Mike in TO
Senior Member
Any updated rendering available?
Toronto MaRS Centre Phase 2 | 112.77m | 20s | Alexandria | B+H
yin_yang
Active Member
naw, the original design is what they are going with...they don't want the east and west towers to be too different.
p5connex
Active Member
I believe the rendering on the billboard at the corner of College and Univer. Ave, is what will end up happening- rumor has it that interior space will change and as will overall size of building=footprint.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
MaRS Phase 2
From the Globe, by John Barber:
MaRS booming on its own
John Barber
Globe and Mail
Jun 19, 2007 A11
Today, the Montreal-based Institute for Research in Public Policy is releasing the latest of a long line of studies showing that cash-starved and jurisdictionally challenged Canadian cities are "ill-equipped to attract the skilled workers and high-tech industries that are the new ingredients of economic success."
Next week, directors of the non-profit MaRS Discovery District are scheduled to announce a private-sector investment of more than $300-million to complete the second phase of their job-spinning research complex in the heart of the city.
The first phase, launched on a wing and a prayer in the middle of an office glut - and supported by public-sector tenants - is already full, with private-sector tenants outnumbering the former three to one. The second phase, a signature building facing Queen's Park at the corner of College Street and University Avenue, will be built by "North America's premier science-park developer," according to MaRS - with the developer assuming all the risk of filling the building.
The new building will more than double the laboratory and office space available in the complex, making it bigger than any single tower in the financial district, while helping to create thousands of jobs in an industry less than 10 years old.
So what to make of IRPP scholar Thomas Courchene's warning, in the paper Global Futures for Canada's Global Cities , that bad policy is robbing Canadian cities of their ability to participate in the new knowledge-based economy? Could there be good policy afoot in Toronto? Or do cities thrive despite the draining effects of the bad policies?
There's no question that, in terms of direct support from senior government, Canadian cities are notoriously impoverished. As Prof. Courchene showed in an earlier paper, even the apparently city-friendly policy of gas-tax sharing became a wealth-draining equalization program when designed in Ottawa - another transfer of wealth from large cities to small towns.
The current government is happy with that program, but otherwise wants no part of cities - or such innovations as MaRS. Last year, MaRS officials talked optimistically about their meetings in Ottawa, expecting some gesture of support. In the end, they got nothing - but didn't need it, either.
The province has been more involved, both directly and indirectly, proving itself an exception to the bad-policy rule. It's a hopeful sign: Last week's transit-funding announcement, if and when it bears fruit, will change everything. Whatever anybody says about Canadian cities then, simply won't apply in Ontario.
But government investment in MaRS represents a small portion of the capital now in action on College Street. Conceived by community leaders concerned about the city's decline as a research centre, it is booming of its own accord.
MaRS will grow to 1.6-million square feet by 2010, but the potential market for research-oriented offices in that district - five minutes from the hospitals in one direction, five minutes from the university in the other - is as much as 10-million square feet, according to city economic-development officer Kyle Benham.
Alas, there is no nearby federal agency that could be asked to vacate its premises to permit the growth of productive activity.
jbarber@globeandmail.com
AoD
From the Globe, by John Barber:
MaRS booming on its own
John Barber
Globe and Mail
Jun 19, 2007 A11
Today, the Montreal-based Institute for Research in Public Policy is releasing the latest of a long line of studies showing that cash-starved and jurisdictionally challenged Canadian cities are "ill-equipped to attract the skilled workers and high-tech industries that are the new ingredients of economic success."
Next week, directors of the non-profit MaRS Discovery District are scheduled to announce a private-sector investment of more than $300-million to complete the second phase of their job-spinning research complex in the heart of the city.
The first phase, launched on a wing and a prayer in the middle of an office glut - and supported by public-sector tenants - is already full, with private-sector tenants outnumbering the former three to one. The second phase, a signature building facing Queen's Park at the corner of College Street and University Avenue, will be built by "North America's premier science-park developer," according to MaRS - with the developer assuming all the risk of filling the building.
The new building will more than double the laboratory and office space available in the complex, making it bigger than any single tower in the financial district, while helping to create thousands of jobs in an industry less than 10 years old.
So what to make of IRPP scholar Thomas Courchene's warning, in the paper Global Futures for Canada's Global Cities , that bad policy is robbing Canadian cities of their ability to participate in the new knowledge-based economy? Could there be good policy afoot in Toronto? Or do cities thrive despite the draining effects of the bad policies?
There's no question that, in terms of direct support from senior government, Canadian cities are notoriously impoverished. As Prof. Courchene showed in an earlier paper, even the apparently city-friendly policy of gas-tax sharing became a wealth-draining equalization program when designed in Ottawa - another transfer of wealth from large cities to small towns.
The current government is happy with that program, but otherwise wants no part of cities - or such innovations as MaRS. Last year, MaRS officials talked optimistically about their meetings in Ottawa, expecting some gesture of support. In the end, they got nothing - but didn't need it, either.
The province has been more involved, both directly and indirectly, proving itself an exception to the bad-policy rule. It's a hopeful sign: Last week's transit-funding announcement, if and when it bears fruit, will change everything. Whatever anybody says about Canadian cities then, simply won't apply in Ontario.
But government investment in MaRS represents a small portion of the capital now in action on College Street. Conceived by community leaders concerned about the city's decline as a research centre, it is booming of its own accord.
MaRS will grow to 1.6-million square feet by 2010, but the potential market for research-oriented offices in that district - five minutes from the hospitals in one direction, five minutes from the university in the other - is as much as 10-million square feet, according to city economic-development officer Kyle Benham.
Alas, there is no nearby federal agency that could be asked to vacate its premises to permit the growth of productive activity.
jbarber@globeandmail.com
AoD
Waterloo_Guy
Active Member
Excellent. I want a rendering.
urbanboyto
Active Member
I saw one at conference a few days ago... it is going to surprise you!
rdaner
Senior Member
and...
brettrobinson
New Member
billy corgan
Active Member
That’s an old rendering. From what I’ve heard the design has been changed somewhat.
Mike in TO
Senior Member
^ To match/fit in with the previous phases? or something completely different?
I hope the floorplate bulk is reduced somewhat.
I hope the floorplate bulk is reduced somewhat.
brettrobinson
New Member
I agree that something really different would be GREAT for that corner. On one corner you have the pharmacy building and then go crazy on the other...
Waterloo_Guy
Active Member
Now I really want to see it.
elook
New Member
I've seen a render as well. If memory serves, the announcement should have taken place already (late May was the date originally bounced around), but expect some news shortly that will finally start the process of finishing that corner off.
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Well, is anyone going to describe the damn thing for us? Paint us a word picture, people!
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
It's only "fair" that we should have the second phase by Richard Rogers to complement Foster's pharmacy building...
AoD
AoD