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

[Mike in TO]

There are other reasons why the project is slow getting off the ground that have nothing to do with city approvals. If Bazis gets full approvals to start construction tomorrow we aren't going to see shovels in the ground Friday morning.

 

[w.ll.am]

Walking past today I noticed all the street construction is blocking the main entrance to the site so they won't be able to start until that's done at the earliest.

 

[maestro]

Bazis submitted an application way back in NOVEMBER 2007 !!! for site plan approval and the bureaucrats at city hall have yet to approve this!!!!

Prehaps the application was incompleted. Anyways, if Bazis was ready to build they would of appealed the lack of a city decision to the OMB a loooong time ago.

 

[Hydrogen]

Makes you think that some people know something about this tower not getting started any time soon.

 

[Tuscani01]

The application may have gone to the city in 2007, but that doesn't take into account the amount of times Bazis has had to resubmit. Don't forget that Bazis volunteered to put this building under the design review panel. This decision would add a lot more time to the process as the developer and city are going back and forward. I would assume most of the time from 2007 onward was spent on making tweaks to the application and trying to make changes to satisfy the design panel.

 

[MisterF]

This makes the City look even worse. Bazis submitted an application way back in NOVEMBER 2007 !!! for site plan approval and the bureaucrats at city hall have yet to approve this!!!!! I know some will say that this is just the normal process and that this project is no different than any other but I just don't buy that. We have waited for decades for something to replace the eyesores on that corner and if this project does not get off the ground it could be another decade before anything gets built here.

In Cobourg we're processing a subdivision application that was submitted in 2005. Why? Because even after multiple resubmissions, the application still has issues that the developer hasn't addressed. Maybe that's happening with 1 Bloor, maybe not. But if you don't know what's really going on, you can't just blame "the bureaucrats at city hall".

 

[Peepers]

In Cobourg we're processing a subdivision application that was submitted in 2005. Why? Because even after multiple resubmissions, the application still has issues that the developer hasn't addressed. Maybe that's happening with 1 Bloor, maybe not. But if you don't know what's really going on, you can't just blame "the bureaucrats at city hall".

The PURPOSE of the City of Toronto's site plan approval process is outlined on the City's website:

Section 41 of the Planning Act grants the City the authority to include in its Official Plan areas to be designated as "areas of Site Plan Control". This authority provides a process that examines the design and technical aspects of a proposed development to ensure it is attractive and compatible with the surrounding area and contributes to the economic, social and environmental vitality of the City



Note its sole purpurse is to to ensure it is attractive and compatible with the surrounding area and contributes to the economic, social and environmentalvitality of the City. The FORM of the building (height and massing) has ALREADY been approved - why make the developer jump through more hoops?

Now according to the City of Toronto this process should take from 2-9 months
http://www.toronto.ca/developing-toronto/pdf/spc_process.pdf

The approval process is - of course - dependant upon not only the timely responses to request for clarifications from the applicant (which any applicant would quickly comply with ) but also agreement to concessions that the City may demand as a form of extortion to wring out "benefits" to the City from the developer. I suspect that THIS is the reason why the approval process has taken so long. The City got too greedy and the approval process was stretched from a time of boom to a time of financial crisis.

This has happened before in our History. In the late 1980's after protracted negotiations the City extorted major concessions from the original developer of Bay Adelaide. Unfortunately by the time that construction got started (after this delay by the City) the economy went into a recession and we were left with "the Stump". Now, almost 20 years after the FIRST Bay Adelaide tower began construction we are seeing the completion of the B/A Tower - a much lesser version of the original. I hope that this is not what will happen at Yonge and Bloor.

 

[Johnzz]

Uh, i thought this building has pretty well been 95% sold for the past year.

95% sold? This is impossible. The top three floors remain unsold and only a small handful of units above the 70th floor have actually sold. If you've got the money to spend $2,000+ per sqft, there's a great selection of units available.

If you include the vacant hotel space, I’d be surprised if even 80% of this buildings square footage has sold.

 

[lordmandeep]

I Know Aura is mostly sold.

 

[Automation Gallery]

I get this feeling that this is the month that we will find out if this project advances or goes down in flames.

 

[joel in to]

I will probably take a lot of heat for posting this here, as this is unsubstantiated heresay, but I heard an absolutely awful piece of news on this project yesterday. A friend of mine who works for Green Park Homes told me that Green Park was very recently approached by Bazis to assess whether Green Park might have an interest in purchasing the 1 Bloor lands from them.

I truly hope this is incorrect news, as i want this development to go ahead as much as anyone... take it with as many grains of salt as you deem appropriate.

 

[Solaris]

I personally don't doubt the validity of this hear-say news ... if true, at least that would be an update of some sort ... guess we'll just have to wait and see

 

[simply Dan]

Taken this morning:

 

[MisterF]

Peepers, your posts are quite comical with all the bold and caps and accusations of illegal activity by the city. If it's Section 37 contributions you're talking about, that's all clearly laid out in the Planning Act. It's not extortion.

While a rezoning deals with the form and density of the development, it doesn’t deal with all the site details – that’s what site plan is for. The site plan process is generally driven by the zoning and it deals with everything from the size of the units to how garbage is handled to how the building meets the street. The zoning may be approved, but that’s no guarantee that the site plan application complies with the approved zoning - that’s what resubmissions are about, not clarification.

By the way, it’s not unusual for developers to go months on end before resubmitting. I've seen a developer go over a year. And if the city is never satisfied with the site plan (or permit application for that matter), it will never get approved.

 

[khris]

I will probably take a lot of heat for posting this here, as this is unsubstantiated heresay, but I heard an absolutely awful piece of news on this project yesterday. A friend of mine who works for Green Park Homes told me that Green Park was very recently approached by Bazis to assess whether Green Park might have an interest in purchasing the 1 Bloor lands from them.

I truly hope this is incorrect news, as i want this development to go ahead as much as anyone... take it with as many grains of salt as you deem appropriate.

Someone said something similar before about another developer buying the property.
I guess it is about time for another rumour development. It's been a while since we've had one. Attention UT: prepare for at least 5 pages of discussion of this rumour.