Toronto Dundas Square Gardens | 156.05m | 50s | Gupta | IBI Group

neuhaus said:
This is the biggest rendering fail, it's very deceiving and so is the name as it is 6 streets away from Dundas Square.
Looks like Dundas Square is sitting up on a hill just a block away.
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The towers on the far left of that rendering look as if they were transplanted from City Place.
 
Actually, creating a rendering with such a ridiculous context was a great idea. It distracts conversation from how god-awful the design itself is. Then again it's Page + Steele, so we could just take for granted how god-awful the design would be without even seeing a rendering.
 
It's like they grafted sections of Festival Tower into a very busy and dated mediocre suburban condo.
Luckily it's far away east from Dundas Square so it will be seen less. If this thing was indeed close to Dundas Square it would be very unfortunate.
 
neuhaus said:
It's like they grafted sections of Festival Tower into a very busy and dated mediocre suburban condo.
Luckily it's far away east from Dundas Square so it will be seen less. If this thing was indeed close to Dundas Square it would be very unfortunate.
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Why do people refer to crappy looking condos as "suburban?" They're just as common downtown.
 
neuhaus said:
It's like they grafted sections of Festival Tower into a very busy and dated mediocre suburban condo.
Luckily it's far away east from Dundas Square so it will be seen less. If this thing was indeed close to Dundas Square it would be very unfortunate.
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It is mediocre, but not exactly that worse than anything you can see from Dundas Square.
 
Errrr...you guys are really going to hate me for saying this, but are they sure about building in that area? Building such a sizeable condo in the middle of crack alley? One block away lies Dundas and Sherbourne, one of the most dangerous areas of the city, why would anyone capable of buying a condo want to invest in that area? I know it sounds terrible to say, but, when I'm working (still on sick leave) I drive past that intersection every day, and over the past 10+ years, I've seen it all.

From mugings, stabbing and drug deals, to prostitution and even an armed stand off. (A few years back, I was at the stop light, at 3pm no less, and a prostitute comes up to my window, and offers to...well...to put it delicately, to boldly go where no gay man would ever go.....I politely declined her kind and Christian offer, and she moved on to the car behind me). It's quite the dilemma, do we keep building in high risk areas, hoping the crime will simply go away? My grandmother, born in 1918 (god rest her soul) use to tell me that area has been "a pit of sin", as she put it, since she was a young lady. Chances are, the problem isn't going away any time soon, no matter how much is built. They need to remove the dozens of rooming and half way houses on Sherbourne just north of Dundas, which is where much of the problems arise. I'd love to see those once stately homes, restored to their former glory, and the neighbourhood returned to it's original state as it was in the 1800's when first built. But again, what do we do with the people that bring down the area?

As we continue to grow, the area bound by Yonge, Bloor, Parliment and Lakeshore is just too valuable to ignore, but how do we, as a city, improve the area without having to evict and/or relocate the poorest members of society simply because of the actions of a small minority, which forces them, and many of us, to live in fear? I know it's a very complex issue, with many possible outcomes, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on the issue. I'm not trying to start a fight, at all, merely curious as to what can be done to improve things without infringing on anyone's rights, ideas anyone?
 
I walk by that intersection a couple of times a week and I have never seen any problems there. I don't feel nervous, intimidated or even the slightest bit worried. I know this is a high crime area but I have never felt threatened, so it's not an issue for me. Maybe there are other not-easilly-intimidated types, like myself, in Toronto, who are willing to take risks. Condos sold in Regent Park and on Sherbourne south of Queen, which is another sketchy area. Torontonians don't seem to be all that intimidated by homeless people or crime in general. Nobody stopped going to the Eaton Centre after the shootings there, so we obviously, we ain't that chicken-shit.
 
Homelessness is only going to get worse, so we just have to accept that. I don't see much lower cost rentals going up anywhere in this city but I do see wages going down for the average person. When you take away people's options, expect the problem to only get worse, not better. This area will get better with the mix of incomes but the homeless will be more noticeable all around the core.
 
First, I wasn't accusing anyone of being too afraid to be in the area, and the homeless, as was said, aren't going anywhere. Sadly, they seem to be a component of most major world cities, I'm referring to the crime. Yes, Regent park is selling, as will most buildings built in the area, but just because it's "downtown", but as long as the crime component isn't resolved, in time, the area will decline. Granted, that's just my hunch, I have no stats to back it up, but if working in the core at St Mikes for over a decade has taught me anything, it's that crime breeds crime. Maybe I'm wrong, in fact, I really hope I am, perhaps my thinkng is totally wrong, but if I'm to spend a half million on a unit, personally, I wouldn't want crack dealers, hookers and gangs roaming around my street or my neighbourhood. I'm never felt threatened either, I'm a pretty big guy, so most people just leave me alone, but although it's a pipe dream, I wish the police and the government would at least make an effort to improve the area if they insist on building new communities on the ashes of the old ones, but, that's me, and you know how weird I am!
 
Hanlansboy said:
First, I wasn't accusing anyone of being too afraid to be in the area, and the homeless, as was said, aren't going anywhere. Sadly, they seem to be a component of most major world cities, I'm referring to the crime. Yes, Regent park is selling, as will most buildings built in the area, but just because it's "downtown", but as long as the crime component isn't resolved, in time, the area will decline. Granted, that's just my hunch, I have no stats to back it up, but if working in the core at St Mikes for over a decade has taught me anything, it's that crime breeds crime. Maybe I'm wrong, in fact, I really hope I am, perhaps my thinkng is totally wrong, but if I'm to spend a half million on a unit, personally, I wouldn't want crack dealers, hookers and gangs roaming around my street or my neighbourhood. I'm never felt threatened either, I'm a pretty big guy, so most people just leave me alone, but although it's a pipe dream, I wish the police and the government would at least make an effort to improve the area if they insist on building new communities on the ashes of the old ones, but, that's me, and you know how weird I am!
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Maybe it doesn't quite work that way - maybe it takes high income earners to move in, then start complaining, and then something gets done ... as unfortunate as that is ...
 
Toronto has a noticably larger homeless population than most cities I find.. maybe they are just more visible in Toronto, I don't know, but there seem to be so many more in Toronto than places like SF.
 
innsertnamehere said:
Toronto has a noticably larger homeless population than most cities I find.. maybe they are just more visible in Toronto, I don't know, but there seem to be so many more in Toronto than places like SF.
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Really? I thought SF was notorious for its homelessness (at least the weather is kinder down there). In any case, that city has been getting a lot of negative press lately due to its increasing social polarization, particular along the lines of income.
 
I think with SF its just more focused in the Tenderloin really. As I said, it may just be more visible in Toronto as there are no truly bad areas in the city where the poor tend to congregate. When I visited last March I came into the city by Ferry and the first thing I noticed when I got off the ferry was that there were no homeless hanging around the ferry terminal. (which is much, much busier than Toronto's ferry terminal, its more of a mini Union)
 
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