Toronto Minto Yorkville Park Condos | 75.89m | 25s | Minto Group | IBI Group

I have to add my two cents: I agree that t he building isn't particularly special but I hate to see the high rise development of Yorkville, and Letteri's certainly adds vibrancy to the corner. I personally miss the old Victorian houses that the Hazelton replaced and think that 100 Yorkville condos are pretty blah given the area. The retail space is nice but it would seem better suited to Bloor Street. Every major or world class city (whatever you prefer) has tall buildings and international chain stores, what Yorkville has is a cultural hertiage unique to Toronto and a people friendly scale. I hate too see that lost.
 
condovo said:
I would be honoured. It's his pharaonic ambition that made NYC the greatest city the world has ever known. But we digress.
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And she who opposed him did something similar for Toronto

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There are lots of areas in Yorkville where development would be appropriate but leave the heart of it alone. The tony little enclave/village aspect at Yorkville's core is unique... and why are some people in Toronto so self-loathing - or self-unappreciative at least - so as to be completely oblivious to that which makes our city different from other places, all the while insisting we have nothing unique here and need to emulate other cities???? The only way Toronto will ever stand out on the international scene is by being Toronto, and not some second-rate wanna-be imitation of somewhere else.
 
Yorkville doesn't need to be anything but well, Yorkville. It's not trying or overreaching for some ephemeral grasp at trendiness. It's a neighborhood above all and the residents appreciate it's character very much or they wouldn't be paying the highest price per square foot of any area in the city to live there. That's what this is all about in case you forgot- residents, owners and of course tenants. The market speaks for itself by commanding the highest rents per square foot for retail space as well. And the 'Victorians' that predated The Hazelton weren't Victorians at all- they were faux.

94 Cumberland will be another improvement to the area by a developer that has contributed tremendously to its character with several landmark projects. Letierri is wonderful and will be replaced but something equally wonderful.
 
adma said:
And she who opposed him did something similar for Toronto

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No she didn't. What she has done is reinforce Toronto's unsustainable timidity in the face of massive growth. One can't batten down the hatches and defend the status quo forever. Sorry but I just don't buy the whole 'St. Jane' thing.

Tewder said:
There are lots of areas in Yorkville where development would be appropriate but leave the heart of it alone. The tony little enclave/village aspect at Yorkville's core is unique... and why are some people in Toronto so self-loathing - or self-unappreciative at least - so as to be completely oblivious to that which makes our city different from other places, all the while insisting we have nothing unique here and need to emulate other cities???? The only way Toronto will ever stand out on the international scene is by being Toronto, and not some second-rate wanna-be imitation of somewhere else.
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The retail/commercial core of Yorkville is not a tony little enclave. It's a dumpy little enclave parading as a tony little enclave. Anyway, the point is moot. Protesters couldn't defend the hollowed-out 'Victorians' against The Hazelton Hotel and they won't succeed in freezing Yorkville in misguided nostalgia with this development either. Market forces are just too strong here.
 
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IIRC those "Victorians" replaced by The Hazelton Hotel were built in the 1970's.

Sorry but I just don't buy the whole 'St. Jane' thing.
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She saved Soho in NYC and a nice chunk of our downtown. She is in urban heaven right now.
 
condovo said:
What she has done is reinforce Toronto's unsustainable timidity in the face of massive growth. One can't batten down the hatches and defend the status quo forever. Sorry but I just don't buy the whole 'St. Jane' thing.
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Yes! The status quo with its things that are old is so dumpy. The people who stick up for it, dumpier. The dumpiest! Down with stuff! Up with bulldozing! The face of massive growth? I will make out with it.

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Mmm, the beautiful future.

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Mmm, sexy market forces!

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Mmm! Massive growth! (That's what she said!)

In summary, that was a very silly comment.
 
condovo said:
No she didn't. What she has done is reinforce Toronto's unsustainable timidity in the face of massive growth. One can't batten down the hatches and defend the status quo forever. Sorry but I just don't buy the whole 'St. Jane' thing.
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Oh wow, you're so subversive and cool with your appreciation of Robert Moses! How contrarian of you.

I don't think either his approach or Jane's are good. So many of you here are so black-and-white.

And yeah, the Hazelton is a nice development that replaced an already-ruined row of small buildings... seems suitable for the area. But your idea that all of Yorkville's side-streets-- simply because they are not hip enough at the MOMENT, need to be redeveloped to look like Bloor Street-- is what I'M not buying.
 
condovo said:
No she didn't. What she has done is reinforce Toronto's unsustainable timidity in the face of massive growth. One can't batten down the hatches and defend the status quo forever. Sorry but I just don't buy the whole 'St. Jane' thing.
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Well, look at it this way, condovo. Let me reiterate: your invocation of world-stage global-class this and that is terribly, obtusely, ironically hick-town "aspirational". And those grubby, insular St. Jane-worshipping Kensington Market hipsters are probably, in the end, a greater emblem of Toronto's more authentically "global" worthiness.

And if you think that expending Yorkville of something like this

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is what's necessary for the "world stage", well, watch all but the most shallow or bubble-headed or yuppie-scumbaggish representatives of said "world stage" erupt in horselaughs...
 
adma said:
Well, look at it this way, condovo. Let me reiterate: your invocation of world-stage global-class this and that is terribly, obtusely, ironically hick-town "aspirational". And those grubby, insular St. Jane-worshipping Kensington Market hipsters are probably, in the end, a greater emblem of Toronto's more authentically "global" worthiness.
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Says who? You?

adma said:
And if you think that expending Yorkville of something like this

is what's necessary for the "world stage", well, watch all but the most shallow or bubble-headed or yuppie-scumbaggish representatives of said "world stage" erupt in horselaughs...
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Do you propose saving all the 'authentic' Toronto across the street from Yorkville Fire Hall too? Just because some buildings are worth saving, doesn't mean they're all worth saving. Most of the structures on Yorkville Ave, Cumberland, and Bellair have been degraded to pure schlok. They make Yorkville's 'tony' pretensions quite laughable.


Why, just look at these architectural gems in haut de gamme Yorkville. How essential they are to Toronto's Jacobsian authenticity.

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We're you trying to make the area look good or bad ? :) Because I loved those pictures.

Those "houses" are really what make the area and give it a unique identity!
 
condovo said:
Do you propose saving all the 'authentic' Toronto across the street from Yorkville Fire Hall too? Just because some buildings are worth saving, doesn't mean they're all worth saving. Most of the structures on Yorkville Ave, Cumberland, and Bellair have been degraded to pure schlok. They make Yorkville's 'tony' pretensions quite laughable.

Why, just look at these architectural gems in haut de gamme Yorkville. How essential they are to Toronto's Jacobsian authenticity.
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Well...as a permanent physical condition, of course not. As an emblem of "organic urbanism", though, maybe it's better to catch one's breath before applying too much of a blockbusting heavy hand. (Indeed, recent development like the Hazelton and 100 Yorkville demonstrates the virtues of a "catching one's breath" approach--even if, paradoxically, latter-day Jane Jacobs was part of the "anti" forces. As such, maybe they're the Village By The Grange of the 2000s.)

And, frankly...the key to "world stage" relative to Toronto isn't to focus upon Yorkville and its pretensions. It's to look *beyond* Yorkville and its pretensions; which is why I drag Kensington et al into this. And, the same can go for other cities: NYC, Paris, et al.

Ultimately, "world stage" is to urbanism what waxed pubes are to feminine attractiveness. And, sorry, kiddo; I like urban bush...
 
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