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Ont Gov't building at 880 Bay, at Grosvenor St (ORC, 44s?, WZMH)

Mike in TO said:
The site includes the parking lot, the small long term care facility and the six story building located right at the corner.
Click to expand...

Mike, you will understand that it is extremely rare that I could correct you on anything. But, with the utmost of respect, here is a very trivial (and perhaps interesting) correction. 880 Bay is seven stories. The elevator core rises only to the sixth storey, but there is a partial seventh storey that is still occupied by government offices, and it is reached by taking the elevator to the sixth storey and walking up. A sort of penthouse of offices, if you will, that is visible in your photo. I find this a slightly odd and perhaps charming aspect of this rathole. I always thought it would be funny if the Ontario Disability Support Program was relocated to the seventh floor - can you imagine? It's an odd decision about building a building that obviously would not be made today.
 
Wondering what other buildings with "office penthouses" are worth noting out there--the old Maclean-Hunter thing at Dundas + University comes to mind...
 
215 Huron has the same thing on the UofT campus. I believe it's the 10th floor that you can only reach by going up a flight of stairs.
 
Not to forget the tallest penthouse offices in Toronto that I know about... The REAL top floor of the TD Tower. Above the level of Canoe (The highest floor the elevators reach.) You take a flight of stairs and there is a whole floor of Day Traders and lawyers. Really nice views, as I remember. I was up there once in the early 90's when I was a courier.
 
From SSC:

Grey Towers said:
"Notice of Public Meeting" in the Star today. Request to amend the zoning by-law to allow construction of a 45-storey government office building. 192 m. in height, 867,808 sq. ft. G.F.A.

Tuesday, June 22nd at 10 a.m. in Committee Room 1, 2nd floor, City Hall.
Click to expand...
 
880 Bay, 60 Grosvenor & a portion of 900 Bay are on the agenda for the new Toronto and East York Community Council on Tuesday June 22 at 10:00. The applicant (ORC) proposed to amend the zoning by-law to permit the construction of a 45-storey government office building (including a one-storey 7.0 metre mechanical penthouse and 3.0 meter elevator overrun). The proposed height is 192 meters to the top of the mechanical penthouse. The proposed tower dimensions are 84.15 meters by 28.15 meters.
 
Rezoning - Final Report
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2010/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-31093.pdf

Conclusion
City Planning is supportive of the proposed development and the required Zoning By-law amendment.
The site, because of its size and location, is able to accommodate additional density and height. The
building has been located and massed to be compatible with the adjacent buildings in this Mixed Use
Areas designated neighbourhood.
 
waterloowarrior, thank you for all the updates..looks like Toronto is in for a couple more good years of new developments, with new office buildings, a hotel, an aquarium etc. Its all good.:)
 
I'm really excited that this will be a WZMH project. I love almost everything they've done in this city.
 
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WZMH are hit and miss in my books, most recently dumping the skyline-neutral Bay Adelaide Centre on us.

However, it is not known yet whether this the building will be a WZMH design. WZMH made it quite clear at the public meeting held several weeks ago that they had only been retained to create conceptual massing plans for this building. In response to my query regarding the suitability of the vertical orientation of the north facade articulations and how they would mesh with the resolutely horizontal banding of the various very fine examples of international style of the Ont Gov't blocks immediately to the north, the WZMH rep stated that the elevations do not represent a proposed architectural treatment for the exterior. WZMH may end up getting the contract to design the building, but AFAIK that is not a given yet.

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