Toronto Forma | 308m | 84s | Great Gulf | Gehry Partners

travis3000 said:
I was speaking last night to a guy high up at Ellis Don, and he confirmed to me that they won the contract for both Mirvish Towers and that 2018 is the year for construction to begin.
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I'm a bit confused about this now... did Great Gulf sign a contract with EllisDon? Normally construction would go through Tucker HiRise, no? Is this job too complex for them? Or was that contract signed before the sale?
 
innsertnamehere said:
I'd imagine a condition of sale was the retention of Gehry as the design architect. Not too sure they could prevent any cheapening from the current design - there will likely be some value engineering done to this. It'll still be a Gehry at the end of the day though.
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Technically, they could swap Frank out but they'd have to redo their entire SPA process. I believe it's also written into their S.37 agreement.
 
smably said:
I'm a bit confused about this now... did Great Gulf sign a contract with EllisDon? Normally construction would go through Tucker HiRise, no? Is this job too complex for them? Or was that contract signed before the sale?
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We're looking into the Ellis Don claim, but no answer yet!

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If it's GG - I highly doubt ED will be building it then.

There was some international interest in acquiring the project as well from what I've heard
 
The sale to Great Gulf was news to me. The individual I was speaking with last week spoke about their contract being signed with Mirvish, not GG. So whether this sale changes anything I have no idea. The next time I'm speaking with this individual I will find out.
 
innsertnamehere said:
I'd imagine a condition of sale was the retention of Gehry as the design architect. Not too sure they could prevent any cheapening from the current design - there will likely be some value engineering done to this. It'll still be a Gehry at the end of the day though.
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But it should clearly be a Gehry, not just some boxes with a few gimmicks. I'd hate for another big name to come to Toronto only to produce something so unremarkable that people forget that a renowned architect had a part in it. I'm thinking of Philip Johnson and the CBC building.
 
At this stage it's looking like a win-win-win-win. Mirvish has reason to believe his vision will be delivered by a developer much better equipped than he to actually build it. Great Gulf acquires a prestige project that will draw world-wide attention. Gehry can probably rest assured that his home town will finally acquire a landmark that has his stamp on it from the beginning. And Toronto, and Canada, can bask in reflected glory.
 
Automation Gallery said:
I still don't get it, is Mirvish still a partner or owner in this, or did he outright sell the land and development rights to GG?
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More or less answered in Chris Hume's latest, which includes this quote from Chris Wein, president and CEO of Great Gulf:

“We will be taking over the two towers entirely,” he explains. “I’ve been working with David for the last 18 months. He’s a lovely man. He will be involved as a consultant. He wants to see his legacy fulfilled. We’ve developed a good relationship with Frank Gehry as well. We’re very excited to be working with one of the greatest architects of our time.”

http://torontostoreys.com/2017/10/mirvish-gehry-toronto/

Mirvish is also quoted as saying they spoke with about 50 interested groups from around the world.
 
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