Toronto Emerald Park Condos | 128.92m | 40s | Bazis | Rosario Varacalli

[sunnyraytoronto]

It's freezing outside,... so when EmeraldPark residents cross slippery and slushy Yonge Street to access the HullmarkCentre south tower TTC entrance or any of the other local subway entrances, they should consider this,....

At this point, because those new "Do Not Enter" signs (EmeraldPark (2010) inc. with phone number) have been stolen and remain missing from the TTC Sheppard south (Poyntz/Anndale) automatic-turnstile area and Bazis has refused to let these new "Do Not Enter" signage be posted on their property namely the street-level EmeraldPark TTC entrance. Technically, there's no "Do Not Enter" signs for the EmeraldPark TTC entrance,... which means,.... hmmmm,... Yes, there's still Construction signage but it's latest project/construction permit already expired about 6 months ago on June 30, 2016; so it's technically not a construction site so you don't need construction steel toe safety boots and construction hats!

The only lockable door is the temporary door on the green hoarding (as seen above) which is unlockable from pedestrian tunnel to TTC station automatic turnstile area (emergency safety feature for workers). It is lockable from TTC station to underground pedestrian tunnel but has been unlocked for last couple of weeks. Obviously, don't use when workers are likely to be there - but according to Bazis, everything is done and just getting paperwork in order for Occupancy Permit. I guess I must be imagining the hammering I heard on Monday and guys working on the elevator earlier this week.

The underground TTC pedestrian tunnel is city right-of-way property which Bazis was responsible for constructing. The EmeraldPark TTC entrance within EmeraldPark physical building is at least a public easement on private property,... once the Occupancy Permit are issued. Translation, those puny and rarely seen EmeraldPark security guards can't kick you out of the underground pedestrian tunnel (city property),... but they can kick you out of EmeraldPark side of the fire door. Thus, instead of using EmeraldPark TTC entrance from Street-level to P2-Pedestrian tunnel (which judging from all the wet boot-prints, people are already doing now!),... I would suggest using EmeraldPark parking elevators from street-level to P2 parking level and then use EmeraldPark P2 access to TTC pedestrian tunnel.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

On a "positive note",.... it's 10 days before Christmas,.... and EmeraldPark TimHorton's have donut display case and coffee machines,.... so I'm still hopeful of getting my Tim Horton's Christmas donut when EmeraldPark new TimHorton's open before Christmas,....

 

[amnesiajune]

It's freezing outside,... so when EmeraldPark residents cross slippery and slushy Yonge Street to access the HullmarkCentre south tower TTC entrance or any of the other local subway entrances, they should consider this

Going outside to get to public transit like 99.9999% of the city has to do? Sounds horrible!

 

[Mint]

Going outside to get to public transit like 99.9999% of the city has to do? Sounds horrible!

Well I mean the residents here are paying for the TTC connection in their fees and in the (added) price of their condo units... You can wave it off all you want but I think the residents here have been extremely patient with the tunnel. I know I bought a unit here precisely because I didn't want to walk outside in the rain/snow in a suit and dress shoes when I go to work. And yes, I am annoyed and pretty pissed that this awful developer couldn't even open it in time for the first snowfall of this year.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Going outside to get to public transit like 99.9999% of the city has to do? Sounds horrible!

I'm assuming you're only a renter at EmeraldPark since you don't seem bothered by losing out on the 10-15% premium the owners have paid for direct subway connection.

I've done my research... I live there. You can get in one of those Zipcars at the Impark lot at 5:30 pm on a weekday, drive along Yonge to Finch and back, and you'll be out of the car by 5:40 pm.

And I assume you're NOT a TTC transit user,... since you've said how easy and quick it is for you to just drive from EmeraldPark at Yonge near Sheppard to Yonge & Finch and back again,.... if you're going from Yonge & Sheppard to Yonge & Finch and back,.... just take the subway!

So you rent a condo at EmeraldPark for which you likely pay a higher price for due to the direct subway connection,... but yet, constantly drive back and forth from Yonge & Sheppard to Yonge & Finch (at record speed, BTW) instead of just taking the subway,..... yeah, sound like a sensible guy.

 

[Lilian Chan]

I was outside on Yonge Street this morning and I noticed that the "LCBO Opening Soon" sign on the windows fronting Yonge street are being removed. This sign has been up there for over a year now with no stock in the store shelves. There is certainly a message being communicated with the removal of the sign. Anyone care to take a guess?

 

[amnesiajune]

Well I mean the residents here are paying for the TTC connection in their fees and in the (added) price of their condo units... You can wave it off all you want but I think the residents here have been extremely patient with the tunnel. I know I bought a unit here precisely because I didn't want to walk outside in the rain/snow in a suit and dress shoes when I go to work. And yes, I am annoyed and pretty pissed that this awful developer couldn't even open it in time for the first snowfall of this year.

Would it be nice to have? Of course. Do you permanently lose a significant amount of the condo's value if the tunnel opens a year late? Not really. Is it the end of the world? No. And frankly, it's hard to feel much sympathy when everything is negative and exaggerated. Yonge Street? Worst traffic in all of North America!!! Tim Hortons? Worst location in the whole city!!! Whole Foods? Empty and dying! Sheppard Centre renovation? Everything will go out of business!!! Worst business model! Whitewashed! Chipotle and Basil Box? Not authentic! Crossing a street to get to public transit? Dangerous!!

 

[Mint]

Look, if the rest of this development was alive and well with LCBO and Metro opened/opening as planned, then sure, I could overlook a delay in the TTC tunnel. But since it's just one failure after another, Bazis deserves everything being said about them in this thread. And now it sounds like LCBO is likely to bail too.

For what it's worth, I actually agree with the other posters on how dangerous the Y&S intersection is. I've lived downtown most of my time in Toronto and I've never been nearly hit by cars so many times in my life (I've only lived at Y&S area for less than 6 months!). The number of cars I see trying to gun it on the last second to make a right turn in that split second gap between the Yellow traffic light and the WALK sign coming on and the number of times I see cars try to make last second left turns when pedestrians are ALREADY CROSSING is ridiculous.

 

[Lilian Chan]

At 11:30am today, I ran into Architect, Rosario Varacalli and two of his staff members at Emerald Park. They were joined by representatives of TTC who were there to conduct an inspection, including the fire safety system. Rosario was on the phone trying to get a key person to the site to go through the inspection with the TTC. Apparently the meeting was scheduled for 11:30am but Rosario's guy was late and mentioned he could get there for noon. The TTC manager mentioned to Rosario that he will have to reschedule to the new year if his guy didn't arrive soon. Rosario then tried to get the TTC guys to wait a few more minutes. All the while building management is explaining to Rosario and the TTC manager that there having some minor issues with the fire alarm because of the tim hortons construction. Shortly after noticing I was observing and listening to there conversation, Rosario mentioned there having a private conversation. It was clear he was frustrated and did not want any onlookers. Suffice it to say, the ongoing delays are at least in part because the developer and their team can not arrive on time for scheduled meetings with the TTC and other city staff resulting in additional delays. TTC and City staff have demonstrated they will not wait if your late.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

Ah,... that's right,.... today is Friday,.... another Friday walk-through with TTC & City staff,....

Judging from the last couple of weeks, it seems there's a walk-through every week generally on Fridays (I suspected last Friday's walk-though didn't go well as I heard hammering within EmeraldPark TTC entrance on Monday), and if everything is fine the best case scenario would be that EmeraldPark TTC entrance opens the following mid-week on Wednesday. The problem is, it's already mid-December and we'll have another full week before the Holidays when organizations are reduced to minimal skeleton staff levels. Thus, if Bazis can't get it opened by next week, it'll likely drag into the New Year. At this point, I'm still betting on my February opening! After all, this is Bazis,...

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-141#post-1173565

That Bazis key person late for this Friday walk-through was probably too busy taking phone calls,...
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-141#post-1171795

Funny how Bazis key person been saying,... it's just paperwork now,... everything done,...
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-141#post-1173415

To residents, retailers and local Bazis blame their delay on City & TTC (funny that Tridel HullmarkCentre didn't have these same issues and they completed TWO subway entrances on time!),... to City and TTC, Bazis blame their delay on contractors and not getting proper parts,... Bazis blame everybody else,... instead of looking in the mirror.

And folks wonder why EmeraldPark residents, retailers, office workers and local residents are so upset,.... look across the street, Tridel HullmarkCentre never went through all this,... drama.

 

[amnesiajune]

All the while building management is explaining to Rosario and the TTC manager that there having some minor issues with the fire alarm because of the tim hortons construction.

There was some fire alarm testing today.

 

[sunnyraytoronto]

EmeraldPark already did their annual fire testing and tunnel fire alarm system verification test a couple weeks ago,....

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...-rosario-varacalli.4829/page-140#post-1170501


So today's fire alarm testing means their previous fire alarm testing for the TTC subway entrance failed,... thus, the Bazis executive with the phone number posted has been lying to everyone for the last 2 weeks,.... and now they have to redo their fire safety verification,.... on a Friday when the City TTC walk-through is scheduled,.... I've already given up hope that it'll open this year.

 

[Mint]

How incompetent can someone be? Like the week after you get your phone number posted at a TTC station blaming you for construction delays (with multiple angry phone calls coming from the public), you still can't show up on time for a pre-scheduled meeting? I don't even care that it's snowing, you should be showing up 2 hours early to fix the mess you've created.

 

[Bill123]

As you can see here in the plans, the vinyl "coming soon" signage will be replaced by the "now open" signage eventually.

So either the LCBO is looking towards actually opening or there have been too many complaints or calls about the sign by management/locals or an inspector walked by and noticed that the sign required a permit. Too many calls or complaints should be a good sign for LCBO to come in because it is a gauge of interest.

LCBO would lose a lot of money if they bail. The HVAC system in there alone is probably $1 million to design, construct and implement.

When they were inspecting the tunnel I guess the inspector noticed the sign and had LCBO take it down. The coincidence between the inspection and the sign being taken down could also mean that the LCBO is looking to open together with the tunnel. Wild guesses.

Like Mint said a second set of mall doors broke. The doors prefer design over practicality. I have never been to a mall before where the doors are essentially panes of glass. When you open them on a windy day they are like sails and swing open wildly and are impossible to close sometimes.

A third set is already damaged near the bottom corner and will also need replacement... If they replace them with the same design of doors then god help us all. Simply making the doors flip inwards towards the mall instead of out should help. Sliding or revolving doors or some kind of windbreaker beside the doors should solve the issue. I wonder if the board even knows about the doors.

A home/auto insurance business has leased unit 145.

 

[BucketOfBolts]

My guess is that it's only going to open if/when a grocery store opens up beside it. That seems to be a model the LCBO is pushing a lot lately (see Maple Leaf Gardens or Yonge and St. Clair), and I wouldn't be surprised if the grocery stores are actually responsible for operating the LCBO to some extent.

Yes, good point - Yonge/Eglinton comes to mind as well with the Loblaws opening a few weeks back and the LCBO directly next to it opening just a few days ago. This image of their concept from fall 2014: