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

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Eastside said:
This project's financing has included:
a) a company whose risk management practices were so awful that the company no longer exists,
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This is the key one, but can we really expected city staffers to have predicted the collapse of Lehman Brothers? People that are paid millions of dollars on Wall Street to predict these things had no idea. The problems look clear in hindsight, but two years ago you would have been mocked to have predicted that one of the largest firms on the continent would soon cease to exist.
 
^Exactly. Who Bazis got their financing from is none of the city's business. If the city denied a demolition permit based on that they'd get laughed out of court in 5 minutes flat.
 
Sales Office Hope

Well the sales office still has hope.

Hi

Construction will start 60 -90 days from July 16,09.

Regards,

1 Bloor
33 Bloor St East
Suite G2A
Toronto, Ontario
M4W 3H1
(T) 416 968-6111
(F) 416 968-5997
 
SimonP said:
This is the key one, but can we really expected city staffers to have predicted the collapse of Lehman Brothers? People that are paid millions of dollars on Wall Street to predict these things had no idea. The problems look clear in hindsight, but two years ago you would have been mocked to have predicted that one of the largest firms on the continent would soon cease to exist.
Click to expand...

I agree with you and MisterF with regards to this, in that very few people saw the failure of Lehman Brothers very far in advance. The troubling aspect of it though, and I suppose this is really all in hindsight, is that the money that they had received was from a shaky lender. The money to finance the project since then seems to be from nothing but shaky lenders. There has also never been any confirmation of any hotel or retail partner. The hotel partner I think should be of particular concern, as a high-end hotel (the kind the developers have been promising) would obviously be a selling point to the project and would bring in much-needed credibility. They obviously haven't had any luck attracting said hotel. It seems like no one who has a valuable brand or who is a reputable lender wants to be associated with this project. This has been the case since the project was announced. Hindsight or not, that tells a troubling story about this tower.

I don't really think it's the city staffers' fault that this was allowed to happen. I'm not going to pretend to understand all the steps and red tape involved with issuing demolition permits, but it would be hard to fault the people on the "front lines," so to say, as I'm sure they were following procedure. What really bothers me is that no one, from politicians to newspaper reporters, seemed to raise any questions as to the viability of this project even though there were definitely red flags even before the Lehman Brothers fiasco. Go back in this thread and read the articles from basically every news outlet. It seems to be pretty much all rosy until that Toronto Life article came out. The politicians flocked to this thing, too. I mean Kyle Rae actually got on an excavator to help tear down Roy Square. I am unable to find any sort of sober statement from anyone from the city with any real clout. If there's no recourse for the city when a developer is allowed to tear down an important city block, especially one that still contains viable businesses, and then allow the site to languish for well over a year (with no end in sight) then there needs to be a change in policy. It's not up to the staffers to push for this change, it's up to those in the higher positions. It seems as if everyone who was supposed to be looking out for this city got caught up in the hype and was in too much of a rush to help these guys sell condos that they forgot that they worked for the people of Toronto (whether it be because they were elected by them or because it is expected of them as journalists) and not for Bazis.
 
Eastside said:
What really bothers me is that no one, from politicians to newspaper reporters, seemed to raise any questions as to the viability of this project even though there were definitely red flags even before the Lehman Brothers fiasco. Go back in this thread and read the articles from basically every news outlet. It seems to be pretty much all rosy until that Toronto Life article came out. The politicians flocked to this thing, too.
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There were plenty of people 'in the know' that had knowledge of problems associated with this project since spring 2008. It has not been all 'rosy' since then - there were significant viability issues prior to the Lehman Brothers issues. Generally these people aren't going to talk to the media or post detailed information of public discussion boards. The demise of this project doesn't come at all as a shock given the problems associated with it that have gone on for over a year.
 
There was a report on CTV news last night echoing what we already know. They were interviewing people who said how frustrating it was to see a huge vacant lot sitting idle for a year and a half.

I hope this is a lesson learned for the city not to issue demolition permits until the actually project has been approved in all forms and has the necessary financial viability in place.
 
How much involvement does Kyle Rae have with all of this? If find it odd that two dubious developers had the opportunity to develop prime real estate in his ward. Dundas Square and Yonge & Bloor should be two of the easiest spots in the city to develop for.
 
Big Daddy said:
Well, let’s pray the unholy trinity (Tricon Capital Group, the Minto Group and KingSett Capital) doesn’t get its mitts on this project. This site is far too important to allow just any dumb-ass development to be built. If they want to build “a more modest project” (i.e. just another apartment building) go get some land in the suburbs and blow your brains out. But not at Yonge and Bloor. These jerks just want to build the units that have already sold and not have to spend another dime on marketing or construction – Build just enough to get by.

Hey, sounds a lot like a hockey team I know – MLSE isn’t involved are they?
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Why unholy? What have you got against them? Is there something dodgy we should know about? Tricon has been a respected financial player for many years and is connected with many projects including both Casa and Burano. Something wrong with them? Do you have a problem with Minto's Quantum? I'm relieved that some new blood with real (Bay) street cred is getting involved. Let's just see how this plays out before we start trashing them for no reason.
 
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Mike in TO said:
There were plenty of people 'in the know' that had knowledge of problems associated with this project since spring 2008. It has not been all 'rosy' since then - there were significant viability issues prior to the Lehman Brothers issues. Generally these people aren't going to talk to the media or post detailed information of public discussion boards. The demise of this project doesn't come at all as a shock given the problems associated with it that have gone on for over a year.
Click to expand...

Oh, definitely. Please don't think I was trying to intimate that planners or other people at city hall should have gone against what I assume are probably pretty rigid (understandably so) privacy policies and leaked information about the project's troubles. This is a project that was competing for clients, however, with a brand new Four Seasons project down the street with "Hotel TBA." That alone should have been enough to get some reporters' teeth out and some politicians asking questions. I suppose, though, that it makes sense that most of the pieces were overwhelmingly positive until very recently when one looks at the amount of space they purchased in all the papers' condo guides. And I'm not sure why the local councillor would go so far as to refer to Roy Square as "an armpit" or "dross" (I'm sure all the businesses in said square were overjoyed at their representative's compassion for his constituents) and champion the second disaster at a major intersection in his ward in the past decade. One thinks he would have learned to be a little prudent after the TLS debacle.
 
Battle for THE INTERSECTION.

Now , after publishing the article in Toronto Star, it is clear, that the issue is not wheather this desirable lot will get developed , but by whom and when.

Battle for THE INTERSECTION has only begun in earnest.
 
I really don't think the title floor count should have been changed until an official number came from the city planning documents or Bazis themselves.
No solid proof has been offered to say the floor count is only 67 storeys at this point.
 
khristopher said:
I really don't think the title floor count should have been changed until an official number came from the city planning documents or Bazis themselves.
No solid proof has been offered to say the floor count is only 67 storeys at this point.
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Hey Khristopher, why don't you show up at Bazis 1 Bloor East sales office first thing Monday morning and put down a huge deposit for a condo on any floor 68 or higher,.... then tell us if they take your money. :rolleyes:

Then at least you'll have some solid proof. After all, Bazis can't sell things that they can't build,... not that that have ever stopped them before! :D
 
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