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

@Northern Light any feedback on this particular proposal?

It's interesting.

If it wasn't sticking out of heritage building, I'd give it a pass subject to assorted details.

I'm a bit betwixt on the heritage thing, I feel like Toronto has so little of that left; and so much that begs for redevelopment. I'm not sure why we can't plunk this interesting stuff down at the redevelopment of Eglinton Square or I dunno, the corner of King and Dufferin, (cough)

This thing will earn a lot of sympathy from me if they agree to pay to bulldoze Lisgar Park and design a new space properly, in conjunction with rebuilding the adjacent streetscapes.

For a review of why the above is necessary, see my post in the Problematic Park Design thread, here:

 
Doesn't bother me much - the tower is set well back from the footprint of the heritage building, clearly separated as a distinct structure and only compromises one facade of what was. Take it as a win.

I do think it could be improved by separating the tower and the original building even further vertically - and ditch the enclosed space in-between and strip it down to what's strictly necessary - i.e. the core. The Lisgar park side of the facade on street looks a little too busy.

AoD
 
What's the details on Lisgar Park being disliked? I don't know anything about the park/perception of it other than walking thru a few times and it felt quite gray and flat.
 
What will the cladding be? It kind of looks like the sheet-metal-type stuff you see on farm buildings and rural arenas, etc.
Seems to be a corrugated metal of some sort. They used something similar on the Drake hotel expansion- looks nice and shiny in renders, but ended up looking more like a utility shed to my eyes.

20210417_100253.jpg
 
Rezoning play, nothing more. Don't get too attached and don't despair if you don't like it. It was bought for cheap ($15.4M or $82.2/sf buildable with this design) from an indifferent (at best) or corrupt (at worst) government, so that's about the attention I'm giving this application.
 
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Rezoning play, nothing more. Don't get too attached and don't despair if you don't like it. It was bought for cheap ($0) from an indifferent (at best) or corrupt (as is proving to be the case on many of these other transactions re: Greenbelt) government, so that's about the attention I'm giving this application.
Now, given that introduction.... I must 100% add this site to our "Watch-List"...
 
when I posted the article earlier today via my LinkedIn...someone commented.."awesome cheese grater"!

So this reminded me of this...

 
Wow Canada Post only sold this for ~$15 million? I'm going to put a wager and say they a page out of CLC's playbook and didnt include any conditions for affordable housing to be built here either.

What a joke.
 
Its interesting.

If it wasn't sticking out of heritage building, I'd give it a pass subject to assorted details.

I'm a bit betwixt on the heritage thing, I feel like Toronto has so little of that left; and so much that begs for redevelopment. I'm not sure why we can't plunk this interesting stuff down at the redevelopment of Eglinton Square or I dunno, the corner of King and Dufferin, (cough)

This thing will earn a lot of sympathy from me if they agree to pay to bulldoze Lisgar Park and design a new space properly, in conjunction with rebuilding the adjacent streetscapes.

For a review of why the above is necessary, see my post in the Problematic Park Design thread, here:

I'd say we need a significant overhaul of the Ontario Heritage Act.
 
Rezoning play, nothing more. Don't get too attached and don't despair if you don't like it. It was bought for cheap ($15.4M or $82.2/sf buildable with this design) from an indifferent (at best) or corrupt (at worst) government, so that's about the attention I'm giving this application.
It seems like zone and flips are becoming as common as actual proposals now.
 
Rezoning play, nothing more. Don't get too attached and don't despair if you don't like it. It was bought for cheap ($15.4M or $82.2/sf buildable with this design) from an indifferent (at best) or corrupt (at worst) government, so that's about the attention I'm giving this application.
Yup. One of the tell tale signs is when there are random back and forth windows all the way up a facade. If it ends up looking anything like this it will have to be rationalized, or we are getting a sea of spandrel.
 

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