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

syn said:
It would almost seem like a waste not to include hotel space.
Click to expand...

I agree, it does seem a little odd note to include a hotel in what is supposed to be a cultural and shopping destination. This might be something of a relief for the folks just down the way at King Blue - who also seemed to waiver at times about a hotel component.

As for the height, all those additional units are probably built-in in order to cover the inevitable Ghery-cost overruns.
 
Keeping in mind that the final design has not been fixed, it looks like the tallest tower will be right around 275m to me:

toronto_projectcore.jpg


Scotia Plaza at 275m, looks to be the same height as the middle tower, with the two towers on either side being about 25m and 5m shorter, respectively. This would give heights of about 270m, 275m, 250m from west to east.

This closely matches the height for the west building I had derived yesterday from the close-up shot of the model.
 
Filip said:
At this point, I think the inclusion of 2,600 condo units is more of a risk.
Click to expand...

If the condos were going to built on "spec" I might agree. The reality is there will be a pre-sale figure and pre-sales combined with fixed price construction contracts take a significant portion of the risk out of condos. Hotels, on the other hand, are by nature built on spec and there is no way to take that risk out. That is why hotels have always been (and always will be) very difficult to finance.
 
I don't think you can really rely on that screencap render for height, everything is in the wrong position, makes it look like this is being built on Wellington. so far insertnamehere's renderings have been more accurate than the stuff Mirvish has published.
 
syn said:
Most of the public seems to see it as just another collection of condos - they're ignoring all the other components.
Click to expand...

Exactly, with some of the media framing it in that way. For example, NOW: Goodbye Princess of Wales, hello condos and boutiques!

But then we also have people like Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian saying Do not mourn loss of Princess of Wales, so perhaps some minds will be changed.

As for the hotel idea, while I agree that there are more than enough 5-star properties in town (Shangri-la, Ritz, Trump, Four Seasons), what about a 4-star calibre W Hotel, say, or a Radisson Blu (such as the one in the Aqua building in Chicago)? I'd certainly like to stay in a Gehry-designed hotel.
 
canmark said:
Exactly, with some of the media framing it in that way. For example, NOW: Goodbye Princess of Wales, hello condos and boutiques!

But then we also have people like Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian saying Do not mourn loss of Princess of Wales, so perhaps some minds will be changed.

As for the hotel idea, while I agree that there are more than enough 5-star properties in town (Shangri-la, Ritz, Trump, Four Seasons), what about a 4-star calibre W Hotel, say, or a Radisson Blu (such as the one in the Aqua building in Chicago)? I'd certainly like to stay in a Gehry-designed hotel.
Click to expand...

W have been scouting Toronto for a location for years (they considered, both, Maple Leaf Square and the former Four Seasons for example)...not sure why they have not found the right deal. They tend to fall into the Boutique category rather than traditional "4-Star" like their sister Sheratons and Westins. The long term absence of 5 star hotels created a strong market in Toronto for a lot of 4 Stars (ie. we are not particularly short of them).

That said, from the developer's viewpoint, even if you deemed it as an appropriate location and that there was room in the market for a(nother) 4 star or boutique.......you have to consider what generates the most value/profit. The income/revenue generated by a 4-Star hotel or the sale of the condos you would have to remove for that hotel at, what, $1000 psf?
 
innsertnamehere said:
looks like mirvish hired the same guy who made this video to do the promo video for this projcect. same song and everything.

http://vimeo.com/30788720
Click to expand...

I knew there was something that was very familiar about the promo video, thanks for pointing that out. Even looks to have reused some of the footage from the earlier video.
 
To those speculating that this wont take off because of the cooling real estate market and the thousands of unsold units on the market, they're forgetting that those units are your typical single or young couple condos. All those people who've brought condos in the past decade are ready to move up. They have families now and the house market is still very hot. This where the Mirvish condos will come in. They'll be geared to families priced above the condos on the market now but below downtown houses. I think they're going to run away with that market given the high profile of the architect and the location.
 
Xray_Crystal_Junkie said:
I knew there was something that was very familiar about the promo video, thanks for pointing that out. Even looks to have reused some of the footage from the earlier video.
Click to expand...

all the footage seems new, the traditional skyline shot in the original video is lacking the george brown college building on the waterfront, while the promo video has it.
 
This project puts other recently launched or soon to be launched 70+ floor projects in a difficult position by raising the design standard so far.
 
They have families now and the house market is still very hot. This where the Mirvish condos will come in. They'll be geared to families priced above the condos on the market now but below downtown houses.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but they're going to have to sell 2,600 of those types of units, and do so surrounded by a bunch of other developments that feature a selection of similar suites.

Go to any community meeting in this part of town and you will hear developers whine about how they can't sell family-sized units off paper, and then long to switch over to as many bachelor boxes as possible for the investor market. Inevitably, 260 of these units would be for family-sized units. At the very least, that's what Adam Vaughan would require.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top