Toronto 699 Yonge | 216.54m | 64s | Concord Adex | DIALOG

apmYYZ said:
Concord is a horrible builder. They use the cheapest and ugliest materials. All their units are littered with bulk heads with layouts that are not livable. Concord builds for profit not for livability.
Click to expand...

Many here would broadly concur w/the above.

apmYYZ said:
We already gave this company prime real estate with CityPlace
Click to expand...

Who is 'we'? That land wasn't City-owned, it was owned, principally by CanadaLandsCo. (A federal agency) with portions being Marathon Realty at one point (the former CP Rail real estate division).

apmYYZ said:
why is the city now letting them build on Canada's most famous street?
Click to expand...

The City hasn't yet allowed anything; that said, the City has no control over who owns property and can't deny an application solely (or openly at all) on the basis of the owner/builder.

The City, by law, must consider all applications, so long as the requisite paperwork is filed and fees paid.

It can refuse applications, but must show lawful reasons for doing so.
 
Northern Light said:
Who is 'we'? That land wasn't City-owned, it was owned, principally by CanadaLandsCo. (A federal agency) with portions being Marathon Realty at one point (the former CP Rail real estate division).
Click to expand...
This was more of a general statement...just looking at what Concord has done and not done with CityPlace...sad that they will have more area in the city to ruin...

There should be requirements they must meet to build. But alas...above my pay grade...
 
It appears @Northern Light has addressed most of this already, but a few more:
apmYYZ said:
Concord is a horrible builder.
Click to expand...
Debatable. Personally, I just wish they were more akin to their Lower Mainland sister company, Concord Pacific.
apmYYZ said:
They use the cheapest and ugliest materials.
Click to expand...
20+ buildings stretching more than that many years, there's a lot of variation. You're boiling this down to something so simplistic, it's just not true.
apmYYZ said:
All their units are littered with bulk heads with layouts that are not livable.
Click to expand...
I have three different friends in three different units in three different City Place buildings and this isn't true of any of them.
apmYYZ said:
Concord builds for profit not for livability.
Click to expand...
We all do.
apmYYZ said:
We already gave this company prime real estate with CityPlace why is the city now letting them build on Canada's most famous street?
Click to expand...
As NL said above, "we" didn't do anything. But I'll bite: what can / should the City do to bar them from building on Yonge?
apmYYZ said:
I lived in a Concord building when it was brand new in the first block of move-ins - it only took 5 years from that date for the building to already look dirty, old and in disrepair.
Click to expand...
You're confusing development with property management.
 
...I mean "we" could insist on the condition for them building here if they preserve the Brass Rail. That doesn't stop them from building the crap they're proposing though. >.<
 
Last edited:
It's good to see that on Yonge at least, retail at grade from these developments remains. However, even from the rendering, and despite a generous 3 storeys, it still feels like the amount of retail is insufficient; especially provided that condos elsewhere in the core are not really adding any retail.
 
ML555 said:
It's good to see that on Yonge at least, retail at grade from these developments remains. However, even from the rendering, and despite a generous 3 storeys, it still feels like the amount of retail is insufficient; especially provided that condos elsewhere in the core are not really adding any retail.
Click to expand...
Developers build to meet expected demand (and thus make $$$). If the current (or anticipated) demand for retail spaces were higher I am sure we would see more being built. There is LOT of un-sold or un-rented retail these days so most developers will reduce the amount they add to a saturated market.
 
Of course, that makes perfect sense; I suppose I am just aimlessly complaining about the mismatch and misaligned economic climate facing retail and commercial developers in the core at this time. I find it difficult to imagine how the city would be greatly improved if all that exists are single-block condos and very little retail/commercial space. I am overgeneralizing here, but such is the nature of complaints.
 
It certainly wouldn't, but in a world where people would rather have food and drink delivered to their door than step outside, storefronts become an increasingly difficult proposition. I can't stand food delivery apps and the general trend towards e-commerce away from bricks and mortar is annoying at best, nauseating at worst.
 
Do you think any of the architects of these projects visit urbantoronto? I really like to think the person or persons behind this design read the comments here and are ashamed of this terrible design. Most of the buildings that get approved in Toronto look like crap it seems and the materials used are cheap. Vancouver does things right, developers and architects seem to make an effort in that city to maintain a certain standard and respect their surroundings, even Montreal is doing a better job then us. After 20 years of this building boom you would think the city would have set up some higher standards for large scale projects.
 
andrewjm3d said:
Do you think any of the architects of these projects visit urbantoronto? I really like to think the person or persons behind this design read the comments here and are ashamed of this terrible design. Most of the buildings that get approved in Toronto look like crap it seems and the materials used are cheap. Vancouver does things right, developers and architects seem to make an effort in that city to maintain a certain standard and respect their surroundings, even Montreal is doing a better job then us. After 20 years of this building boom you would think the city would have set up some higher standards for large scale projects.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more!!
 
To finish up ghastly spandrel builds that were initially conceived in the 2000s-2010s is one thing. To openly propose new spandrel in 2023 (and render it for the "public eye", if that weren't enough) is to sink into the lowest depths of civic and urban depravity. At a time when we in Toronto are finally (FINALLY!) witnessing a few hopeful emergent signs of a more finessed design culture from players both foreign and domestic (after a good 2 to 3 decades of this construction boom), that some appear to have learned absolutely nothing over these years is beyond baffling. I won't mince words here. This proposal represents an unacceptably shoddy standard of aesthetics and design near one of this city's most prestigious prime intersections. And to have the gall to stick this trash heap right across the street from The One and its sophisticated, worldly, metropolitan glory. After 10-15+ years of this sickening cheap-grey-mullion-spandrel fest within the condo industry, there's simply no other word to describe the dreck coming from Concord, Canderel, et al. Unacceptable.
 
Last edited:
apmYYZ said:
Concord is a horrible builder. They use the cheapest and ugliest materials. All their units are littered with bulk heads with layouts that are not livable. Concord builds for profit not for livability. We already gave this company prime real estate with CityPlace why is the city now letting them build on Canada's most famous street? I lived in a Concord building when it was brand new in the first block of move-ins - it only took 5 years from that date for the building to already look dirty, old and in disrepair.
Click to expand...
They've certainly gone downhill like a lot of builders.

Their pre-2006 stuff was liveable with U shaped kitchens with ample counterspace and gas stove and even gas fireplace hookups.

Now their new Toronto offerings are the standard cheap grey laminate floors, MDF-everything and university dorm style modular kitchens.

I lived for a number of years in Concord Pacific Place in Yaletown and loved it. The only downsides was only 2 elevators for a 30 floor building, absense of AC and poor floor-ceiling soundproofing (aka very loud sounds from pennies being dropped on the hardwood installed in the unit upstairs)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top