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voxpopulicosmicum

voxpopulicosmicum

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57300.jpg

^View from NE on Queen

57301.jpg

^View from W on Queen

57302.jpg

^Typical floor plan

Just went to one of Adam Vaughan's Ward 20 development proposal meetings. This meeting was to have featured proposals for 3 properties on Queen between Simcoe and Peter: 215, 226 and 335 Queen Street West. The 335 Queen presenters cancelled at the last minute, but apparently already have Ctte of Adjument approval for a boutique hotel.

The proposal for 215 Queen W was designed (and presented) by Dermot Sweeney of & Co. architects. The site, directly across from the new Canada Life tower, is currently home to the 100x100 ft. surface parking lot on the south side of Queen immediately adjacent to the CIBC branch at the SW corner of Queen and Simcoe. The proposal is for a 15-storey LEED platinum office building with 2-storey retail at its base.

There are too many green details to fully enumerate right now, but generally the building will reflect the technologies being employed by & Co. at other office buildings it has done (eg. Microsoft) or is doing (eg. Royal Bank building beside the CBC and Telus Tower by the ACC). Unfortunately, despite the site's proximity to Enwave's Simcoe/Adelaide plant, the 215 Queen proposal does not envision incorporating Enwave into the building's HVAC system.

The north (Queen St.) and south (laneway) faces are all glass, while the east and west faces appear to be some kind of textured metal. Although the building is bounded on both sides by party wall constraints, the renderings show that the east face will have some windows (with internal sprinklers to protect the CIBC heritage building against fire) and the west face will have no windows per se and will instead house the elevator shafts and stairwells. The stairwells, running up the south end of the west face, will be encased in glass that is to act as a "green chimney" that will naturally capture and re-utilize the buidling's hot-air exhaust.
 
Wow, recently going on the 501 I was thinking of the potential this site held. Good to know it will go towards a smart building. Although, in my fantasy world I always imagined some sort of five star 40 storey hotel going there. Mandarin Oriental anyone?
 
I have to agree that the city will be opposed to lots of height here. The site is part of the Queen Heritage Preservation district, so it's an uphill fight to get the 15-storeys the proponent is seeking (although that is somewhat tempered by the Canada Life building across the street).

The presentation emphasized that the proposed building would form an appropriate boundary between the predominate built form along Queen West and that of the Financial Core.
 
Wow - LEED Platinum, that would be a first for Toronto (the RBC is planned for LEED Gold) - Platinum is very very hard to achieve, there are only a handful of buildings in North America that have been successful in being certified with that rating.

The step from Gold to Platinum is much much further then from certified to silver, or from silver to gold.

Here is the point system:

LEED™ 2.1 has four certification levels and a point system that determines qualification for each level.
Level Point Values
Certified 26-32
Silver 33-38
Gold 39-51
Platinum 52-69

In evaluating a project, LEED™ 2.1 examines six Credit Areas of design and construction practices:
Credit Area Possible Points
Sustainable Sites 14
Water Efficiency 5
Energy & Atmosphere 17
Materials & Resources 13
Indoor Environmental Quality 15
Innovation & Design Process 5
69 Total Possible Points
 
Mike in TO said:
Wow - LEED Platinum, that would be a first for Toronto (the RBC is planned for LEED Gold) - Platinum is very very hard to achieve, there are only a handful of buildings in North America that have been successful in being certified with that rating.

The step from Gold to Platinum is much much further then from certified to silver, or from silver to gold.

Here is the point system:

LEED™ 2.1 has four certification levels and a point system that determines qualification for each level.
Level Point Values
Certified 26-32
Silver 33-38
Gold 39-51
Platinum 52-69

In evaluating a project, LEED™ 2.1 examines six Credit Areas of design and construction practices:
Credit Area Possible Points
Sustainable Sites 14
Water Efficiency 5
Energy & Atmosphere 17
Materials & Resources 13
Indoor Environmental Quality 15
Innovation & Design Process 5
69 Total Possible Points
Click to expand...

After the presentation, one of the attendees asked Dermot whether the building would feature bike-friendly facilities like showers and secure racks, to which Dermot replied, "Yes. We're going for LEED platinum, after all, so we're going to be squeezing in every last green detail imaginable." (I'm paraphrasing).
 
voxpopulicosmicum said:
The proposal for 215 Queen W was designed (and presented) by Dermot Sweeney of & Co. architects.
Click to expand...
Great news! I believe they are the same firm doing the project on the north-west corner of Richmond & Sherbourne.

I wish CIBC would vacate that building next door though and move into a more modern retail space in the area. That CIBC building needs to be a bar/restaurant.
 
That would make some sense seeing as CTV Globemedia now owns the neighbouring Chum-City building (or whatever they are going to call it) along with a whole bunch of office space in the 260 Richmond St W building.
 
urbandreamer said:
Anyone know whom the tenants will be? Could it possibly be a media company? In another topic I saw hints the Globe could be moving....
Click to expand...

According to Sweeney, no tenants have been lined up as yet, and he envisions it being leased to smaller corporate tenants who are looking for 10k feet at the "hip" edge of the core. As for the retail, he said they would ideally like a single user for all 20k feet (2 floors) but no names were named.

He also suggested that devoting such a relatively large space to a single retailer would "ease the pressure" on overcrowded retail spaces further west along Queen.
 
Thrilled to hear that parking lot being developed with what promises to be a great building! '& Co.' is also doing 28 St. Thomas which I looks great too IMO.
 
voxpopulicosmicum said:
I have to agree that the city will be opposed to lots of height here. The site is part of the Queen Heritage Preservation district, so it's an uphill fight to get the 15-storeys the proponent is seeking (although that is somewhat tempered by the Canada Life building across the street).

The presentation emphasized that the proposed building would form an appropriate boundary between the predominate built form along Queen West and that of the Financial Core.
Click to expand...

this is the thing that I really agree with... up until a few years ago when the new Can Life Tower was built, the transition from office towers to lowrise retail on Queen West always seemed a bit too abrupt and created a very unimpressive intersection at University Ave. This new proposal will indeed balance out the southwest corner of the intersection quite nicely once built. This is the type of simple and well considered planning that needs to happen at many other intersections throughout the downtown core. Glad to hear about this one!
 
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