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1 Bloor East, DEAD AND BURIED (Bazis, -2s, Varacalli)

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michael said:
I have read this forum quit often as I work for one of the consulting firms that is working on this project. I am amaze at how little people understand all nuances of development industry. Very few people unless they are inside truly understand the complexity and size of this project. There is over a million s.q.ft of retail, hotel and residential space to be build at one of the busies corner's in Canada, and its all has to be co-ordinated with the City and TTC to minimize the disruption the area.And believe me to get sign off from TTC can be a trying experience. On top you have to co-ordinate with Bloor street improvement work that is going on.
I can only tell you what we been told.

1.Demolition is almost done.
2.Disconnect of all the services to the site is proceeding. That includes all the water, gas, hydro and all the sewers.
3. Ellis Don has been awarded the contract to build this building.
4.Shoring contract has been awarded already and so is water proofing and de watering.
5.All the consultants are being pushed to finish all the working drawing by the end of September. And let me tell you, all are working long hours.
6.Additional bore holes will have to be drilled to finalize the mat design, now that all the building are demolished.

Add during this time co-ordination of all Architectural, Structural and M/E drawings is going on. Every thing is beeing checked and double check.


Every one was told the financing is in place and a project is a go. Its being done out of Europe.
Hotel will be announced very soon as its in the final design stage, hotel company wanted to make sure that it works for them.

For the size of the project its moving with amazing speed. And yes Bazis wants to make sure that everything works and all of their cost are in line, I don't think you can blame them.
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Thank you Michael (Gold) for clearing that up for us. Good luck with your impressive development. As a citizen of Toronto I sincerely hope that all that you say is honest and true and that this building soon emerges triumphant from the nasty speculation that surrounds it.
 
Koz said:
No, I'm not an industry insider. Does that mean that I am not allowed to express skepticism Mike? Isn't half the fun of a rumour the consideration of its legitimacy?
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Of course you/everyone can - that's the whole point of discussion on a forum, it's just the hostility shown by some members to 'newbies' that actually have something to offer (rather then other new members who don't have anything to offer) that seems counterproductive.

Also to clarify, I'm not in the doom and gloom crowd - the project looked to be on very shaky ground back in the early spring, but most problems were cleared up in the early summer and Michael's post above certainly looks very positive.
 
casaguy said:
So Therion, was your client feeding you BS? Perhaps he's not such a good source. I don't think that sort of information can be kept quiet. Nine banks backing out would be big news.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone knows what's going on for sure. This guy works for another developer, but I don't see why he would make this story up, or lie to me. I think we'll find out soon. With all the rumours going around, I can't imagine the buyers are happy right now. Bazis will probably make an announcement soon.
 
yep, its quite easy to distinguish what is legitimate information amongst these last few pages of posts. The one that really made me laugh was the one where the poster referred to Bazis as "him" or "he", as if it was a person's name. Nice try, but I'll go with Michael's post above.
 
Sir Novelty Fashion said:
Christ, it all makes sense now. 1BE is about to get swallowed by a black hole! I'd totally be backing out if I was Bazis too.
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It's not the project, but the people. These insiders are so deeply on the inside that they have actually collapsed in on themselves. As a result, the only communication possible with the outside world for them is through hearsay and rumour.
 
michael said:
I have read this forum quit often as I work for one of the consulting firms that is working on this project. I am amaze at how little people understand all nuances of development industry. Very few people unless they are inside truly understand the complexity and size of this project. There is over a million s.q.ft of retail, hotel and residential space to be build at one of the busies corner's in Canada, and its all has to be co-ordinated with the City and TTC to minimize the disruption the area.And believe me to get sign off from TTC can be a trying experience. On top you have to co-ordinate with Bloor street improvement work that is going on.
I can only tell you what we been told.

1.Demolition is almost done.
2.Disconnect of all the services to the site is proceeding. That includes all the water, gas, hydro and all the sewers.
3. Ellis Don has been awarded the contract to build this building.
4.Shoring contract has been awarded already and so is water proofing and de watering.
5.All the consultants are being pushed to finish all the working drawing by the end of September. And let me tell you, all are working long hours.
6.Additional bore holes will have to be drilled to finalize the mat design, now that all the building are demolished.

Add during this time co-ordination of all Architectural, Structural and M/E drawings is going on. Every thing is beeing checked and double check.


Every one was told the financing is in place and a project is a go. Its being done out of Europe.
Hotel will be announced very soon as its in the final design stage, hotel company wanted to make sure that it works for them.

For the size of the project its moving with amazing speed. And yes Bazis wants to make sure that everything works and all of their cost are in line, I don't think you can blame them.
Click to expand...

Thank you Michael. This sounds much more credible than a good deal of what has been posted here (inexplicably) over the past couple of weeks.

I am by no means an "insider", although I do hang around the fringes (for lack of a better term) of the real estate business. I hear stories and rumours from various sources, which are of various degrees of credibility, and occasionally I have been able to post one or two of the more believable ones here. I don't post stuff which is not backed by some evidence and / or do not come from sources which I consider to be generally credible.

It would indeed be surprising if a project of this size and complexity did not run into bumps along the way, as Michael points out. The world-wide credit crunch over the past year is of course a problem. If Bazis have run into problems in this regard, they would not be the only ones.

But Bazis is a credible proponent (yes even though they come from Kazakhstan, hard as that appears to be for some to swallow). This is not their only project in Toronto, and they obviously are trying hard to establish their credentials here.

Rumours can be fun. They can also be incredibly boring and annoying, especially when plucked from thin air with nothing to back them, and then repeated over and over.

-----

As for Garth Turner, I would not consider him credible. He has been crying doom and gloom for literally years now. His song seems to have only one note. Anyone who took his advice five years ago would have left a large amount of cash on the table by now. He reminds me of the old saying that a broken clock will still give you the correct time twice a day, but that is hardly something to boast about.
 
gbelan said:
Garth Turner LOL, the guy is a politician.i dont believe a word he says.
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Remember, Garth Turner did not attribute the demise of the mid-town TO project to 1BE - everyone else did.

At least one of the rumours about 1BE is true, PLC is gone:
" 3. Ellis Don has been awarded the contract to build this building. "
 
You're right. Garth Turner didn't specify what building was off the market. But what is the point of stating this if you don't name the project. Used to be credible but once he became a politician he officially went over to "the other side". Complete hypocrite (typical politician). He would fit right in with this Putin-like illegal election we are now having.
 
pancsi said:
You're right. Garth Turner didn't specify what building was off the market. But what is the point of stating this if you don't name the project. Used to be credible but once he became a politician he officially went over to "the other side". Complete hypocrite (typical politician). He would fit right in with this Putin-like illegal election we are now having.
Click to expand...

Unwanted yes. Unnecessary maybe. Illegal no.
 
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