Toronto Five St Joseph | 160.93m | 48s | Five St. Joseph | Hariri Pontarini

ThomasJ:

I should have been a bit more clear - I was referring to the limitations of preserving the physical form of the buildings and how it doesn't necessarily translate into the hoped for outcome of maintaining vibrancy of uses.

AoD
 
When you guys did your tour were you able to find out the timeline for the restoration/reopening of the Yonge storefronts? They don't seem to be using the space for staging (other than offices, but they can move that around) and those buildings don't appear to have anything to do with the tower construction itself, so it seems like they could get those reopened much sooner than the rest of the development, if they so choose.
 
whatever said:
When you guys did your tour were you able to find out the timeline for the restoration/reopening of the Yonge storefronts? They don't seem to be using the space for staging (other than offices, but they can move that around) and those buildings don't appear to have anything to do with the tower construction itself, so it seems like they could get those reopened much sooner than the rest of the development, if they so choose.
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The Yonge Street buildings are currently being used as a site office for the project. Those same buildings are being converted into a mix of retail and 14 residential units. No specific time re: Yonge Street frontage, but I would imagine that stage will wait until interior work commences on the yet to be built podium. Tentative occupancy date is set for March 2015, and considering the Yonge St buildings will contain residential space, it is safe to say everything will be ready by then - barring unforeseen circumstances.
 
someMidTowner said:
The Yonge Street buildings are currently being used as a site office for the project. Those same buildings are being converted into a mix of retail and 14 residential units. No specific time re: Yonge Street frontage, but I would imagine that stage will wait until interior work commences on the yet to be built podium. Tentative occupancy date is set for March 2015, and considering the Yonge St buildings will contain residential space, it is safe to say everything will be ready by then - barring unforeseen circumstances.
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ridiculous. given where they are at present those yonge st. space should be open by the fall.
 
someMidTowner said:
The Yonge Street buildings are currently being used as a site office for the project. Those same buildings are being converted into a mix of retail and 14 residential units. No specific time re: Yonge Street frontage, but I would imagine that stage will wait until interior work commences on the yet to be built podium. Tentative occupancy date is set for March 2015, and considering the Yonge St buildings will contain residential space, it is safe to say everything will be ready by then - barring unforeseen circumstances.
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Actually... from what I remember reading from the developer's documents, the plan is to demolish and rebuild most part of those Yonge Street buildings (ie, only facades and some minor structural items will be left, remainder will be completely rebuild from scratch).
 
If I remember correctly, the interiors will be gutted as they are in pretty poor shape. Implying the buildings will be demolished however is purely false.

Think about it, if that were the case, why wouldn't they take them down when they demolished the warehouse? Could have expanded the underground parking as a bonus.
 
Panontario said:
Actually... from what I remember reading from the developer's documents, the plan is to demolish and rebuild most part of those Yonge Street buildings (ie, only facades and some minor structural items will be left, remainder will be completely rebuild from scratch).
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Not the case. I was standing inside the northernmost of those buildings on Friday, and the project manager made it clear to me that they would be either raising or lowering the floors and converting the spaces into residential and retail - nothing more. No mention was made of demolition of any sort and I am pretty certain that all the work on those buildings will be restoration - not facadectomy.
 
Xray_Crystal_Junkie said:
If I remember correctly, the interiors will be gutted as they are in pretty poor shape. Implying the buildings will be demolished however is purely false.

Think about it, if that were the case, why wouldn't they take them down when they demolished the warehouse? Could have expanded the underground parking as a bonus.
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There was a video of a developer explaining why they elected not to expand parking (this was their original plan, but they had to cut back to reduce costs). I've been trying to find the video, but couldn't find it. I am sure 42 would know...
 
someMidTowner said:
Not the case. I was standing inside the northernmost of those buildings on Friday, and the project manager made it clear to me that they would be either raising or lowering the floors and converting the spaces into residential and retail - nothing more. No mention was made of demolition of any sort and I am pretty certain that all the work on those buildings will be restoration - not facadectomy.
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Yes, "either raising or lowering the floors and converting the spaces into residential and retail" is what I remember as well. But I also reading that the buildings are in very bad shape, and not much of the original materials will be left. Also, I cant imagine how they can lower/raise the floor of a very old buildings, bring everything up to code, and yet maintain old materials. Essentially, only a shell of the original building will remain, the rest will be history...
 
Xray_Crystal_Junkie said:
If I remember correctly, the interiors will be gutted as they are in pretty poor shape. Implying the buildings will be demolished however is purely false.

Think about it, if that were the case, why wouldn't they take them down when they demolished the warehouse? Could have expanded the underground parking as a bonus.
Click to expand...

someMidTowner said:
Not the case. I was standing inside the northernmost of those buildings on Friday, and the project manager made it clear to me that they would be either raising or lowering the floors and converting the spaces into residential and retail - nothing more. No mention was made of demolition of any sort and I am pretty certain that all the work on those buildings will be restoration - not facadectomy.
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Here:
http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2012/10/interview-era-architects-heritage-five-st-joseph

In this interview posted back in October, the developer clearly says that:

1. "GS: Yes [, plan to totally gut them] Right now the floors in there are wooden and wonky, and at different levels because of the slope of street. We'll put in steel floors with concrete pads on top."
2. "Q: Is it even a situation where you were able to salvage and reface any of the wood floors? A: No, based on what's left it’s not worth it"
3. "The upper floors on the Yonge Street buildings' size might be nice, and might get great light, but the question was how to get access up there, how to get elevators in, second exits. There are currently too many stairs to get up, and they don't conform to today's code. A lot of those things don't necessarily work when you look at the buildings on an individual basis.
GS: So, we are putting the entrance to those upper floors on St. Joseph, so that area it will have its own lobby and elevator, similar to the 'Five Thieves' at Summerhill and Yonge."


~~ please tell me how that's not complete rebuild with "only facades and some minor structural items will be left, remainder will be completely rebuild from scratch" as I have previously posted. So maybe you can consider a possibility that you are not always right...
Also, please read my original post. I did not say that entire building is going to be demolished. Only that majority of the building will be rebuild from scratch, indicating that there is no way they can open retail portion by this fall.



one last quote regarding garage:
"Q: Will the garage extend all the way to Yonge?
GS: No, in the original design it came close, but it has been scaled back to preserve more of the Yonge Street buildings."
 
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Therion said:
So retail at the base will include a bank and a Starbucks. How original. Will a drycleaner be next?
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WOW, think of how exciting the retail will be on Yonge Street, with all the new condos going up. We will have quite the collection of banks, dry cleaners, Subway sandwich shops, lots of Starbucks and maybe even a Tim Horton's if we're really lucky. Isn't that what they call "destination retail"? No wonder everyone wants more new condos in this city. I wonder if they'll all be glass walls too? How charming will that be.
 
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