Maybe they are doing some soil examination.
Unless they have some really innovative or blockbuster of a development, in this slowing market I'd doubt that they will fulfill their goals.
Seems like condos (no matter what design or quality) being sold in this entertainment district are selling like hotcakes.
Daniels has done, at least, two condo-townhouse projects in the burbs on 100% spec basis. Targeted at first time homebuyers they do not even put these projects "FirstHome" on sale until the buildings are 100% complete....doubt they would be that aggressive with a downtown condo tower but it shows that they think outside the box in terms of pre-sales and that they have lender support in doing so.
http://www.danielsfirsthome.ca/home.html
The Mississauga Erin Mills phase 1 (150 units or so) location sold out in a matter of hours, I suspect phase 2 will be the same.