Toronto 49-51 Yonge Street | 226.86m | 62s | SmartCentres | a—A

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That’s exactly how I always thought of this condo on University. And I can see the resemblance with this project.

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(Fungus Ant Source, Fungus Building Source, Unbuilt Fungus Building Source)
 
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From today's UT feature article:

urbantoronto.ca

SmartCentres Proposes Landmark High Rise at Yonge and Wellington | UrbanToronto

SmartLiving, the residential sub brand of SmartCentres REIT, is proposing a redevelopment at 49-51 Yonge Street. Currently home to a restaurant and offices, the pair of heritage buildings will be preserved and transformed into the base of a new 60-storey mixed-use tower designed by...
urbantoronto.ca urbantoronto.ca


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What exactly is happening to the base? Is it being used for retail, or does it become a glorified condo lobby?

I didn't read anything specific in the article.
 
I'm curious what's going on in that lower right corner door in the last render above — the northmost corner on the Yonge side. It seems like they are removing part of the facade to reveal something underneath? At least it appears so from the worn way it is depicted in the drawing. Is this revealing another layer of history of the building before the facade was put on it? Or is that something new that they are just depicting in a roughed-up stylized way?
 
concrete_and_light said:
I'm curious what's going on in that lower right corner door in the last render above — the northmost corner on the Yonge side. It seems like they are removing part of the facade to reveal something underneath? At least it appears so from the worn way it is depicted in the drawing. Is this revealing another layer of history of the building before the facade was put on it? Or is that something new that they are just depicting in a roughed-up stylized way?
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Yeah not sure why they would ruin it.

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concrete_and_light said:
I'm curious what's going on in that lower right corner door in the last render above — the northmost corner on the Yonge side. It seems like they are removing part of the facade to reveal something underneath? At least it appears so from the worn way it is depicted in the drawing. Is this revealing another layer of history of the building before the facade was put on it? Or is that something new that they are just depicting in a roughed-up stylized way?
Click to expand...
tstormers said:
Yeah not sure why they would ruin it.

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Reading through the HIS states that it is to enlarge and widen the laneway down the east side of the building for better vehicular access and operations. Personally, I think the chosen material could be re-looked at but it's an interesting intersection of the new res lobby and existing heritage.

The glass reveal and reflective soffit underside is pretty neat. Much more considerate than the previous posts about the RCMI redevelopment, these are not even in the same ballpark. One is a cheap facadectomy and spandrel nightmare while this looks much more elegant. Will be interesting to see how this one works out.
 
The tower might appear to be higher quality but this is a just a glorified facadectomy. The existing building will be gutted and reduced to a shell of its former self. It's an absolute joke that this proposal has gone as far as it has. 49 Yonge is one of a handful of Second Empire buildings still remaining in Toronto, it should be off limits.
 
I believe the intent is to actually retain the building in situ - including as much of the interiors as possible (knowing that structural modifications are of course needed). Im sure anything less than that would be a non-starter for Heritage staff.
 
bkden said:
I believe the intent is to actually retain the building in situ - including as much of the interiors as possible (knowing that structural modifications are of course needed). Im sure anything less than that would be a non-starter for Heritage staff.
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Admittedly I'm no engineer though I'd be really surprised if they could do that without gutting it to the facades; perhaps the interior is being partially rebuilt? I'm thinking of just the elevator cores alone here, let alone the columns required to support 60 storeys on top.

Either way, it won't change my assessment of this project which I view as a desecration.
 
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