WislaHD
Superstar
My understanding is that they were looking to expand their presence in Vancouver for a while now. These plans predate HQ2.
I couldn't disagree more. For one, the downtown core will eventually run out of suitable spaces for employment use, and when that day comes there need to be other areas of the city that can absorb that. Let's remember that not every large corporation/conglomerate is looking for space in a 200+ metre office tower. Medium-sized businesses also look for various type of spaces that will suit their needs, and are within reach of good public transit. Additionally with industrial land, the minute that you convert that land to mixed-use that land will never be suitable for industrial purposes again and it will be lost forever. And these days in Toronto, mixed-use is more likely to mean residential/retail use than residential/office. The only places we're seeing residential/office happen is in the downtown core proper, and in places where the city is forcing developers to replace office space where residential development is happening (ie: Yonge-Eglinton).
If you start taking employment land and start converting it to mixed use, the net affect will be a loss of zoned office/industrial space. Which would then take us to the question of: where would people work?
Can they really, though? There is very little room for high-density residential to the north. (Anyone remember the saga of Riverside Towns, formerly Leslieville Lofts on Broadview?) To the east, the area between Eastern and Lake Shore is all employment lands, and the west is cut off by the Don, the rail yard, and Corktown Common. Realistically, the only area nearby that can accommodate significant new residential development is to the south, but that is all slated to be mid-rise. Mid-rise is great, but it's not going to go that far when you're looking at 11.5 million square feet of office next door.Residential uses can be accommodated in all the lands surrounding East Harbour, of which, there is a lot.
Do we really need another Financial District though? I feel, and I think many planners would agree, that the employment-only CBD is a failed model. I think there's great value in having a primarily office-oriented hub, but even setting aside 10% of the square footage for residential uses would help turn this into a 24-hour neighbourhood.East Harbour is meant to be an employment hub, like the Financial district. Residential use would take away sqft that would otherwise be used for office.
OPA and Zoning Bylaw Amendment approved by Planning and Growth Management Committee today. Now off to Council.
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2018.PG30.5
Passed at Council - https://twitter.com/GreggLintern/status/1012132671714045952