Toronto 4800 Yonge Street | 168.24m | 49s | Menkes | Arquitectonica

From the settlement plans:

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There's so much late-stage Arquitectonica in that. Very MarinaBlue, Blue on the Bay or SIS Lux.

Take it back to Atlantis, Imperial and The Palace for their defining works. In fact, a Toronto version of The Palace would scale quite well here.
 
Some main points of Previous (December 3rd) Settlement Offer (as discussed with some community leaders in early January) for Menkes' Tombstone (aka 4800 Yonge) are:
  • Originally 1st & 2nd floors were Retail (2nd was technically Retail/Office)
  • Now 2nd floor will be Office, Retail limited to outer perimeter of 1st floor after residential lobby, office lobby, driveways, loading docks and New Subway Entrance
  • Originally 3rd-5th floors were Office and will remain office
  • Originally 6th floor to be Podium roof-top amenity floor for Residential - changed upward in Settlement Offer to 8th floor?
  • Now 3 storey of original 44-storey residential will be converted to 2 storey of Office space (residential becomes 41-storey). NOTE: Since Office floor height is about 50% higher VS residential floor height, overall height of building remains the same at 160m.
  • Originally 49-storey became 48-storey
  • Originally 5-storey podiumm Settlement Offer conversion resulted in 2 more office floor in podium for 7-storey.


The latest Feb 13 Settlement Offer still has 160m height as per Originally and previous Settlement Offer. Went from 48-storey back to Original 49-storey within same 160m height with office Podium going from 7 to 8-storey, first floor is lobby with mezzanine level, loading docks, retail; so office floor really went from 6 floors to 7 floors. But how did that happen with 41-storey residential remaining the same between the 2 settlement offers? I guess office floor height are being chopped.

@mods 168m height in heading is wrong, it was always 160m to match Tridel Hullmark Centre's 160m high North Tower

Originally 3 floors of Office space; Settlement Offers 6 now 7 floors of Office space,... on land zoned for 21 storey office tower identical to adjacent Nestle Canada Building directly to the west.

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So short sighted ... and this is office-condos like hullmark ? While there's very little demand for office space in NYCC atm ... that may change say 10/20 years from now but this prime land is lost forever ...

But I dunno if there's a good answer, as it likely means leaving the site barren for years (decades)
 
Here's the site plan for their original first floor. Notice their original subway connection at northwest corner via original knock-down wall into Nestle Canada Building's fully accessible Subway Entrance - they're back to this with the latest Feb 13 Settlement Offer.
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One of the main issue I had with their Previous December Settlement Offer was that it included a new Subway Entrance at northeast corner (marked by large red "X") closest to intersection of Yonge & Sheppard. This new Subway Entrance would have also required a new Fare Gate Area (behind pillar with "Sheppard-Yonge" signage destroying wall covered by hayfield section of Stacey Spiegel's Immersion Land - mosaic composed of 1,500,000 one-inch tiles) on eastbound Sheppard Subway platform opposite to the Fare Gate Area for Tridel Hullmark Centre North Tower (left side of photo). BTW, when Tridel Hullmark Centre North Tower Subway Entrance's Fare Gate Area was added, it took out the emergency doors & didn't mess with Stacey Spiegel's Immersion Land artwork.
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Menkes Settlement Offer expected their previously proposed Subway Entrance & Fare Gate Area to be paid for by Section 37 Community Benefit Fund! While Section 37 routinely covers part of the cost of Subway Entrances; Does anyone see why Section 37 Community Benefit should NOT pay for this subway entrance & required fare gate area?
Hint: bit of a tricky question, but perhaps a TTC subway station fan would have an idea!
Hint: When development has excessive height &/or density (here 160m height VS 100m max limit and much larger than allowable 4.5FSI & buyable 6.0FSI density), Section 37 Community Benefit is collected for facilities, infrastructure & services to compensate existing local residents adversely affected.
www.toronto.ca

Section 37 Benefits

Section 37: An Essential Tool for Building Healthier Neighbourhoods helps explain Section 37 of the Planning Act and its role as an essential tool for building healthy neighbourhoods. Section 37 of the Planning Act permits the City to authorize increases in permitted height and/or density...
www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca
 
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taal said:
So short sighted ... and this is office-condos like hullmark ? While there's very little demand for office space in NYCC atm ... that may change say 10/20 years from now but this prime land is lost forever ...

But I dunno if there's a good answer, as it likely means leaving the site barren for years (decades)
Click to expand...

Since previous provincial Liberal government tax foreign real estate investors, Office-Condo isn't selling anymore. Gupta/Easton Groups' 4050 Yonge (half office-condo & half hotel) isn't selling.

After Tridel Hullmark Centre office-condo scam (partitioning all office space into office-condo, mostly sold to oversea investor with no interest in opening office here or even renting out the office space; thus 2/3 still remain empty 4 years later,.... and thus employment area never fully materialize!),... now North York City Planning is very adamant on traditional office space. During the initial Settlement Offer, Menkes promised all office space will be leased out by them - Menkes will remain property owner of all the Office spaces.

I'm also thinking Menkes will likely move their head office here from nearby 4711 Yonge (Procter & Gamble Building built in mid 1980s) that's also owned & managed by Menkes.

4711 Yonge Street | Menkes Developments

www.menkes.com www.menkes.com
 
This isn't going to be a popular opinion but I would prefer the new entrance over maintaining the artwork. I agree it's better than most found in TTC stations but I think the community is better served by more access to the subway.
 
^I think he's speaking for the rest of the buildings that have been sprouting out there. Asides from Gehry (upcoming), 19 Duncan (upcoming), Picasso, and QRC West, the rest of the product going up there has been garbage for the most part.

The one thing I will say is that I wish what's being done in NYCC could have been replicated elsewhere in the city (ie: Etobicoke City Centre). Having a building like this pop up in that area would be a dream.
 
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