Planning at Distillery

[Hydrogen]

Regardless of opinion, this type of development is going to happen (and is happening). Whether it will support or engulf the Distillery area will be something that only the future will reveal. If the District is engulfed and overwhelmed by this kind of development, then that's that.

 

[adma]

And, finally, Manhattan does have its share of awkward developments...

Interesting preservationist note: in the first of those views, you see an interesting 1960s brick/concrete quasi-Brutal skyscraper to the left. Believe it or not, it only lasted 20 years or so--the edge of its replacement can be seen in the second photo...

 

[ShonTron]

Thousands upon thousands of people will soon be living within a few blocks, so the argument that the District needs to support itself with permanent residents in physically adjacent buildings essentially inside the historic site - or that the developers deserve to be entitled to build it there - is rubbish. It's frustrating that the only way to save the site is to sacrifice part of it. The city could prop up the Distillery businesses for a couple of years while the 10,000 or so residential units getting built a stone's throw away go up. At the end of the day, though, I'm kind of 10% mildly outraged, and 90% indifferent.

You know what? That's about the closest any one else has expressed my feeling. I'm frustrated, I think it's a big mistake to but obtrusive, yet handsome, condos so close to the historic buildings (of which is something really unique to Toronto), when other solutions are possible, and ignores other successes elsewhere in Toronto, but I'm not chaining myself to any bulldozer or tower crane. So while there's a part of me outraged, I still have some indifference.

I'm also fustrated by how critics or opponents are labeled as NIMBYs or weak-as-NIMBYs, or defending the developer's right to what build ever the hell they feel like.

But I feel almost resigned to it, and I agree, there are worse things that could take place, like bad faux, or total facadectomies, or continued abandonment. But I look around and think this could have been done better. But Junglab, you are right. Had the condos gone first, I'm sure this thread would be much different.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

If the distillery was still active and they built a new brick building for a random industrial purpose, no one would notice or care, but if we were to build a new brick building there today for random retail (/tourist/continuity) purposes with perhaps a few condo units on top, we'd *definitely* hear about how awful it is on this forum.

blah blah blah faux blah blah blah 40 storey condos become appropriate as soon as and wherever they're built blah blah blah you're a communist blah blah blah the shoppes need more local yuppies to survive blah blah blah

edit - You know what would help the District more than anything? A bigger distillery district. Walk through it today and you are guaranteed to go "that's it?" It could be two or three times the size. If people are so eager to live near there, they'll buy into cute little low-rise brick buildings. There's towers going up absolutely everywhere else.

 

[adma]

edit - You know what would help the District more than anything? A bigger distillery district. Walk through it today and you are guaranteed to go "that's it?" It could be two or three times the size. If people are so eager to live near there, they'll buy into cute little low-rise brick buildings. There's towers going up absolutely everywhere else.

On paper, that sounds saccharine. In practice, though, it's logical--that is, just extend the scale of the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood eastward and connect it up with Ataratiri. And rather than obtruding into the DD, just envelop it like a nice little oyster pearl...

The St. Lawrence Neighbourhood is just so misunderstood these days. (Granted, it isn't exactly tourist-lively. But neither are its models, like Berlage's Plan Zuid for Amsterdam...)