1 Bloor East, DEAD AND BURIED (Bazis, -2s, Varacalli)

[3Dementia]

It's rezoning as expected. The reference to 76 storeys is probably no change... I vaguely recall Bazis including below grade "levels" in their early effusive propaganda.


The application to amend the zoning bylaw proposes to permit a 76-storey development containing retail, office, hotel, residential, and accessory uses on lands at 1 and 23 Bloor St. East, 14 Hayden St., and 709 and 711 Yonge St.

 

[Solaris]

somebody here posted that the 1BE penthouse deal fell through - but there is no proof or evidence for that...and current ads for 1BE say that suites are available from "the $500thousands to $8 million"....the penthouse would be outside of that range....

I'll take the blame for this info ... this was based on my last visit couple months ago to the sales office inquiring about the penthhouse collection suites (which comes with a different price list and white coloured package) ... at the time all advertisements do indeed show from $400,000 to $8 million, but the top penthouse was never included in that range, even though it was clearly available for sale as shown on the price list, I'll dig up my copy and scan it~~

haha heck I'll call the sales office and see if they would tell me whether the top penthhouse is still available

 

[Mike in TO]

Re Public Meeting:

Bazis doesn't yet have approvals for the current plan - so the public meeting isn't likely for any variances from the plan that has been made public, just the statuatory requirement to have a public meeting regarding the current plan, or some other minor issue regarding site plan, unit mix etc.

 

[Solaris]

I spoke with Al Rezoski (416.392.0481) in City Planning and he confirmed this is just a statutory public meeting required under the Plannign Act (like Mike said), in effect the development proposal hasn't changed in any major way from its original form and Bazis continues to be behind the application (not sure if that implies anything?)

The final staff report (recommending approval) will go forward in the October 7th Toronto + East York Community Council, the staff report will be online on October 1, 2008

 

[androiduk]

LOL Solaris, Al must be wondering what the hell is going on. I was at City Hall this morning on another matter and I popped in to see Al. I asked him if the project was going ahead and he said there was some financial crisis but the project was going ahead. I asked who the General Contractor was but he didn't know.

 

[androiduk]

I stated in an earlier post that demolition should be complete by now but it looks like they decided to dismantle the last little piece by hand. It should be finished in a few days.

 

[casaguy]

And another angle of the site today:

 

[urbandreamer]

That last building (taken apart by hand?) was actually my favourite "heritage" building on the block. The green "screen" is very cool. It should've been saved....

 

[jaborandi]

That last building (taken apart by hand?) was actually my favourite "heritage" building on the block. The green "screen" is very cool. It should've been saved....

I have always been curious to know what was behind the green screen. From what I could glean, the building was orange brick with limestone trim and with a series of large arched windows on Hayden. My first job in Toronto was with the TD bank at that location.

 

[ProjectEnd]

Wow, that site is friggin' huge! It's amazing that even with a near-completed demolition and a sold-out building, people are still speculating this project's demise.

 

[urbandreamer]

^Can't you picture this corner being Toronto's "Red Square?"

 

[Sir Novelty Fashion]

It woulda made an amazing ceremonial square if there had been something monumental built to the East of it... an opera house (the monumental kind), a museum (the non-crystalline kind), a city hall (the old kind)...

 

[androiduk]

I have always been curious to know what was behind the green screen. From what I could glean, the building was orange brick with limestone trim and with a series of large arched windows on Hayden. My first job in Toronto was with the TD bank at that location.

As I mentioned in another post, I got my first car loan at that bank. It would've been about 1973, maybe you gave it to me.

 

[androiduk]

That last building (taken apart by hand?) was actually my favourite "heritage" building on the block. The green "screen" is very cool. It should've been saved....

See attached pic. Except for the beams, everything else is taken down by hand. I suspect because they're so close to the heavy traffic on Yonge.

 

[FSGIRL]

It looks to me like they are salvaging the stone of the facade, and that could be the reason for not bringing in the wrecking ball.