Toronto St Lawrence Condos at 158 Front | 91.44m | 26s | Cityzen | a—A

CityPainter

CityPainter

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This week brings us the fantastic news (in my opinion) that the Greyhound shipping depot on the northwest corner of Front St. E. and Sherbourne St. is officially for sale as part of the Build Toronto initiative. I was alerted to this through a Globe story about various developments in the area: New Life on the Eastern Front. I'm not surprised to hear that there is lots of immediate interest from developers.

The official Build Toronto press release is here:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2010/03/c9551.html

A website has been set up to facilitate the sale, mostly expounding the virtues of the neighbourhood:
http://www.154frontstreeteast.com/index.php

And finally, if anyone is not familiar with the lot in question, here it is in all its concrete glory on Google street view.

I recall reading years ago that part of this property was somehow slated to be a public park, though it's hard to envision how a park of any reasonable size could coexist with a condo tower. Either way, I think it would be hard not to improve on what's there now. The depot location was probably great 20 years ago, but the neighbourhood has outgrown it, and I'm sure the bus drivers struggling to turn onto jam-packed Sherbourne would be happier elsewhere, too.

Now: will anyone defend the current building as an example of Brutalist architecture worth preserving? :)
 
CityPainter said:
This week brings us the fantastic news (in my opinion) that the Greyhound shipping depot on the northwest corner of Front St. E. and Sherbourne St. is officially for sale as part of the Build Toronto initiative. :)
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It is certainly not new news that the Greyhound station is for sale by Build Toronto - this has been discussed on UT since last fall. It will be news when it is sold and the new owner comes up with a plan for it. Though I do not think the "For Sale" site has been posted before and it's good to see a June 30 deadline for proposals.

I know that the St Lawrence Neighbourhood Assn are certainly in favour of PART of the site being a public park but do not know if this requirement will be in the Build Toronto sale requirements or in any City approvals as a new building moves forward.
 
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DSC said:
It is certainly not new news that the Greyhound station is for sale by Build Toronto - this has been discussed on UT since last fall. It will be news when it is sold and the new owner comes up with a plan for it. Though I do not think the "For Sale" site has been posted before and it's good to see a June 30 deadline for proposals.

I know that the St Lawrence Neighbourhood Assn are certainly in favour of PART of the site being a public park but do not know if this requirement will be in the Build Toronto sale requirements or in any City approvals as a new building moves forward.
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Fair enough, I've heard snippets of news about this for some time as well, but I think the first formal property listing by Build Toronto is newsworthy, as is the launch of a website dedicated to its sale. I searched the UT forums and found only a few scattered aside references to the Greyhound depot in various threads, but I thought it might deserve its own thread to centralize discussion as progress finally moves forward, even if that progress is very slow.
 
CityPainter said:
Fair enough, I've heard snippets of news about this for some time as well, but I think the first formal property listing by Build Toronto is newsworthy, as is the launch of a website dedicated to its sale. I searched the UT forums and found only a few scattered aside references to the Greyhound depot in various threads, but I thought it might deserve its own thread to centralize discussion as progress finally moves forward, even if that progress is very slow.
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CityPainter is right, the site was officially listed last week after months of waiting for Build to pull the trigger. I am surprised that there isn't more chatter given its prominence.
Don't think that there will be a park on the site, it's certainly not be marketing that way.
 
This is indeed good news. This neighbourhood is now well established as a redeveloping condo and commercial area.

As for a park, there appears to be no such requirement in the Build Toronto sale documents, but it would probably not be expected anyway, at this stage. As a routine part of the approval process for a new development, following the sale, the city could require inclusion of some greenspace or a parkette. At 34,687 square feet, the site is large enough to accommodate both a condo building and a small park.
 
i dont think a park should be necessary for the location considering there's already alot of green space only 1 block south on The Esplanade stretching from Jarvis to Parliament.

2 x 15s point towers(which seems to be the limit by the SLM association) on the corners of Frederick and Sherborne with some green space in between would be nice.
 
from today's Daily Commercial News, so posted with the usual warning.....this would seem to indicate that the parcel of land has been sold.....

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT Proj: 9122422-2
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON CONTEMPLATED
154 Front St East, M5A 1E5
$25,000,000 est

Note: The Owner has undertaken a Request For Proposals from Development Partners to Co-Own and develop this property. A Purchase agreement is in place with a Development Proponent. A Due diligence period is ongoing, and being managed by the Cons. The Due diligence period is expected to be complete late Fall/early Winter, 2010. The award will be confirmed late 2010/early 2011. The project scope will be finalized, and schedules for the project determined when the Developer is secured. Further update early 2011.

Project: proposed construction of multi-tenant residential buildings.
Development: New
Category: Apartment bldgs
 
yyzer, it does seem that this land has been sold. The St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood Association (SLNA) has posted the minutes of their September meeting on their website at http://slna.ca. The minutes contain this one tantalizing line: "The Greyhound Site has been sold, but City Hall is not revealing the purchaser at this time." I guess we'll just have to be patient for now, unless someone has the inside scoop.... ;)
 
That's right - I was present at that meeting and the presentation from the SLNA's development committee indicated that the City wasn't in a position yet to reveal any details of the transaction. Probably pending closing or other legal matters.
 
Buyer is Cityzen!....from the Globe....

It’s still early days, said Cityzen’s Joe Cordiano, and neither party would say how much the Front Street property is selling for as financing and density are still being negotiated.

“I can tell you this,” Mr. Cordiano said, “it’ll be exciting.”

The plan is for a multistorey condominium tower, likely with retail on ground level. Others who bid on the project said their impression was that Cityzen’s winning bid was more aggressive in the density it proposed.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/front-street-property-shaping-up-to-be-build-torontos-first-sale/article1805388/
 
154 Front Street East

The City of Toronto owned site at 154 Front Street East is currently identified as one of Build Toronto's surplus sites to be sold to the private sector. The site located at Front Street East and Sherbourne street is nearing a final deal with the site is expected to close on December 20th. A residential condo is the anticipated future use of the property.
 
http://www.buildtoronto.ca/documents/properties-154-Front.pdf

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MOD ALERT:

This is the topic of ANOTHER THREAD. See: Greyhound's Bus Parcel Express Depot (154 Front St. E. at Sherbourne) This older thread has lots more info.

Perhaps you could merge them? Thanks.
 
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