Toronto Backstage On The Esplanade | 116.73m | 36s | Cityzen | P + S / IBI

considering almost all of us will not be living in these condos, and considering almost all of us desire height and density, and considering almost all of us agree that this part of town needs a pick-me-up, why should it matter that a few residents' views of the lake will be affected???

this is a consequence of living downtown in a city that is in love with condos and has plenty of empty lots. nobody moved into cityplace complaining that the cn tower would get in the way of a view. and who's to say views of surrounding buildings aren't attractive? should the people in the north tower of mls complain that beautiful telus is blocking their view of the core? and i'm never upset when i go to new york and discover i can't see the empire state building from a certain corner.

i think we should instead consider the following questions when determining whether a building is a success or not: is the building attractive? does it respects its surrounding environment? is the building providing an adequate service? is the building a proponent of urban values (density and mixed use for example)? will the building add positive qualities to the city?
 
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Only recently, when I was walking around downtown, did I realize how small this site really is! It should be intersting to see how they fit anything.
 
What a disappointing design. I was hoping for something much more eye catching. The south facing side is so boring and plain. I think people demand more than this; and I hope that when the public meeting comes up for this, that people say so.
 
Wow, such negative reactions.

I actually don't mind the design with the sweeping balconies on the north and west elevations.

It will unfortunately block the majority of the south views in L-tower unless they reconfigure this building and place the tower more eastward and have the podium form more of a street wall onto Yonge/Esplanade.
 
cdr108 said:
It will unfortunately block the majority of the south views in L-tower unless they reconfigure this building and place the tower more eastward and have the podium form more of a street wall onto Yonge/Esplanade.
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This proposed building will be aprox. 100 meters in height, which will be less than half the height of the L-Tower. The top 25 floors should have unobstructed southern views.
 
The swooping balconies are really cool!! BUT...the rest is really lame. It needs to be reworked, I mean this is a pretty prominent location.
 
not sure if 5-7 Esplanade is actually what they are talking about here, but noticed the following in an article entitled "City approves six new condo towers" in the National Post....here's an excerpt, including info on some other projects as well...

Among the proposals approved today are: a terraced 9- to 15-storey condominium with 673 units on King St. W.; a 21-storey residential tower with 238 units on Berkeley St.; a 27-storey residential tower on the Esplanade; and 38 storeys of condos on Sherbourne St. in St. James Town totalling 408 units.
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the article is here...

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/03/26/city-approves-six-new-condo-towers.aspx
 
yyzer said:
not sure if 5-7 Esplanade is actually what they are talking about here, but noticed the following in an article entitled "City approves six new condo towers" in the National Post....here's an excerpt, including info on some other projects as well...

the article is here...

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/03/26/city-approves-six-new-condo-towers.aspx
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The Post did mean 5-7 The Esplanade BUT the TEYCC only approved holding a public meeting on the proposal. The NP report is quite misleading (quel surprise!). The report which TEYCC approved is at: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-19704.pdf
 
pics by Jasonzed at SSC...

mississauga1421.jpg


seems like a very skinny site...

mississauga1407.jpg
 
That is one small area on The Esplande to build this building, also looks like there is very little room behind the Sony Centre to build the L-Tower.
 
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Automation Gallery said:
That is one small area on The Esplande to build this building, also looks like there is very little room behind the Sony Centre to build the L-Tower.
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5-7 The Esplanade IS a small site but do not forget they also intend (if the City rezones it and changes the Official Plan) to build on the northern part of the rail berm - where there are no tracks now. The l Tower is really NOT being build 'behind' the Sony Centre as it's primarily on the west side of it and on top of the existing back portion. There is lots on this on l Tower thread.
 
Automation Gallery said:
With the tracks gone, does that mean that the land just west of this site and on the other side of Yonge st. is also available for future development.
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If you look carefully at the photo above - or visit the site - you will see that the rail tracks that used to be just south of the 5-7 The Esplanade site used to continue over Yonge Street (which is why that bridge is so wide) and they went into the CP Express parcel building which used to sit where the "new" GO Bus station now is. As far as I can see there is no spare room west of Yonge Street as they cut the berm back in that area when the built the GO Bus station a few years ago and the (still active) tracks are pretty close to the edge of the berm/GO Bus station wall.
I suppose, IN THEORY, they could build on top of the 'unused section' of the Yonge Street Bridge but I heard that the City actually wants them to reduce the width of this bridge by demolishing the part which no longer has tracks on it. I would not be surprised to see this being made a condition for rezoning the 5-7 The Esplanade site. As a pedestrian it would certainly be good if the Yonge Street bridge was narrower (i.e. the walk through it was shorter.)
 
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