People also know what they are getting into when they buy into sprawling suburbs. The fact is public will buy what's on offer, even if it's not the best option for their own lives, or the future growth of the city.
People prioritize their needs and then make choices. Most choices to purchase represent a compromise, as it's very rare that you can get absolutely everything you want in one location. That has happened for hundreds of years. So, weighing everything, people buy what is best for them… and there is enough on offer in Toronto that they can still make a choice, even if it's a choice that you would deny them.
Clarence Sq. Is in huge demand from King West already. Start stacking people up by the thousands in the CBD and you will exceed the carrying capacity of neighbouring amenities very quickly. There is no space for new parks in the CBD.
Agreed that park space is tight downtown. The Oxford Place redevelopment of the Convention Centre may still include a park deck over the railway tracks. It would essentially act as a green roof over expanded/relocated convention space. We need to demand that comes to be.
Yes - market forces will do whatever pays at that moment without looking back. Cities must plan and good cities do plan. Cities like Houston or cities in the developing world have weak planning and can barely keep up. As a result they have some of the worst urban environments in the world.
I'm not arguing for no planning when I say that "It's about who is prepared to pay what for the space." The City must still decide how much land to allow residential on, and clearly all remaining blocks in the CBD (and surrounding areas) are not residential.
That's poor planning. The result of this will be a transient community.
How long with the average buyer stay downtown? You have no data on that. Whatever it turns out to be, will that be detrimental to the area? You have no data on that either. Let's say that the average condo downtown turns over every half a dozen years. What wrong with that?
Presently, under MPAC property assessment's systems, as higher densities move into an area it disturbs the tax structure and begins to skew taxation rates, eventually pricing existing uses out of the market. It like a wedge that can dismantle a neighbourhood. I suppose you could say it's like the sky is falling.
I know that heritage buildings need to be protected from rising tax rates: 401 Richmond and the like should not have to pay enormous taxes which peg the value of the land as if there were a 40-storey building on the lot. The law has to be changed to reflect the actual value of space in heritage buildings, not the potential space.
By the end of this development cycle the CBD will be almost completely built out. Almost every parking lot is spoken for. Where are you getting the scads of Space from? We are seeing proposals to demolish heritage structures and cultural amenities.
When will the end of this development cycle occur? There are already signs that office space absorption is slowing somewhat. We may not see another office tower go under construction for a few years. Meanwhile Allied REIT has redevelopment plans across the core piling up, as does Cadillac Fairview, Oxford, Brookfield, and others. There are millions of square feet of office space waiting to go ahead when there is demand for them in the CBD. 45 Bay, 156 Front Street West, 171 Front West, Oxford Place, 320 King West, Bay Adelaide North, another phase at Richmond Adelaide Centre, Globe and Mail lands at King and Spadina, 284 King East, 388 King West, QRC West Phase 2, 620 King West, and more.
The CBD has been growing south into the Southcore. 16 York is stalled awaiting tenants. 60 Harbour would likely include one office tower. The area will expand east next. There are plans to add ten storeys to the Toronto Star building and a 40-storey tower immediately east of it. There will be more office development proposed between that and Jarvis. East of that Waterfront Toronto is trying to lease space across from Corus Quay as Hines is trying east of Sherbourne Common. 3C will have space as will the Port Lands. Great Gulf is offering lots of space at its Don Roadway property, a site that is being compared to Canary Wharf.
Not all new office space has to crowd into our current core south of Dundas. The Ontario Government has a huge tower planned for Bay and Grosvenor. 1 Bloor West is a one example of where we should see something significant someday, while we have subway and GO stations all over the city which will be able to handle new office towers when market forces dictate. Office blocks are proposed for Yonge and York Mills and Yonge and Sheppard. The Yonge Eglinton Centre should be getting taller.
The sky isn't falling. There is scads of space for future office builds.
As a reminder to people as to why this is pertinent to this thread, this argument began with the complaint that it should have been offices at 300 Front West, not condominiums.
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