Toronto Queen & Portland Loft & Condominium Residences | ?m | 9s | Tribute | Turner Fleischer

Wow, this is my first time seeing this shots of what this site will look like and I just went from completely against a Home Depot here to bring it on! I think it looks great. I hope this is what actually happens here.
 
Home Depot is merely the planned signature tenant. The developers are RioCan and Tribute, and RioCan will own the commercial parts of the building. The architects are Turner Fleischer.

Much of the positive outcome stems from the fact that the Queen West Heritage Conservation District (see http://www.toronto.ca/heritage-preservation/hcd_queen_west.htm) mandates heights, materials and uses that can be had along Queen St. Furthermore, the southern part of the lot is covered by the King/Spadina Secondary Plan, so both of those had to be respected by the architects/developers. The city used the leverage it had due to its ownership of the lane bisecting the lot to ensure the developers respected the plans.

I think it's a really positive thing for the area. This parking lot is a blight and this development will tie things together on all sides in a respectful manner.

There's an article about it in the real-estate section of Friday's Globe: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080919.reQueenPortland0919/REStory/RealEstate/home
 
Great development, that area really needs a boost. Don't worry, if Home Depot doesn't take the space, IKEA or (shudder) Walmart will snap it up. They could also use a decent size supermarket in the neighbourhood.
 
The people who buy the units overlooking the rooftop garden will have it sweet. It looks like a private oasis up there, one that is right next to the hustle and bustle of Queen.
 
The demolition permit for 580 Richmond St W. has been issued (a house adjacent to the parking lot, the only demolition necessary before construction begins) and the parking lot was closed today. A sign of pending action, I hope.
 
Construction fencing is going up today.

This is a surprisingly fast start for this project. I am assuming that the construction schedule is being driven by the needs of Home Depot and their relatively recession proof business model. Certainly no condo buyer in another project could have the same kind of confidence that construction will get underway as promised, but I wonder if they will slow construction considerably once they have achieved occupancy for the retail component, or if the economics of this project mean that they can afford to wait out the market for the unsold units (which I understand are mostly the larger units). I had a look at this project, and it did make me wonder why someone would take the risk of committing to a $550 a square foot unit when it is unlikely that prices are going to bump up that much over the next couple of years, and there is the potential of quite a downside....
 
A pic from this evening:

lot_fenced.png
 
Some Queen West history can be seen today along the Queen St. frontage of the lot, in the shape of old brick foundations of 19th century buildings which were once here. Excavation is revealing quite a lot of architectural remains. Archeologists are on site, with their brushes and mini-pickaxes.
 
BobBob said:
Some Queen West history can be seen today along the Queen St. frontage of the lot, in the shape of old brick foundations of 19th century buildings which were once here. Excavation is revealing quite a lot of architectural remains. Archeologists are on site, with their brushes and mini-pickaxes.
Click to expand...


Any chance that will cause significant delays to the project?
 
It shouldn't, since the archeological study was always part of the plan.

Unless they find something amazingly unexpected, I guess.
 
The Queen Street side looks great, the Portland facade however is FUGLY. Why did they have to go and do that?

Oh well.
 
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