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

As usual had to dig to page 6 to find the most important project we've been discussing for 7 years. I remain 65% convinced Great Gulf is praying for a slow-down so they can drop Gehry and do something practical.. I can think of zero reason this has drifted sideways, they are barely pretending to advance this. It was probably about 2-3 years ago Mirvish handed off a finished design to GG.
 
buildup said:
As usual had to dig to page 6 to find the most important project we've been discussing for 7 years. I remain 65% convinced Great Gulf is praying for a slow-down so they can drop Gehry and do something practical.. I can think of zero reason this has drifted sideways, they are barely pretending to advance this. It was probably about 2-3 years ago Mirvish handed off a finished design to GG.
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Just because you can't think of a reason, doesn't mean there isn't a very good reason. The realities of building, selling and financing something of this magnitude are complex and not typically publicized. It's disingenuous for you to push the narrative that Great Gulf has been sitting on their hands since they bought the project when they very recently submitted Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendments, which were thoroughly discussed in this very thread. Clearly the design they bought off Mirvish was not "finished", and the re-submission is evidence of that. Furthermore, Gehry's involvement is arguably the most marketable feature about this project. The notion that they would drop him from the project is mere alarmism. Great Gulf is a legitimate builder and they didn't buy this project not to build it. Be patient.
 
Ramako said:
Just because you can't think of a reason, doesn't mean there isn't a very good reason. The realities of building, selling and financing something of this magnitude are complex and not typically publicized. It's disingenuous for you to push the narrative that Great Gulf has been sitting on their hands since they bought the project when they very recently submitted Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendments, which were thoroughly discussed in this very thread. Clearly the design they bought off Mirvish was not "finished", and the re-submission is evidence of that. Furthermore, Gehry's involvement is arguably the most marketable feature about this project. The notion that they would drop him from the project is mere alarmism. Great Gulf is a legitimate builder and they didn't buy this project not to build it. Be patient.
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Also they've surely spent a small fortune on keeping Gehry on this long, through multiple redesigns and tweaks. I can't imagine they'd throw that away just to cheap out with another architect - I don't think they'd save that much money.
 
buildup said:
As usual had to dig to page 6 to find the most important project we've been discussing for 7 years. I remain 65% convinced Great Gulf is praying for a slow-down so they can drop Gehry and do something practical.. I can think of zero reason this has drifted sideways, they are barely pretending to advance this. It was probably about 2-3 years ago Mirvish handed off a finished design to GG.
Click to expand...

The project design was neither "finished" nor "handed off" to Great Gulf when they took over the project - in fact it was far from it. Great Gulf has retained Gehry as the architect and he and his team have been leading the design/architectural process for the past couple of years from the firm's offices in L.A.

Gehry's firm is deeply involved right down to detailed working drawings, material selection etc and the project has undergone a number of signifcant changes such as the addition of the hotel, height, canopy's, floorplans, unit layouts etc leading to the requirement for additional approvals from the city. This is a very complicated and globally unique project that takes time. To suggest that Gehry isn't involved or that they are "barely pretending to advance the project" or that Great Gulf isn't fully invested is a rather uninformed opinion.
 
I see a lot of headaches on this but I don't see a Great Gulf bait and switch here... they are aggressively building (most pretty good) here... and I'd be suprised if they didn't build the most anticipated city project in ? years.
 
Is it not ready for approval or just in waiting? Seems an awful long time to see ones vision happen if your into designing buildings. That’s patience.
 
Speculation and conversation on the topic go hand in hand let’s not attack each other. It’s just a forum. And no one is slandering names in the last few comments by buildupand others previous. Rather the other way around. Let’s try to relax a tad shall we. Thanks in advance. But look forward to reading all opinions here. Regarding the building and all related to it.
 
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