AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Post:
The breathtaking transformation of downtown west
Posted: July 18, 2008, 4:19 PM by Rob Roberts Kuitenbrouwer
About 20 years ago, when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation moved from Jarvis Street to its behemoth on Front and John streets, they were pioneers in a parking lot wasteland. A decade later, in 1996, I went up the CN Tower and reported seeing a “a spreading cancer: parking lots.â€
What a difference a decade makes. These days, downtown surface parking lots are scarce, and one of the last remaining ones is about to disappear. Last month, city council approved a 52-storey, 676-unit sliver-thin condo tower on the northwest corner of Front and John streets, across the street from the CBC and CN Tower. A Tridel billboard here announces: “Coming soon: 300 Front Street West.â€
Campaigning for election two years ago, Councillor Adam Vaughan (Trinity-Spadina) decried what he called vertical sprawl, warning, “we’re creating condo buildings where you can start a family but you can’t raise a family. We know that you end up with St. James Town in 20 years. It’s a recipe for disaster.â€
Has the councillor’s view evolved? He has now approved a 156-metre building on a site zoned for 30 metres. Fifty-two storeys is akin to the 20-tower CityPlace rising west of the Rogers Centre, which Mr. Vaughan attacked as a candidate.
Today, the councillor insists that this skinny tower, occupying perhaps half its site, is preferable to shorter, fatter buildings in the area. After a public meeting, planning staff convinced the developer to shift the building west and build a publicly accessible “parkette†on John Street, ideal for angst-ridden CBC anchors to smoke a mid-morning cigarette.
With a string of new little parks, “John Street will turn into a Quebec City-style festival strip,†Mr. Vaughan promised. As for the 30-metre height limit, he says that the 65-storey Shangri-La hotel and 46-storey Toronto International Film Festival tower near here, “blew our secondary plan out of the water.†On the plus side, he said, Daniels, for example, will be including social housing in one of its new towers. “Every one of those buildings has a built-in social contribution,†he said.
On Front, Tridel agreed that “a minimum of 10% of the total number of dwelling units in the development be three or more bedroom units ... and/or have knock-out panels to enable the conversion of units with fewer bedrooms to 3-bedroom units,†the staff report says. This will help welcome families to downtown.
In the area, I could not find any alarm at this project. John, a parking lot attendant on Front, called it “inevitable.†He has become itinerant: every year or so a developer wins approval for a tower on the parking lot where he works, so he moves.
“It’s just location to location,†he says. “I was at 230 Wellington, all those buildings you see there. That was 10 years ago. Then I was at 500 King West by the Toronto Sun. Then 90 Harbour Street. It’s happened often enough that it’s not really an issue.â€
The pace of growth west of University is impressive. On Nelson and Simcoe almost a whole block is transforming, with a Hitachi shovel and two cranes busy; across Simcoe hoardings are up and backhoes are busy for the Shangri-La. Three blocks south, at Wellington and Simcoe streets, the RBC Centre is already 29 storeys and still rising; next door the Ritz-Carlton hotel has risen five storeys high, with two cranes at work.
It’s a great place to live if you like baseball or football. Steps to Chinatown! Even so, parks nearby are scarce. I couldn’t quite understand the appeal of the area for all the condo purchasers. Then, outside the office tower west of the future Tridel tower, I met a mergers and acquisitions expert having a smoke.
“I’ve got four kids and I live in the ‘burbs,†he said. “I’m keeping two cars on the road, about $1,000 a month each. That’s crazy! You live downtown, walk to work, walk to entertainment, you don’t even need a car. Just rent one on weekends. The $12,000 or $24,000 you save in a year is a hell of a lot of money to put towards your mortgage, and you’re building equity.â€
Too bad he lives in the ‘burbs. He would vote for Adam Vaughan for sure.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...thtaking-transformation-of-downtown-west.aspx
AoD
The breathtaking transformation of downtown west
Posted: July 18, 2008, 4:19 PM by Rob Roberts Kuitenbrouwer
About 20 years ago, when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation moved from Jarvis Street to its behemoth on Front and John streets, they were pioneers in a parking lot wasteland. A decade later, in 1996, I went up the CN Tower and reported seeing a “a spreading cancer: parking lots.â€
What a difference a decade makes. These days, downtown surface parking lots are scarce, and one of the last remaining ones is about to disappear. Last month, city council approved a 52-storey, 676-unit sliver-thin condo tower on the northwest corner of Front and John streets, across the street from the CBC and CN Tower. A Tridel billboard here announces: “Coming soon: 300 Front Street West.â€
Campaigning for election two years ago, Councillor Adam Vaughan (Trinity-Spadina) decried what he called vertical sprawl, warning, “we’re creating condo buildings where you can start a family but you can’t raise a family. We know that you end up with St. James Town in 20 years. It’s a recipe for disaster.â€
Has the councillor’s view evolved? He has now approved a 156-metre building on a site zoned for 30 metres. Fifty-two storeys is akin to the 20-tower CityPlace rising west of the Rogers Centre, which Mr. Vaughan attacked as a candidate.
Today, the councillor insists that this skinny tower, occupying perhaps half its site, is preferable to shorter, fatter buildings in the area. After a public meeting, planning staff convinced the developer to shift the building west and build a publicly accessible “parkette†on John Street, ideal for angst-ridden CBC anchors to smoke a mid-morning cigarette.
With a string of new little parks, “John Street will turn into a Quebec City-style festival strip,†Mr. Vaughan promised. As for the 30-metre height limit, he says that the 65-storey Shangri-La hotel and 46-storey Toronto International Film Festival tower near here, “blew our secondary plan out of the water.†On the plus side, he said, Daniels, for example, will be including social housing in one of its new towers. “Every one of those buildings has a built-in social contribution,†he said.
On Front, Tridel agreed that “a minimum of 10% of the total number of dwelling units in the development be three or more bedroom units ... and/or have knock-out panels to enable the conversion of units with fewer bedrooms to 3-bedroom units,†the staff report says. This will help welcome families to downtown.
In the area, I could not find any alarm at this project. John, a parking lot attendant on Front, called it “inevitable.†He has become itinerant: every year or so a developer wins approval for a tower on the parking lot where he works, so he moves.
“It’s just location to location,†he says. “I was at 230 Wellington, all those buildings you see there. That was 10 years ago. Then I was at 500 King West by the Toronto Sun. Then 90 Harbour Street. It’s happened often enough that it’s not really an issue.â€
The pace of growth west of University is impressive. On Nelson and Simcoe almost a whole block is transforming, with a Hitachi shovel and two cranes busy; across Simcoe hoardings are up and backhoes are busy for the Shangri-La. Three blocks south, at Wellington and Simcoe streets, the RBC Centre is already 29 storeys and still rising; next door the Ritz-Carlton hotel has risen five storeys high, with two cranes at work.
It’s a great place to live if you like baseball or football. Steps to Chinatown! Even so, parks nearby are scarce. I couldn’t quite understand the appeal of the area for all the condo purchasers. Then, outside the office tower west of the future Tridel tower, I met a mergers and acquisitions expert having a smoke.
“I’ve got four kids and I live in the ‘burbs,†he said. “I’m keeping two cars on the road, about $1,000 a month each. That’s crazy! You live downtown, walk to work, walk to entertainment, you don’t even need a car. Just rent one on weekends. The $12,000 or $24,000 you save in a year is a hell of a lot of money to put towards your mortgage, and you’re building equity.â€
Too bad he lives in the ‘burbs. He would vote for Adam Vaughan for sure.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...thtaking-transformation-of-downtown-west.aspx
AoD
