Toronto 506 Church | 159.25m | 48s | Graywood | Diamond Schmitt

[AlbertC]

Update:

Good news for customers of Church Street cocktail spot Boutique Bar. The bar was slated to close to make way for a mixed-use condo development, but now the owners say the developer-landlord has extended the lease to “potentially July 2022.”

Toronto restaurants that opened and closed this week: November 17-23

NU Bügel heads to midtown, Matty Matheson and Chef Rang open shop on Spadina, Boxcar Social arrives in Little Italy and more Toronto restaurants news

nowtoronto.com

 

[AlbertC]

New renderings:

Project Overview – 506 Church Street

We invite you to learn more about our proposal for a new mixed-use development at 506-516 Church Street.

506churchstreet.com

 

[artyboy123]

New renderings are updated in the database! The total building height decreased from 52.72m to 49.79m. The total storey count increased from 14 storeys to 15 storeys. The total unit count decreased 197 units to 165 units. The total parking space count decreased 40 parking spaces to 32 parking spaces.

The renderings are taken from the official project website!

 

[condovo]

It's kind of a mess.

 

[TossYourJacket]

It's like the architects hate the gay village and were like "what is the messiest looking building possible we can put there"

Why are there so many different materials? Why is there an ugly blank wall facing Maitland? The full height-windows and the brickwork are the only redeeming parts of this total mess.

Also apparently they have just decided to obliterate the O'Grady's patio in the second-last rendering (it would be in front of the massive blank wall, but it's been replaced with a tree in a planter)

 

[dgto]

The angular plane on this project is brutal… makes the building so much worse than it should be.

 

[TossYourJacket]

The angular plane on this project is brutal… makes the building so much worse than it should be.

On the other hand, if it came up to the street at that height it would totally overwhelm the rest of Church St in this area. That said, I'd rather they had done something closer to the condo next door where the vast majority of the building is set back behind a terrace, and the angular plane is less obvious.

 

[Northern Light]

Most of my thoughts, here:

The rest here:

 

[TossYourJacket]

View attachment 381966

The reason for the setback here is that the back patio of O'Grady's occupies that space. They just decided to instead render it as a wide sidewalk with some trees. AFAIK they don't own the relevant property so it will literally never look like that. There will not be a wide sidewalk, there will not be those planters cus there is a 2 level patio that sits in that space. It's nothing but an incredibly misleading render. I don't understand why they didn't render the space as it will actually appear.

Edit: this is what will actually be there

 

[Msleylar]

This building (imo), is a great example of a camel- being a horse designed by a committee. You can just tell there are so many competing priorities and comments that it doesn't even look like a cohesive project anymore. I feel like a low podium, and a point tower set back from the street would be much more effective here, despite the "tall building" policy issue they may run into. Pull the height back, and go taller to secure a lower condition on Church IMO.

 

[Red_Bulmer]

I'm quite happy with this as compared to the first design that swallowed Crews and Tangos. I wrote pages and pages of suggestions and insights for them and it appears they really listened to me. lol I love the variation of scale, proportion and materials. It contrasts the Victorian building and I'm okay with that. I especially love that the alleyway which I would currently describe as "sketchy crack alleyway" becomes more of a street. I don't mind the blank walls, I see it as canvas to add to the many murals in the neighbourhood. I love that they included a dog run, gay people don't have children, we have dogs, so that's a nice feature. All the balconies, terraces, and setbacks are great.

I would just really really like to know what the street level plan is, looks like a huge restaurant space where the parking lot was but not sure, there is just 1 door in the rendering. What is the plan for the Victorian? Is that all commercial? or is the top 2 floors residential?

 

[dodgeram]

The blank wall would be great with a mural especially in this neighbourhood. Even pride flag colours would be cool. Compared to some other blank walls side walls I can think of *cough* this is much better.

 

[Dr. Snoot]

Oof what is this abomination. Why is it 17 different buildings?!

 

[TossYourJacket]

Looks like there's new renderings (from the database).

The good: More brick!
The bad: the north wall is now even more monolithic due to having all windows removed. At least it isn't just a plain panelled wall, but the mix of textures is kind of a mess.
The inaccurate: Still some potted trees in the renders where the O'Grady's patio would be! How hard is it to provide accurate site context?

Also a new stepback on the north face at around the 10th floor. Some of the terracing has also changed. Don't really have an opinion on these yet.

 

[Northern Light]

As per @TossYourJacket 's instructions, I am posting what he found: