Toronto Festival Tower and tiff Bell Lightbox | 156.96m | 42s | Daniels | KPMB

There is a lot of potential in the so-called "Entertainment District".

Sometimes I feel like the clubs are holding back development in this area. Looking at that shot north of the Lightbox you can really see this first hand.
 
I know this is crazy talk but I'm really starting to like the Holiday Inn building. It looks like a cruise ship.
 
I know this is crazy talk but I'm really starting to like the Holiday Inn building. It looks like a cruise ship.

Agreed. But one good Mediteranean Mistral (yes I know it's somewhat redundant) and that cruise ship is tippie canoe. No survivors.
 
holy shmokes

is anyone else worried that the podium of this building is gonna be like a giant, 1984-esque, monster?

the renders seemed kinda nice, but those are always so deceiving. (i mean, when was the last time you saw a glass tower actually shimmer with orange or blue).

anyway, i just hope they don't cover the building with cheap stone or concrete. also, i hope the tower looks impressive and vibrant.
 
^I'm sure it will be fine however, I wouldn't keep your hopes up for the ass end. Just a feeling
 
just googling around, found this at variety.com...

Toronto Lightbox takes shape

Posted: Mon., Dec. 22, 2008, 5:46pm PT
Fest founder steps up fundraising

Toronto film fest CEO and co-director Piers Handling is stepping up fund-raising for Bell Lightbox, the future home of the Toronto Intl. Film Festival Group and its year-round activities.
The new facility will cost C$196 million ($163 million), including capital for endowments and operating costs.

When the campaign hit a $120 million plateau this summer, the fest turned to a Toronto consulting firm specializing in arts philanthropy for new ideas.

"We're largely a sponsorship-driven organization, and the campaign initially moved in that direction," explained Handling.

For the final stretch, Handling, fest staff and volunteers -- including the campaign committee chaired by producer Robert Lantos, founder of Maximum Films -- will focus on the $24.5 million capital portion of the remaining $43 million and target private donors.

But as snow settles on the bones of the dramatic five-story structure, designed by Kumabara Payne McKenna Blumberg architects and now rising on a prominent downtown corner on Reitman Square in Toronto's entertainment district, the economic climate is much chillier than December 2007.

"We're taking it seriously," Handling said. "But there is strong evidence philanthropic gifts don't dry up during economic downturns."

Positive news in a soon-to-be-released economic impact study, the fest's first in six years, will give fresh ammo to the restructured fund-raising team in its efforts to draw in money locally and beyond Toronto.

"One successful thing we did early on was to take a board committee to look at similar institutions in Europe, so we're considering taking a group of potential and existing donors to Cannes in May," said Handling, who will continue programming films.

Even if big bucks flow in, 2010 remains a soft target for completion of Bell Lightbox. Part of a wider development, the 378 condo suites in the 41-story tower are expected to be ready then, but the fest's five state-of-the-art cinemas will require months of testing.

The 150,000-square-foot building will also include three galleries, three learning studios, a center for scholars and spaces for fun and conversation.

"We have such goodwill in the community; everyone wants us to succeed," Handling said. "Now that the building is rising we can raise the level of excitement."
 
It was the bad fortune of this project that it started fundraising at the same time, or perhaps a bit behind, quite a number of other cultural projects (ROM, AGO, Ballet School, Opera House, Conservatory of Music, etc.) I wish them well, but it's not helpful that the economy has turned down.

Contrary to what Handling says, there is some evidence at least that large philanthropic gifts are not as easy to come by in hard economic times. I recently saw an article that several universities are finding that gifts which had been promised a year or two ago are now being deferred.

I wish them luck. I have full confidence that the project will continue to completion, but opening may be slowed down by a year or two.
 
The universities are swimming in cash anyway. As much as I love my college and university at University of Toronto, I am very bitter about the lack of accountability from the government.

We don't have much to complain about in Toronto-- we may be in "hard times" but things aren't too hard. Life goes on. I don't feel sorry for myself yet. ;)
 
Hmm, wouldn't the contacts for exterior materials already be awarded by this point in the development?
 

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