Toronto Minto Westside | 68.88m | 20s | Minto Group | Wallman Architects

Automation Gallery said:
I think we will see a couple of the towers around 25-30 storeys to match everything else just south of this location...dont see why they should be any shorter.
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Because north of the tracks, where this site is, the buildings do not top out above 15 storeys. That's the context to look at here.
 
Team Me said:
Yes, like the warehouse building at the corner of Bathurst and Niagara. And I believe the building housing Rock Oasis was once the original Massey Ferguson assembly line...?

If there was a way to preserve those buildings, and keep height reasonable to the north, I think a tower situated where the Lambo dealership is would be reasonable. It'll be just across the tracks from the 26 (or so?) story Library condos, so it won't seem out of context.
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I climb at Oasis, and the proprietor has indicated to the membership that the gym is 'due to be demolished in 6 months'.

It's a blow for the local climbing community. I'm all for development when it's done right... but this particular change is hard to take -- it's challenging to find similar warehouse structures for that type of use. Ah well.

In terms of heritage, that warehouse has been there since at least early 1900s, as part of a large industrial block. First John Doty Engine Works, then Bertram Engine Works, then it was Berg Machinery Manufacturing Co. for some time. Engines, ships, brick presses -- lots of stuff got built here. There used to be a 50 ton crane in the tower were the gym is located. [The north part of the warehouse was the boiler shop. The square brick building that houses Sherwin Williams had the offices as well as other stuff. East of that building was the machine shop.] At its peak capacity that block employed about 500 people.

Yeah, it's pretty non-descript but I'll miss that old shed.
 
Rock Oasis is going? :(
Nooooooo that was one of my favourite climbing gyms! We're running out of good places to climb in this city/region in general.
 
A developer would not have to be super bright to put a space for a climbing gym into the base of a new condo, especially in a part of a project where there will be little sunlight because of surrounding buildings. It's hard to sell the lower units sometimes, so make a deal with a climbing gym to take over some back-alley facing space on the lower few floors and voila, instant amenity that sets the building apart from the others in town. (Not that I suspect that a climbing gym would work too well as a residents-and-their-guests-only space like other amenities...)

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Automation Gallery said:
I think we will see a couple of the towers around 25-30 storeys to match everything else just south of this location...dont see why they should be any shorter.
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It's obvious that you don't know the area. There is nothing in the immediate vicinity that stands 25 or 30 storeys. Reve and the portion of the Thompson building on Bathurst will likely set the initial height limit. It's also likely that anything higher will be opposed by the community. Freed and Minto will probably want to push that established limit in order to maximize the profit from the available land.

At the same time, 1,300 units could mean lots of very tiny units flooding onto the market.
 
gristle said:
It's obvious that you don't know the area. There is nothing in the immediate vicinity that stands 25 or 30 storeys. At the same time, 1,300 units could mean lots of very tiny units flooding onto the market.
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I know the area very well, as a matter of fact the Sherwin Williams store is my paint depot..kind of sad to see it go..but again lets wait and see what they propose here by the rail corridor, i think 25 storeys/80 meters is about right for this corner.
 
As I've pointed out to you on many occasions it has nothing to do with what you see across the rail corridor, it has to do with the King-Spadina Secondary Plan. The height limits will largely be set by that plan and by what already is here - such as Thompson and Reve. It doesn't matter what you prefer to see or what is across the tracks.
 
interchange42 said:
A developer would not have to be super bright to put a space for a climbing gym into the base of a new condo, especially in a part of a project where there will be little sunlight because of surrounding buildings. It's hard to sell the lower units sometimes, so make a deal with a climbing gym to take over some back-alley facing space on the lower few floors and voila, instant amenity that sets the building apart from the others in town. (Not that I suspect that a climbing gym would work too well as a residents-and-their-guests-only space like other amenities...)

42
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It's a great idea in principal, but in practice the inclusion of a gym space would have to be the initiative of a builder, and that "unit" would have to be owned by someone, and not part of the amenity or common elements space of the owners. Think of the retail units in most condos: the condo corporation does not own the spaces, but rather, the owners pay condo fees and have the right to vote at meetings. Gyms exist in those transitional spaces where rent is cheap: Rock Oasis never made anyone rich, and it is unlikely they could scrape together the cash to finance the purchase or rent of a new space. That said, is anyone aware of unique building designs meant to accommodate special business or community needs? I'm thinking of the Radio City and ballet school structure, but it's an institutional use.
 
I dont think the city should be dictating what retail should go into a project to this level of specificity. It is one thing to require a retail use, but I think that bureaucrats are just not good enough at making these kind of market decisions.
 
Oh, I'm not indicating in the slightest that the City should dictate these types of property usages. I think Interchange42's comment just says how AWESOME it would be if a gym was included. The climbers are a social bunch, and the loss of the gym is a big hit since this is where they spend 2-4 nights a week. Development in great, but the list of sad people for this project will be longer than normal I think.
 
This is an iconic corner location to build something nice..it will be interesting to see what comes out of this and the Globe and Mail development.
 
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It seems there are quite a few climbers in Toronto, and on this site. It'd be cool if a new development including a gym + climbing facility. Imagine the possibilities, a multi-storey climbing wall in a central atrium, or something of the sort. I'd imagine it'd be costly though, especially since there'd be less return per square foot over including more condo units for the builder. Alas too many projects are simply driven by the bottom line.

That said, a great re-use of some of our old silos could be a climbing facility. I recall a similar project somewhere in Europe that used old converted silos for this purpose.
 
Its only a thought, but new condo developments have to donate a percentage of capital costs to artwork. Perhaps in this case the artwork could be replaced by a retrofit of another old building, such as the silos! There certainly is some precedence for public domain work, aside from artwork - the park behind MET for example was upgraded with developer funds.
 
A contribution such as that already exist through section 37.
 
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