Toronto 31R Parliament Street | 165.8m | 49s | Cityscape | SHoP

It's kinda funny how the distillery gets the tall towers and the new area next to it (WDL) get the shorter towers. Distiller should have had smaller buildings instead of the towers that are there now. I don't get what this city's obsession is with height. There are many other areas where one can build 50 storey towers. Distillery has been basterdized IMO. The foot traffic through there is unsustainable IMO. This building will add more. Once the Pan Am games are over there will be even more traffic. The infrastructure can't even support it.
 
TheKingEast said:
It's kinda funny how the distillery gets the tall towers and the new area next to it (WDL) get the shorter towers. Distiller should have had smaller buildings instead of the towers that are there now. I don't get what this city's obsession is with height. There are many other areas where one can build 50 storey towers. Distillery has been basterdized IMO. The foot traffic through there is unsustainable IMO. This building will add more. Once the Pan Am games are over there will be even more traffic. The infrastructure can't even support it.
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The rationale for the tall towers in the Distillery is that the owners got permission to build the three existing ones IF they maintained the Distillery itself- as they have done - and applied for no other towers on the whole of the "Distillery site". They applied for another tower (Trinity/Mill - which IS part of the Distillery site) a couple of years ago for the proposed hotel but that did not go down very well and they seem to have given up on that, at least for now. Now they are applying to build another tower - NOT on the 'Distillery site" (the proposal we are now talking about) to add to the already approved "ribbon building" - which is supposed to be a low-rise mainly office development right along the rail embankment with a passageway through it so the City or ?? can build a connection through/under the rail embankment - presumably for only pedestrians and cyclists.
 
I'm not at all opposed to the idea of adding more density in and around the Distillery. I'm also a big fan of the concept of the ribbon building framing the south end of the district, providing additional laneways (similar to how Pure Spirits hemmed in the northwest part of the district and defined Gristmill Lane). It would also provide a visual/sound barrier to the rail corridor.

However, to me, the height and overall massing of the current iteration of the tower feels totally out of place. I think the east elevation drawing that has been released (where you can compare the massing of the new tower to Clear Spirits and Gooderham) illustrates this point. We're talking about a chunky tower that will be nearly twice the height of 33 Mill St. (Pure Spirits).

The proposed positioning at the southwest corner of the Distillery also raises legitimate questions around shadowing (which the Official Plan Ammendment is attempting to address). It would be a shame to cast the walkways and patios in the area behind the shadow of a massive condo. The positioning of the other towers in the area (Pure Spirits to the north, and Clear Spirits/Gooderham to the east) minimize the impact of shadowing in the afternoon. That won't be the case for this tower.

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There is a public consultation scheduled for next week, to discuss the proposal for the 31A Parliament building. If interested, please find the details below:

Public consultation for the 57-storey building proposal is scheduled for January 27th, 2014 from 7pm to 9pm at Enoch Turner Schoolhouse - 106 Trinity Street.

Have a great night!
 
This proposal is outrageous for the Distillery. It's much to bulky and tall. I also am sick of this design. How many more clones of this building do we need in Toronto?
 
Was anyone able to attend the meeting yesterday? I heard it was packed to capacity and some were turned away at the door.
 
Torontovibe said:
This proposal is outrageous for the Distillery. It's much to bulky and tall. I also am sick of this design. How many more clones of this building do we need in Toronto?
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And KPMB are supposed to be a cut above. Apparently they're out of ideas & just copying Peter Clewes now?
 
Question!! How can this be 2 different address when they are 2 blocks apart and a street runs between them? Then there is another project between them.

Should be one or the other, but not both address,

If 2 different projects, then split them
 
drum118 said:
Question!! How can this be 2 different address when they are 2 blocks apart and a street runs between them? Then there is another project between them.

Should be one or the other, but not both address,

If 2 different projects, then split them
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Because the tall tower is on the 31A Parliament Site and the ribbon building extends all the way to Cherry Street

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ChesterCopperpot said:
Because the tall tower is on the 31A Parliament Site and the ribbon building extends all the way to Cherry Street

EU3SgYu.png
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Heck, you would think by the looks of this sketch the proposal was right behind, lol...............:rolleyes:
TCB89 said:
The positioning of the other towers in the area (Pure Spirits to the north, and Clear Spirits/Gooderham to the east) minimize the impact of shadowing in the afternoon. That won't be the case for this tower.

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ProjectEnd said:
Was anyone able to attend the meeting yesterday? I heard it was packed to capacity and some were turned away at the door.
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It was a packed house. The general consensus was in favour of the concept of the ribbon building (which already has zoning approval for 4 stories) and strong opposition to the tower (unsurprisingly).

Off the top of my head, a few things that jumped out at me:

- The proposed ribbon building and public realm improvements (they got Claude Cormier) could be a big win for the neighbourhood. About 95% of KPMB/Claude Cormier presentation was dedicated to this part of the project, as it was definitely the easier sell.
- The tower itself was barely presented at all, other than a couple of slides tacked on at the end of their presentation. Kuwabara tried to compare it to the John Hancock Centre in Chicago. It was odd.
- The tower consists of ~500 1 and 2-bedroom units (no 3-bedroom).
- A few people raised questions about vehicle access for deliveries to the district, for which they didn't have an answer.
 
Did anyone ask about the proposed connection under the rail tracks to the 3C plans down at Queens Quay to the south?

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