Toronto Ïce Condominiums at York Centre | 234.07m | 67s | Lanterra | a—A

The OMB has always been there, including back in the 80s.

unimaginative2 said:
The city has, yes, rubber stamped almost every project with virtually no serious concessions.
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I still disagree. Toronto (and all of Ontario) has one of the strictest planning processes in North America. Condos are routinely required to have street retail, public art, contributions to parkland, affordable housing, funding for schools or streetscaping, etc. Some of those are Official Plan requirements, some are Planning Act requirements, and some are Section 37 contributions. There are minimum standards for amenity space and unit space, and issues like sidewalks and driveways are dealt with at the site plan stage. There's a lot of back and forth between staff and developers before a project even gets to Council.

Of course, there are projects that get turned down outright because of the use or density or some other issue. The Sapphire Tower is just one example of that.
 
unimaginative2 said:
The building boom we've had over the last decade, especially in high-rise residential, is absolutely unprecedented. Developers are making absolute fortunes. There is no reason why the city couldn't demand serious concessions in exchange for the $100 million+ paydays of the big condo projects.
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You do realize that all additional costs forced by the city onto various condo projects are all passed onto the home buyer with higher unit prices. Toronto is increasingly becoming a fairly unaffordable city to live in, especially in the core as middle and lower income people are being forced to find accomodation elsewhere. It's not a particularily healthy situation for the city and residents.

ProjectEnd said:
Besides its Shenzhen-esque architecture, what was so wrong about Sapphire? NPS shadowing is my bet.
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I think it had more to do with the poor execution of One King West (which did not result in a $100m+ payday for the developer, but rather bankruptcy and a lot of IOUs that have never been paid off)... Sapphire could have been a complete disaster (sure the shiny renderings looked okay, but the final product could have yielded significant problems down the road, due to the inexperience and unprofessional nature of the developer).
 
I'm not sure previous poor execution really counts. If it were really taken into account TLS never would have gotten out of the ground
 
whatever said:
I'm not sure previous poor execution really counts. If it were really taken into account TLS never would have gotten out of the ground
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True, but I think it's more to do with the fact that the developer went bankrupt and couldn't go ahead with the project due to the previous project being financially disasterous.
 
whatever said:
I'm not sure previous poor execution really counts. If it were really taken into account TLS never would have gotten out of the ground
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It doesn't count from a planning perspective, but I really do think some of the road blocks tossed in Stinson's path at Cityhall were due in part to "What if he actually builds this thing". Having people with little to no experience building structures such as that isn't exactly the best idea.
 
Indeed, unless you get a good architect you're limited in how well it'll turn out. And, as with buildings from the supposedly golden era of the 1980's ( or whenever else we identify as the 'good old days' ) they can easily be wrecked by some bean-counter or CEO with an eye for a bad redesign - take the Royal Bank Plaza for instance.
 
Whenever I hear Section 37 I think of Section 31 and thus imagine an elite contingent of bureaucrats clad in black leather extricating concessions from developers for public art, etc. in exchange for increased densities. Like Section 31, Section 37 does the work no one else will, resulting in an enhanced quality of life for all the citizens of Toronto.
 
Coruscanti:

You've been watch ST: DS9 a little too much :D One can only wish that City of Toronto bureaucrats err, dress in such manners when rooting out bad taste in urban design.

AoD
 
Actually I haven't watched DS9 in months :)

All joking aside, Section 37 has done a lot of good for Toronto I think.
 
shakyamuni said:
Other than September 12, 2001, I can't fathom a worse time in recent memory to be launching a new condo project in Toronto.

10-1 that this site remains an ACC parking lot for many, many, years to come.
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Yeah, people have just flat-out stopped buying condos, and now developers can't make any money building condos anymore. This project is a horrible idea and is destined to fail, just like L Tower, Fashion House, Market Wharf, Pier 27, and at least a dozen other examples that completely destroy your post.
 
shakyamuni said:
Other than September 12, 2001, I can't fathom a worse time in recent memory to be launching a new condo project in Toronto.

10-1 that this site remains an ACC parking lot for many, many, years to come.
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2008 Condo sales are slightly off the pace set in 2007. .. 2007 was a record year for condo sales....

What information/source did you use to construct the above post?????
 
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