities there and when you go to Kingston Rd. or Avenue Rd. or Wilson Ave. you build on a scale that complements a community and doesn't destroy it."

Ashton said council was upset with North York a few years ago because intensification wasn't taking place. "Now we're getting buildings in places that are well-suited for them, and that increases our assessment base."

The first wave of North York development was along Yonge St. from Highway 401 north to Finch Ave. Spurred by the opening of the $933 million Sheppard subway line four years ago, the second and newest wave is along Sheppard from Yonge St. to Leslie St.

It's supposed to be a haven for transit users, but many new residents rely on their cars just as much as other Torontonians, said Councillor John Filion (Ward 23, Willowdale).

"I'd sure like somebody to tell me where the traffic's going to go," Filion said. "We've already got gridlock at the peak hours in both the morning and afternoon. I don't know what stage is worse than gridlock. I guess quagmire."

Filion has been a critic of the development plans, first pushed by former North York Mayor Mel Lastman, ever since he was first elected as a councillor 15 years ago.

"Why does somebody buy at Yonge and the 401? A few might buy because it's close to the subway; most buy because it's close to the 401 and they're working in Mississauga or Scarborough."

The centrepiece of the North York development is the site of the old Canadian Tire warehouse, near the IKEA store, visible to motorists driving westbound on Highway 401 between Leslie and Bayview Ave.

The giant warehouse is soon to be knocked down to make way for 3,974 housing units. The 16-hectare property was recently purchased for $149.7 million by Concord Adex Investments, the same people building condo towers in the downtown railway lands west of Rogers Centre.

"This is the biggest residential project in the history of North York," said Dennis Au Yeung, vice-president and chief financial officer for Concord Adex.

The development, approved by city council in late 2002, was comprehensively planned with tall buildings sited along the 401 side and shorter buildings along Sheppard, said Councillor David Shiner, who represents the area.

Commitments include $5.2 million from the developer toward the cost of a community centre, and setting aside 3.4 hectares for the community centre, a park, playgrounds and future school and library sites, said Shiner (Ward 24, Willowdale).

"We spent two years on charettes and working groups with the community and area businesses to establish the layout of the buildings," Shiner said.

Farther east, also south of Sheppard but closer to Yonge St., is a proposal for 1,195 units in five towers ranging from 15 to 21 storeys, plus townhouses on a 3.9-hectare site off Oakburn Cres. The proposal by K & G Oakburn Apartments began a 10-day hearing yesterday before the Ontario Municipal Board.

And at the southeast corner of Yonge and Sheppard, Willowdale Plaza would be razed in favour of two towers, 37 and 45 storeys, and a five-store retail/residential block with a total of 825 units under a proposal for the 1.5-hectare site by condominium developer Tridel.

In all, the three projects would bring some 6,000 units with almost 11,000 residents.

"I think the development is a positive," said Ashton. "With the 401 on one side and the Sheppard subway on the other, you've got a whole strip of land. If you're going to intensify, that's the Garden of Eden."

Some residents, however, appear overwhelmed. Bernie Morton, the past president of the 5,000-member Avondale Community Condominium Association, says the area is clogged with rush-hour traffic.

The association, whose members live in condo towers and townhouses near Yonge and 401, opposes the Oakburn project to the east due to traffic, Morton said.

"The Oakburn project is not an ugly project at all — there's been some creative thought that's gone into it — but our main concern is traffic," he said. "Where are the cars going to go when it's already bottlenecked?"

The planners, meanwhile, emphasize that the plans were finalized after extensive analysis of the road and transit system."That's one of the things the North York Centre plan does extremely well," said planner Paul Byrne. "Densities assigned to the blocks and parcels were all worked out from a transportation capacity point of view."

The area is blessed with transit, said Victoria Witkowski, transportation planning manager for the North York District. Most of the new residents along Yonge St. are within a 10-minute walk of one of three subway stations, Finch, North York Centre and Sheppard on the Yonge line, Witkowski said.

The same will be true for the new people moving into the Canadian Tire site, who will be able to access either the Leslie or Bessarion stations on the Sheppard line, she said.

"From a transit perspective, that's phenomenal. The additional people are coming here because the subway's here, because we have such good transit available to them."

She conceded that road capacity is an issue. However, help is on the way. The city plans eventually to extend Anndale Dr. to Yonge St., providing a new route for residents south and east of the Yonge and Sheppard intersection.

"The Anndale link would take pressure off Avondale, where people are having a hard time getting out to Yonge St.," she said.

Filion doesn't buy it.

"It's a huge mess," he said. "It would be different if three-quarters of the new people were taking public transit, but that's not happening and it's never going to happen."

http://p083.ezboard.com/ftorontoskys...art=61&stop=80

These kinds of developments really are quite unique here in Toronto...

[LordMandeep]

PLus updates on many projects...
http://p083.ezboard.com/ftorontoskys...cID=5264.topic


and its Appears Construction has begun at Maple Leaf Square. There is now no more parking at the ACC anymore...



Also i was in Downtwon last Monday and i must say Spire and the MET look massive from Yonge and Dundas. Plus Metroplis is massive building as well.

[caltrane74]

shots from flickr.

construction of the RBC Centre - 600 ft'er.

[caltrane74]

This condo is being built on pure spec near the Toronto waterfront.
Its 510 ft tall. And I dont believe they have sold a single unit. However I may be wrong.

This building will be on the opposite side of the Air Canada Centre..where construction recently began on the 600 ft MLS tower and its sister tower. The parking lot to the ACC was recently closed as construction began. You can see the ACC in the backround of the shot. (it has the big maple leaf on top) so canadian.

[Canadian Mind]

jesus christ toronto, hurry up and build something over 2678 feet, or you'll lose your status as having the world tallest freestanding structure.

even reconsider tearing CN down and building it twice as tall? those 1000 footers must be interfering with communications again by now eh.

[caltrane74]

Groundbreaking for Trump tower set for spring
SYDNIA YU

From Friday's Globe and Mail

With about 70 per cent of the suites in the Trump International Hotel and Tower already sold, groundbreaking at the site in Toronto's financial district is scheduled for spring, with construction expected to start in the summer. "There's no turning back," says Barry Landsberg, Toronto director of marketing for Trump International, a joint venture between property tycoon Donald Trump and Talon International Development Inc.

It is expected that the luxury hotel/condominium — Mr. Trump's first development in Canada — will be completed in 2010.

When completed, the 70-storey tower at 325 Bay St. will be the tallest residential building in Canada. It will contain a five-star hotel with 291 suites and, above them, 147 luxury condominium units.

Plans for the residential suites range from one to three levels and measure 1,299 to 7,375 square feet; the average price is between $2-million and $3-million.

Related to this article

Enlarge Image

Trump International Hotel and Tower

Location: financial district

Developer: Talon International Development Inc.

Price: residential units, $1,397,000 to $16,938,000; hotel units, $784,000 to $3,895,000

Square footage: residential units, 1,299 to 7,375; hotel units, 574 to 3,989

Sales centre: 325 Bay St. at Adelaide Street. Open Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Contact: (416) 214-0331 or www.trumptoronto.ca


Latest Comments
Start a conversation on this story
Related Zones
No related zones for this article.
For frequent travellers, hotel suites can also be purchased, starting at $784,000 for a 574-square-foot studio. These rooms will be fully furnished and eligible for inclusion in the hotel's rental program when vacant. "You own that suite outright, so you earn all the revenue from that suite," Mr. Landsberg explains, minus administration and operating fees. "If it's rented out for $650, you may earn $500 of that."

As for amenities, the set-up will be similar to that of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York, which is Mr. Trump's flagship development.

"[The Trump Organization] has that experience in managing that Manhattan lifestyle living, and that's what they'll bring to the development [in Toronto]," Mr. Landsberg says, adding: "[Purchasers] like the availability of all the services and amenities of the hotel."

For example, facilities in Toronto will be oriented toward business people. There will be a high-tech business centre with meeting rooms, as well as restaurants, a bar and an 18,000-square-foot health club and spa, complete with a gym and pool.

Residents also will have access to hotel services such as housekeeping and valet parking, as well as exclusive use of two chauffeured, S-class Mercedes.

The site is close to many urban attractions, such up-scale restaurants, theatres and major concert and sports venues. "It's all within walking distance, and much of [the walking is] underground ... through the PATH system," Mr. Landsberg says.

"There's a level of discretion and intimacy in the building," he continues, pointing out that there will be two to six residential units on each floor, separate service entrances for some suites, and private elevator access from the Sky Lobby on the 33rd floor.

"Whether you're in a 6,000-square-foot suite or 1,300-square foot suite, we've maintained the 10-foot-plus ceiling heights and the same quality of fixtures and finishes," he adds.

They include hardwood and natural stone materials, and coffered ceilings in some areas. There will be stainless-steel appliances and electric fireplaces.

Most plans include formal living and dining rooms, and eat-in kitchens with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city and lake. Some models have terraces, libraries or gallery-style foyers, and penthouse units have great rooms.

Special to The Globe and Mail

[caltrane74]

OMG , I CANT believe my eyes.

its happening all over again.

[LordMandeep]

The market isn't slowing down at all as of Sept 2006

Remaining inventory (unsold units) across the GTA in September was 12,433 suites, up slightly from 11,808 a year earlier. But there were 13,804 sales between January and September, 2006, compared with 13,388 in the same period last year.

http://p083.ezboard.com/ftorontoskys...t=241&stop=248

City Place Update....
West One update from Chris Jongkind at Emporis. Nov. 23.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...283836&page=16


6 city place buildings are U/C
West one: 147.5 m 49 Floors
Montage: 144.0 m 48 Floors
N1/N2: 125.0 m 41 Floors
Luna Vista: 126.0 m 38 Floors
Neo: 52.0 m 16 Floos
Gallery
http://www.skyscraperpage.com/cities...=12&statusID=2

[Canadian Mind]

so woudl trump trump those towers in aussiestralia for the tallest residential building or no?

[SSLL]

From: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/n...d-510e4a802d70
___________

Friday » December 8 » 2006

Is it a terminal or a cathedral?
Sunlight, open spaces and high arches define Pier F

Peter Kuitenbrouwer
National Post

Friday, December 01, 2006

In between, we rode on new people-movers and heard about new "high-speed" people-movers under construction (if you walk on them you can reach three metres/second) and heard architect Moshe Safdie wax poetic about the design of the new terminal.

"Airports are rather intimidating places," said the Canadian-trained, Massachusetts-based Mr. Safdie, dressed in a white shirt with Nehru collar. "These days one associates airports with stress. We've used daylight as a place-finding device. This airport is calming and serene, with a generosity of space."

Give these guys their due: yes, at $4.5-billion (up $100-million from last month's figure) the new Pearson is the most expensive project in our nation's history (the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island, for example, cost $1-billion).

Still, that kind of cash buys quite the cathedral of transportation, with soaring steel arches 60 metres in span, mammoth windows and huge expanses of white Italian granite.

The new pier we saw yesterday juts out from Terminal 1 into what airport wonks call the "apron"; passengers will walk the pier to international and U.S.-bound jets (assuming the work is done) beginning Feb. 1.

After that, the GTAA plans to demolish Terminal 2.

Airport officials spent years on 3-D models to ensure three streams of travelers -- domestic, U.S.-bound and international --can flow through Pier F without mixing. Those departing walk on the ground floor, whereas arrivals use overhead walkways.

"Lineups are never pleasant, but this airport allows us to do it gracefully and not treat passengers like cattle in a pen," says Mr. Safdie. "We have brought the sunlight into the baggage-claim area."

We also got the first peek at the $1.5-million Tilted Spheres by U.S. sculptor Richard Serra, four semi-circles of steel standing grandly in the middle of the "hammerhead" at the end of Pier F. The statue, which passengers can walk through, looks like a fun place for kids to play hide-and-seek while waiting for a flight. It is so big the builders had to put it in first and build the terminal around it.

All of this costs cash, and Pearson, whose build-out is now complete, has ended up with the highest airport landing fees on Earth.

But asked about that dubious distinction yesterday, Lloyd McCoomb, the GTAA's vice president of planning and development, blew his lid.

He said it is unfair to compare Pearson to U.S. airports, since the landing fees at Pearson include many costs other airports bill separately.

"I'm sure Phoenix has a huge snow-clearing bill," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Here in Toronto you gotta be ready for the big one.

"Yeah, we gotta compete against Buffalo. Here the government imposes this rent on us. In Buffalo, Uncle Sam is handing them buckets of money.

"It's frustrating," he said. "You've got me on my soapbox, now listen to me!

"We provide electronic check-in. We supply the counters to the airlines. Even in Vancouver, you rent the counters. Here you're going to get a wheelchair. At other airports the airlines have to rent them.

"We just want to be treated fairly," Mr. McCoomb said. "That one-liner [highest landing fees on Earth] is worn out. Come on, guys."

OK, OK. Nice work, guys. Great airport. The Union Station of the air. Very swank, and with any luck we'll get enough travelers through the place to pay off the debt.

[SSLL]

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/n...e-53e425907c4f
__________

Friday » December 8 » 2006

St. Clair: Our new midtown highway

Howard Levine
National Post

Friday, December 01, 2006

When the Streetcars for Toronto Committee convinced our civic leaders to retain the city's streetcar system in November, 1972, we who formed that group were filled with pride and optimism. It was a citizen-inspired vote in favour of modern, clean and neighbourhood-friendly transit.

Today, sadly, I must say that I'm ashamed by what is happening to our streetcar system, especially on St. Clair Avenue West.

The dedicated streetcar right-of-way project is a mess that will satisfy no one and falls far short of its potential. The concept is valid and even overdue, but the design now under construction between Yonge Street and Vaughan Road -- to be extended west to Keele Street -- is symptomatic of myopia, Toronto-centrism and a refusal to learn from experience in other cities.

Such an important project should have been submitted to an international proposal call.

The urban design consultants hired for St. Clair publicly acknowledged their firm had no experience with a similar project. Nonetheless, they concluded the existing streetlighting levels along St. Clair were below standard, although the retired Toronto Hydro chief engineer who designed the system in 1992 strongly disagreed. This arbitrary choice for new streetlights on fewer and higher masts and with higher intensity leads directly to the necessity for a new system of centre poles for the TTC overhead. Centre poles result in a significantly wider transit median because of the clearance required for emergency vehicles. Bad choice.

Raising the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way 18 centimetres above the road surface means the tracks dip down wherever cross-streets intersect them. The track will undulate along the entire route, resulting in increased track and wheel wear.

There are no plans to update or even improve the archaic traffic control system; the existing traffic controls are supposedly timed to reflect conditions manually observed once or twice a year.

State-of-the-art traffic controls have been perfected and successfully installed throughout the world. These react to constantly changing traffic patterns and flows, vastly improving traffic movement. But not on St. Clair. Just as on Spadina and Queens Quay, streetcars will not be given any priority at intersections.

Our quaint pay-as-you-enter fare collection system will continue - just as it was when the TTC was established in 1921. Infinitely faster and more efficient automated fare systems will not be used on St. Clair or anywhere else on the TTC, despite the operational and cost advantages proved on every other major transit system in the world.

Perhaps worst of all, accessible, low-floor and air-conditioned light rail vehicles will not be used. Our 27-year-old streetcar fleet is past its useful life and needs to be replaced citywide with the type of modern equipment that has transformed streetcar systems worldwide into the accessible, comfortable and high-capacity transit services they can and must be.

And then there's this: The new traffic lane widths on St. Clair are equivalent to the standard required by the U.S. Interstate Highway System for 110 km/h.

A slight case of overkill?

Although the TTC initiated the project ostensibly to improve the reliability of the St. Clair streetcar, the City's Transportation Department quickly hijacked the scheme to divert criticism and detailed analysis of its real goal, namely to severely rebuild the street into a city highway slashing through the very heart of midtown.

One only has to examine the construction now under way west from Yonge -- right-of-way expansion to eight lanes at major intersections, wider turning curves at cross streets, two through lanes of consistent width in each direction, and narrowed sidewalks in many spots made even more dangerous where they are sloped into the curves.

Most of the project's cost is really for the road, the streetcar having being used as a guise to impose upon St. Clair Avenue the Transportation Department's template for suburban roads, a template frozen in the 1960s and oblivious to decades of innovation and rethinking about cities.

A situation as disheartening as this one was never imagined by the members of the Streetcars for Toronto Committee when we fought to keep the system. How ironic that Toronto made such a bold decision 34 years ago, but totally screwed up on St. Clair.

Howard Levine is a former Toronto city councillor and a transportation and urban planner.