Toronto 1117 Queen West | 102.4m | 29s | Queen Street Post Inc | Giannone Petricone

ushahid said:
in the second pic it looks like batman's mask. you can see the nose and mouth part.,
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Nice catch, citizen, but I am troubled to say that my agency, DC Comics, has not yet heard from the proponents regarding this use of my likeness. I am certain that we could come to an amicable arrangement, however, as long as you and your fellow UrbanTorontonians welcome us in your fine city. Why, just the other day the Boy Wonder mentioned to me that both the young men and women of Toronto "be poppin", and that he had plans that night. Haven't seen him since.
 
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I asked the same thing in the thread. They're certainly sensationalizing it - as they should be if it's true - but without evidence, there's no there, there.
 
ProjectEnd said:
Ahh, well, nevertheless...
https://twitter.com/x/status/1478898017734381571
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I'll bring the Tweet forward for those who don't get previews, so that the discussion makes sense:

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Yes please. Wonderful to see a neighbourhood known for creative types might produce something besides yet another forgettable building. Toronto can be an excruciatingly conservative place so this is a breath of fresh air.
 
From the Star today:

www.thestar.com

Historic Queen Street post office sold despite opposition; buyer has ‘zero plan’ for the property

Canada Post sold the 120-year-old building last month to a private buyer for an undisclosed amount, ending local plans for a public space.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

Canada Post put out a call for offers with a deadline of July 14, 2021, which was pushed back by just one week after Dzerowicz asked for an additional six months to allow for an assessment of the best interests of the local community and allow time for more public consultation.

Toronto city council also passed a motion put forward by Bailão on July 14 calling for the immediate halt of the sale.

But to no avail. According to land title documents, the building was sold to a company called Queen Street Post Inc. on Dec. 15 for “$0.”

Robert Bielak, a director of Queen Street Post Inc., would not disclose to the Star how much the company paid and said there is “zero plan” for the property right now.

“It’s not like I’ve got this master plan of what the idea to do there is,” Bielak told the Star. “Everyone’s getting all excited, but I don’t think anything’s going to happen there for a while to be pretty frank with you.

“I saw the listing and I called and that’s how it evolved,” he added. “It’s not like there’s some sort of crazy idea or plan on this building.”

Canada Post said in an email to the Star that it was paid fair market value when the property was sold but would not disclose a value.

“We completed the process for the sale of the former post office property last fall through an open and comprehensive process,” said spokesperson Phil Legault. “The purchaser chose not to have the actual sale price stated in the transfer filed in the Land Registry system, which they are permitted to do.”

He added that since 2019, Canada Post has had “ongoing conversations with the local MP and other stakeholders to share information and explain our process.”

Bailão told the Star she thinks the sale is a “missed opportunity for a great city-building initiative.”

“The city is growing and we need to grow our social infrastructure as well and places like this are great spaces for those services in our communities,” she added. “We wanted an opportunity to have organizations being able to put together a bid. That was really the end goal when we heard it was going up for sale. It was like, at least give us the time to put a bid together. But we didn’t get that here.”

She noted that now that 1117 Queen St. W. is in private hands, the city can proceed to fully designate the property as a heritage property, a process that was impossible while it was owned by a federal Crown corporation.
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Not sure that explanation really checks out -- you don't get to acquire a piece of Crown land, especially not at a nominal cost, if you don't already have a plan for it. The plan might not be fully baked, of course (or even half baked), but Bielak isn't doing himself any favours with his explanation.
 
McCarthy Tetrault has been engaged to lobby on this one.

The client is listed as Queen Street Post Inc.

Subject: Heritage and Redevelopment discussions
 
A report to the August 8th meeting of the Preservation Board is recommending designation of this property as Heritage.


Everyone can look through the report, if interested for its historical features.........

So I won't repeat that here. Instead, I'll offer two other things that caught my attention in the report:

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****

And

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Toronto city staff want heritage status for a 119-year-old Canada Post building in the west end, months after the Crown corporation sold it to a private buyer against the city's request.

A staff report detailing the heritage value of the defunct post office on 1117 Queen St. W. is headed to the Toronto Preservation Board on Monday. If council green-lights their proposal, it would give the city greater say over maintenance, alterations or demolition done to the property moving forward.

"Heritage conservation shapes change, but it does not prevent it," reads an email from the city of Toronto.

The report comes more than a year since city council asked the federal government to halt the property sale and repurpose the building into a community hub instead. It may be the city's last chance to guide the future of the site — staff say the new owner hasn't applied to redevelop it yet.
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AlbertC said:
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Just to report that the Toronto Preservation Board did adopt the report on Monday, so its recommendation to designate is off to Toronto Council, maybe for an "Emergency Meeting" if the City decides it is pressing enough to be one of the things they attend to before dissolving prior to the municipal election.

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EDIT: it's on the agenda for the August 15 Special Meeting of City Council.
 
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Well, we have a proposal: front page story here, database file linked above.

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29 storeys, Giannone Petricone.

A director of owner Queen Street Post Inc., Robert Bielak, is also the President of St Helen's Meat Packers who own land proposed for redevelopment up by the future St Clair Old Weston GO station.

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I don’t hate it and it reminds me of Rotterdam. This is what it takes to get arts spaces in 2023 and of course more housing can always be used. I like that they have put an open air stage in the back facing the park. And a 900m2 (10 000 f2) arts space is nothing to sneeze at.
 
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