argos
Active Member
when do you guys think the condo units will be available for purchase?
Toronto Ellie Condos | 105.76m | 31s | G Group | Kirkor Architects
- Thread starter luxome
- Start date
Solaris
Senior Member
I believe this site is part of North York City Centre (NYCC) ?
MODs, just a thought ...
Centrium (NYCC, 5220 Yonge @ Empress, 10 + 27s, Kirkor)
MODs, just a thought ...
Centrium (NYCC, 5220 Yonge @ Empress, 10 + 27s, Kirkor)
LeonSKennedy
New Member
Just a small update on this location. The Speedy building has been having some work done to it over the past couple of weeks. Maybe a sales centre? I'm not too sure. I will try and get a picture of it soon.
luxome
Active Member
thanks, that would be greatly appreciated!
LeonSKennedy
New Member
August 1, 2009
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Solaris
Senior Member
I find it sad, weird, yet funny that the old McDonald's building (on the far left in above pic) was converted to a Real Estate office
thanks for the updates LeonSKennedy ~
thanks for the updates LeonSKennedy ~
luxome
Active Member
yup, i believe it's leased by Century 21 New Concept. They haven't done much to the exterior appearance of the building. Even when i stood right in front of the building i still had a hard time seeing it as an office since i've been so used to seeing McDonald's there for so long.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
I'd imagine all those nice, older trees will bite the dust in a couple of years? I wonder if there's any chance they could be saved/incorporated into the building's design?
luxome
Active Member
can you post a picture of the sales office again when it's complete? thanks in advance.
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
Sure, the retail podium could be worse, but it must be better. It seems as though the people that designed this have never been to Yonge and were working off photos, because it's pretty obvious they don't have a solid grasp of what will work and what won't, what failures exist along Yonge and what is successful along Yonge. I mean, huge blank walls facing Yonge? Anyone who's ever actually walked or driven down Yonge will know that it doesn't meet the sidestreets at a right angle and so unless towers are flush together at an angle, they jut out fairly dramatically.
More than anything else, Yonge needs a simple, cohesive retail streetscape and this building does not help...it fills up space and gives nothing to the street. This complex will be replacing stores and restaurants (as well as a few properties with parking lots fronting Yonge). The first priority must be ensuring the replacement retail is as good as or better than what was demolished. The panel is right to note that recessed bits and blank walls aren't a good fit; having nothing a whole block of plate glass broken up by recessed voids and blank 'terra cotta' (precast) walls also isn't appealing. This type of facade often results in condo blocks with sterile streetscapes, where the retail spaces are differentiated by nothing other than a mingy little plastic panel above the door. It's the retail that will add life to this block, not the building itself. It's hard to say what kind of retail they're aiming for since the leasable area, the layouts, etc., aren't yet known.
As Ed mentioned, the stretch of Yonge north of Empress is almost exclusively independent stores. I'd have trouble thinking of 11 chain stores/restaurants/banks on the entire 11 blocks between Empress and Finch. Centrium will be replacing 3 independent restaurants and 1 independent store, as well as one chain store and one instutition (a youth shelter that will move to a site on Canterbury) and one boarded up Speedy Muffler that closed a while ago. If Yonge north of Empress is not vibrant (it is busier south of Empress), the *only* reason is that the retail strip is fragmented. It's hard for many kinds of businesses to thrive on a strip where almost every block has one or more parking lots and where the retail is very discontinuous.
When the two service roads are finished, when Yonge closer to Finch has a tree- and flower-lined centre median, and when the area is more or less 'finished' (as Yonge is from Sheppard to Empress), the retail should be more successful and the strip will be more vibrant. It's going through a bit of an identity crisis right now...it's one of the most diverse neighbourhoods in the city and it's currently impossible for the retail strip north of Empress to specialize in anything or gain any real identity that would appeal to the entire city and boost foot traffic. Empress to Sheppard had a head start...give Empress to Finch another 10 years.
More than anything else, Yonge needs a simple, cohesive retail streetscape and this building does not help...it fills up space and gives nothing to the street. This complex will be replacing stores and restaurants (as well as a few properties with parking lots fronting Yonge). The first priority must be ensuring the replacement retail is as good as or better than what was demolished. The panel is right to note that recessed bits and blank walls aren't a good fit; having nothing a whole block of plate glass broken up by recessed voids and blank 'terra cotta' (precast) walls also isn't appealing. This type of facade often results in condo blocks with sterile streetscapes, where the retail spaces are differentiated by nothing other than a mingy little plastic panel above the door. It's the retail that will add life to this block, not the building itself. It's hard to say what kind of retail they're aiming for since the leasable area, the layouts, etc., aren't yet known.
As Ed mentioned, the stretch of Yonge north of Empress is almost exclusively independent stores. I'd have trouble thinking of 11 chain stores/restaurants/banks on the entire 11 blocks between Empress and Finch. Centrium will be replacing 3 independent restaurants and 1 independent store, as well as one chain store and one instutition (a youth shelter that will move to a site on Canterbury) and one boarded up Speedy Muffler that closed a while ago. If Yonge north of Empress is not vibrant (it is busier south of Empress), the *only* reason is that the retail strip is fragmented. It's hard for many kinds of businesses to thrive on a strip where almost every block has one or more parking lots and where the retail is very discontinuous.
When the two service roads are finished, when Yonge closer to Finch has a tree- and flower-lined centre median, and when the area is more or less 'finished' (as Yonge is from Sheppard to Empress), the retail should be more successful and the strip will be more vibrant. It's going through a bit of an identity crisis right now...it's one of the most diverse neighbourhoods in the city and it's currently impossible for the retail strip north of Empress to specialize in anything or gain any real identity that would appeal to the entire city and boost foot traffic. Empress to Sheppard had a head start...give Empress to Finch another 10 years.
lead82
Senior Member
You mention the treed median going up all the way to Finch? That would be fantastic, since the median from Empress to Sheppard really makes Yonge beautiful in that stretch.
Does the city actually have plans to do this or is it just your hope that they will eventually extend the green median up to Finch someday?
Does the city actually have plans to do this or is it just your hope that they will eventually extend the green median up to Finch someday?
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
There's no guarantee but it is mentioned in the plans as a goal from Franklin just north of the 401 all the way up to Drewry/Cummer...I assume it'll get done eventually. I don't see a bit of it happening until both service roads are finished, which would enable the median to exist in the first place (since it would block left turns from most streets and driveways on Yonge).
If the city ever bothers to begin studying what will become of Yonge between Drewry/Cummer and Steeles, it could very well be extended to Thornhill, which will almost certainly spruce up its share of Yonge when developments kick into high gear north of Steeles. Of course, it'd have to wait until subway construction is done. I can see Yonge from the 401 to Steeles being 'finished' in its sidewalk pavings and medians and stuff but not until the 2020s.
I think most, if not all, of those trees are on the property of the curved white apartment block to the west (Park Willow). If they were on the old McDonald's or Speedy Muffler sites, for example, they'd have been razed and paved decades ago.
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lead82
Senior Member
The east ring road(Doris) should be open up from Sheppard up to Bishop this fall. Beecroft is still waiting for the brutally long process for the city to buy up the remaining homes along the way. I heard that Beecroft is planned to go up to Drewry. That should take many more years. I would be happy if they finished Beecroft at least to Finch.
luxome
Active Member
does anyone know if there's been progress with the construction of the Sales Office since the last picture taken by LeonSKennedy?
also, anyone know the status of their planning progress? have they been finalized yet?
also, anyone know the status of their planning progress? have they been finalized yet?
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Therion
Senior Member
With regards to the hotel component, has this been confirmed? There's a Novotel on Park Home Avenue already, I wonder if this area can support another hotel. I've been to the Novotel for a seminar and it wasn't exactly jammed.