Toronto 50 Bloor Street West | 230.11m | 70s | Morguard Corporation | Pellow + Associates

[buildup]

Their wealth is corporate. GDP is close to 500 billion, Toronto's GDP is 250 billion.

Where does number come from? If some bank for example is headquartered in Philly, with staff situated globally, and shareholders globally how does this make Philly bigger aside from some top execs possibly living there?

 

[buildup]

What a defeatist attitude you have. You don't become a great city, thinking like that. Have a bit more ambition for this city and maybe, it might just surprise you.

I don't see myself as defeatist if accompishments are any guide. But constantly harping on what isn't great is also a defeatist mindset. Most people have mindsets that filter their views. I'm more concerned with building quality and much of it is very good. The public realm stuff will get addressed after the dust settles and the property tax revenues start to roll in.

 

[buildup]

If some economists are to be believed, with an inevitable slowdown in the condo market, some of these will not make it past the design stage...

And that continues to be true every time it is said.

 

[Torontovibe]

Their wealth is corporate. GDP is close to 500 billion, Toronto's GDP is 250 billion.

Where does number come from? If some bank for example is headquartered in Philly, with staff situated globally, and shareholders globally how does this make Philly bigger aside from some top execs possibly living there?

I wonder if that 500 billion would translate to their city government having twice the tax money to work with, than Toronto? Their public realm seems to be in much worse shape than ours is, over-all. Where is all that money going to?

 

[caltrane74]

Where does number come from?

isaidso, said so.

 

[buildup]

I wonder if that 500 billion would translate to their city government having twice the tax money to work with, than Toronto? Their public realm seems to be in much worse shape than ours is, over-all. Where is all that money going to?

GDP is a measure of the total value of 'Production' or "income' so its hard to know what that means in the context of a city.

 

[caltrane74]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP

GDP by cities.

This should explain why we get Holt Renfrew, while New York gets World Trade Centre, London gets the Shard, and Philadelphia gets Comcast.

 

[buildup]

What did LA get?

 

[Ramako]

I may be in the minority, but I think it looks quite handsome. I'm definitely getting a bit of a '70s vibe from it, like I do from much of Yorkville.

 

[steveve]

I also am digging this tower ^

as i've said before, it looks like a more sleek and elegant version of Bloomberg Tower in NY,

although the cladding I'm not sure, not a huge fan of those white strips that don't try to hide the floor breaks/slabs

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

All those busy lines remind me of Aura, which concerns me.

 

[Civdis]

Sorry guys but I like it as well. The balconies seem to be well concealed. I hate the look of balconies (though they serve a nice purpose for the owners).

 

[67Cup]

I am sure the design will change and evolve, assuming the project goes forward. But right now, the structure looks like four different buildings stacked on top of each other. I positively like a couple of the buildings and am neutral towards the other two, but I don't much like the structure as a whole.

I am not going to vent about giant blots and eyesores, but I do think some work is in order on this design.

 

[cruzin4u]

I am a fan of this tower as well. I just got back from NYC and seeing 1715 Broadway and One57 in person, they are obviously exceptional buildings (height wise), but are they architectural marvels? I don't think so. Yet many of us sit here complaining about the Holt tower which, in my eyes, looks very promising from the initial renderings.

 

[someMidTowner]

According to the McKinsey estimate in 2010 (most recent I could find) our GDP is 270B while Philly sits at 314.5. So we aren't too far off. Unfortunately there are a lot more factors involved in getting a shiny tall office tower. We have an exceptional real estate market and while we sit here bitching about the inadequacies of our planned 83 storey residential tower, developers in other cities struggle to sell 1000 square foot units that are a tenth the price of a Toronto sardine can. We have it good here - and sometimes it takes something tall and simple to open doors (zoning mostly) for "the big one". And as for the few saying this wont be built during this cycle - I am of the opinion that the inevitable market slowdown will have very little effect on development in high in demand areas (CBD, Yorkville, Yonge/Eglinton, Yonge/Sheppard), while at the same time having a profound effect on condo sales in areas like the entertainment district, Trinity bellwoods, ossington, liberty village etc.
Just some half educated thoughts.