Toronto 2180 Yonge | 247m | 65s | Oxford Properties | Hariri Pontarini

Undead said:
Better than I dared hope. Between this and the Square One site, it appears Oxford has more vision and ambition than most developers. Granted, Oxford probably has more money than most of them.

@interchange42 lol exaggeration much
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The finer points of the rest of the design can wait, but the circular cul-de-sac for the residential towers screams 'drive here', pull-up-outside of me in your SUV or whatever private vehicle, when here at the crossing of two rapid transit lines the development language should be 'walk here, hop the subway.' That cul-de-sac is a major mistake that needs to be scrubbed before the 20th century stupidity suburban planning here takes irreversible hold.

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Undead said:
Better than I dared hope. Between this and the Square One site, it appears Oxford has more vision and ambition than most developers. Granted, Oxford probably has more money than most of them.

@interchange42 lol exaggeration much
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I too agree that this feels 'suburban'.

It reminds me of the railway lands on smaller scale.

The buildings are big (not tall, big) blobbish masses randomly plopped down within the site.

It doesn't feel urban.

It doesn't meet Yonge Street with any gusto, but instead a whimper.

All the while providing open space that will be shady, windy and disconnected from proposed greenspaces in the future.

The space is also not organized in such a way at to create utility.

The more I look at it, the more I dislike it.
 
These towers look impressively tall! The northern phase is easily 250+ metres.

Screenshot from the report: https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.c...2020-11-09_Public_Meeting_FINAL_optimized.pdf

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So I took a quick shot at adjusting the master plan a little bit.

Those two properties at the south end of the block need to be acquired by Oxford/CT-REIT and CreateTO. Shift the residential buildings south a nudge, eliminating the cul-de-sac (which can be replaced by a circular pedestrian pathway similar to Ryerson's Quad) and adding more open space to the north. The L-shaped street simply doesn't need to be there, why introduce a new route for vehicles to cut through the block? It has been eliminated in favour of more park space, and two woonerfs (the grey lines) that merely provide parking/loading/delivery entrance and egress for the residential towers. I assume given the existence of the subway line, that the Yonge street fronting towers share their parking structures with the western towers anyway.

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Maybe I'd connect the two woonerfs and bring back the L-shape street and put another tower on the parkland fronting on Duplex, since the nearby single-detached homes are untouchable and where else are we going to put more residential? The park space is made up by eliminating that cul-de-sac and pushing the towers south. edit: Like the thumbnail below:

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steveve said:
These towers look impressively tall! The northern phase is easily 250+ metres.

Screenshot from the report: https://s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.c...2020-11-09_Public_Meeting_FINAL_optimized.pdf
Click to expand...

Digging into the report, they had a ground-level use map.

Townhouses, even as the base of massive condos, again seem rather underwhelming for such a massive node. They create dead spaces on what would otherwise be an active street frontage given the immediate density of people. Convert them to retail with restaurants and patios in mind as intended users. The nearby office workers, planned public space, and residential density would surely be very attractive spaces for chain bar&grill restaurants (Joey's, Jack Astor's, St Louis, etc.) to lease.

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WislaHD said:
Digging into the report, they had a ground-level use map.

Townhouses, even as the base of massive condos, again seem rather underwhelming for such a massive node. They create dead spaces on what would otherwise be an active street frontage given the immediate density of people. Convert them to retail with restaurants and patios in mind as intended users. The nearby office workers, planned public space, and residential density would surely be very attractive spaces for chain bar&grill restaurants (Joey's, Jack Astor's, St Louis, etc.) to lease.

View attachment 285370
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There's already a St. Louis a few blocks to the south.
 
It's got its issues and asks a lot for height, especially to the south...I'm curious what'll come of this. I did expect more office space...I dont think this is even a 1:1 ratio. I assume they'll fix notable issues later on, like the Yonge street frontage and the groups of buildings toward Soudan...which is a bit odd.
 
So much irrational hate here. You're getting 5 acres of park space in an area with probably 100k people per square kilometre density. Looking a gift horse in the mouth. No wonder nothing gets done in this city. I'm surprised no one has brought up the 800 or so parking spots planned for this site. To me, that will encourage auto use to a much greater extent than any itsy little cul de sac ever could. For an area with this much transit, the parking could probably be halved.
 
It's great to see this kind of density proposed for the site, but lots of weird bells and whistles here.

A multi-levelled, terraced park?
Roads (or "woonerfs") to nowhere?
Overhead walkways and canopies?
A dedicated TTC pavilion?

How about a simply street grid, retail space fronting the commercial strips and, dare I ask, a flat park?
 
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