Toronto 225 Queen East | 121.4m | 37s | Dash Developments | Arcadis

[urbandreamer]

Damn it Brad Lambton, can I at least get a discount? I promise, I'll work for you for a week. (btw, am I the only person in Toronto that finds Lamb hilarious? His ego matches mine, I think.

Okay: While everytime I see "Kormann House" I think of curry (weird, I know) I do believe I am entitled to at least a bid of $79k even if the ask is really $250k. So the spread is wide, but I'll surely get my fill?

 

[beaconer]

I really like the rendering too. To me, the corner has a ton of lot of potential and with this building on the corner, it will bring a lot of that out.

Call me naively optimistic, but I think the Queen and Sherbourne of today will be much different in five years

Living in the area for close to 10 years, you can see the difference that has already occured in just that short period of time. (i.e. south side of Queen St e across from park,etc).

Including projects under development and existing projects, the stretch of Sherbourne from King to Queen(a few square blocks) has/will have about 10 residential condos on the stretch or just off the stretch:

-Mozo
-Kings Court
-The Richmond
-Imperial Lofts (80/90 Sherbourne)
-383 Adelaide Street East
-101 Sherbourne
-Kormann House
-Rezen
-294 Richmond E (at Sherbourne) - partly residential(?)
-330 Adelaide St E

Add in the proximate periphery:
-Vu Condo
-East Lofts
-Glas House
-The large adelaide project

I made this point in the 101 Sherbourne thread, but that is a lot of residential density, a lot of votes, and a lot of political/community will butting up against a stagnant or decreasing population of social service users.

 

[Edward Skira]

^ Don't forget to add UT's World HQ to that list.

 

[alklay]

And the W hotel.

 

[adma]

Queen and Sherbourne is probably the most horrible intersection in the city, will be interesting to see the selling prices and how Brad Lamp is going to market this project

Though from a raw architectural/urbanistic point of view, the old Victorian/Edwardian/whatever blockfront at the NE corner is one of the finest of its sort in the city...

 

[exstasie]

... they were selling crack out of it. (Don't know if it was the owners or clients that got busted for that.)

The thing is, lots of people (on this board and elsewhere) having been admiring Modern and the building on the NW corner of Richmond and Sherbourne, which are no more than 50 paces from this corner. This very well might work at a discount to Mozo, e.g.

My eldest daughter figure skates at Moss Park Arena, so we're there twice a week. The strip is actually better than it used to be and the new Dollar Store actually improves this block. Both of those things being said, I wouldn't want to be a single female walking through there after the Meighan gets filled and there's some angry guys starting to get drunk in preparation for a night on the grates.

Tough part of town.

Eventhough its true that a block away can make a big difference, It is still a pretty tough neighbourhood. I was looking into the Modern and really liked the place, but the location was one of the major reasons for passing on it.

I ended up a couple blocks away, but yeah, i'm curious to see what the pricing will be like!

 

[GraphicMatt]

I was driving home today and saw them putting up this banner. The guys kind of looked at me oddly as I snapped pics with my cell phone.

They formerly had an "Eastside Lofts" banner in the same spot. Is this the same developer with just a name change, or did it change hands completely?

Count me among the people who see big changes coming to the are around Queen/Sherbourne. The closing of the Coffee Time was a bit of a turning point, I think. There's still a lot of poverty in the area -- the shelters and Moss Park apartments kind of necessitate that --, but I'm not getting a rough vibe anymore.

This area is way too close to downtown to remain off limits to people who want to live in the city.

 

[syn]

I like it, but I don't like the setback base.

 

[emacs]

http://www.kormannhouse.com/flash.php

Queen/Sherbourne

for that rendering to be correct, they will have to strip the white paint off the building at the southwest corner of the intersection. about 20 meters south (at Britain Street) there's a red brick building that matches the colour scheme.

 

[BUGEYEDBRIT]

I like the building, just not sure I would want to live there...but hey, each to their own. I walk past this spot everyday on my way to work, and while I don't feel threatened walking around there,some might.

 

[IronMac]

Passing by that sign a couple of days ago I was really curious about what the project is supposed to look like. How disappointing to find out that it's going to be yet another muted aluminum and glass monstrosity with a shell of an old building stuck on at the corner! Just like the one further down at King and Sherbourne...we're talking about something like the statue of David with a clubfoot.

As for the neighbourhood changing, not much or at least not as fast as some people would have you believe. Moss Park is not really a park per se, you have low-income apartments all the way to the northwest, to the east you would have to bulldoze everything and you would still have more poor housing blocks and to the southeast you will have the Moderns blocking the view.

I can't wait until the condo market crashes later this year so we have an end to this sort of building.

 

[casaguy]

I think this'll be a great little addition to this area, but...

This is one sketchy, sketchy corner.

Even though a block south things improve considerably, this corner all the way up to Sherbourne and Gerrard is pretty nasty. I've lived in downtown Toronto for almost 20 years and this strip is the only strip I've ever had to look over my shoulder. When I'm on my bike I intentionally ride at a speed that will ensure I don't have to stop at a red light. More often than not there is someone yelling in a drunken haze or fighting or in the middle of what appears to be some sort of shady deal. At all times of day.

I hope the prices they are listing these units at are incredibly low.

It appears the "Coffee Time" is "under renovation" which will not help. And the homeless shelter, community centre and super-sized Dollarama will certainly not add to the value of this building.

Below are some pics I took this morning. They are over-sized panoramas...

 

[Edward Skira]

I've been on Britain Street since 1994. Sherbourne from King north was sketchy in those days. There was hardly anybody around at night, at least not people you'd want to associate with. With the arrival of Mozo, Kings Court and all the rest of the condos the area has changed tremendously.

As recently as 6 years ago there were crack dens on Britain. This has all changed now. This project is a welcome addition to the area as are the Modern and the one at the northwest corner of Sherbourne and Richmond. And as are the Vu and Glass House. Yes the area to the north is still sketchy but the area is still much improved and getting better by the year.

BTW, you can see a bit of UT HQ in the second shot.

 

[beaconer]

A look at the past and a glimpse of the future..

You can choose to associate this corner with what lies to the north, or to the south.

On the surface, yes the area does appear to be sketchy. But it is much much different than it was even 5 years ago.

I use my personal experiences of using the Queen/Sherbourne streetcar stop on a regular basis now, whereas before I generally avoided it. I avoided it because I didn't feel like I was welcome in the neighbourhood and I was deserving of whatever I got by stepping into it. I was a fish out of water. I no longer feel that way, and I see so many others doing the same.

I use my personal experiences of how no longer are the homeless, pan handlers and social service users in the general area of King and Sherbourne. You rarely see a homeless guy sleeping in a doorstop or a panhandler in the area, whereas you did before. And when you do, they are not there the next day. They avoid it because they feel they are not welcome and they will be harassed (by either a call to the police, or via a security guard). They are fish out of water. The last stand for this area IMHO was the closing of the coffee time on King. (In combination with the opening of the new Police division of Parliament and Front, regular police patrols on foot and ofcourse residential density).

With
-(Kormann House - South-West corner Queen/Sherbourne
-Coffee Time shutting down- South-eest corner Queen/Sherbourne
-216-218 Queen St E for Sale - North-East corner Queen/Sherbourne See -->(http://www.icx.ca/PropertyDetails.a...=0-0&fpud=1&frntd=1&Mode=0&PropertyID=7037949)

ALL three corners of the Queen and Sherbourne will have the near potential to be re-developed (the fourth corner is the park).

The park is underused and not at its potential but it still has a lot of activity there to service the community, football practices/games, baseball, hockey,skating rink.


It is amazing how much of a difference the Mozo and the rest of the developments made to the intersection of King and Sherbourne. Back then, people said Sherbourne was sketchy all the way down. King and Sherbourne was not a desirable area.

The entire area does not need to transform for Queen/Sherbourne to gentrify. It only takes one block at a time.

I don't see it as a giant leap of faith that if the three corners of Queen and Sherbourne get re-developed, the park will be reclaimed and the Salvation Army which anchors of the current demographic may relocate, and Queen and Sherbourne will be a desirable place to live.

 

[casaguy]

I'm sure it is much better today than 5 years ago, but I am basing my personal impressions on what I've witnessed on a very regular basis for the past three years up until today. I hope very much that it continues to improve.