If it does proceed, I hope it's significantly scaled back from the version that was presented last year, and leaves the adjacent, recently restored heritage buildings alone!
To commit facadectomy to a recently restored, well scaled, historic building in this context is a crime.
I'm referring to the building(s) just to the east of the current LCBO
Date: March 14 2012
Time: 7:30 - 9:00pm
Location: Metro Hall, 55 John St, Rm 310
Councillor Adam Vaughan invites you to a community planning meeting about two
development proposals in the King-Spadina area.
Date: Wednesday March 14, 2012
Time: 7:30 – 9:00 pm
Location: Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Room 310
Presentations will be provided on:
1. 355 King St W (Westinghouse building, SE corner of King and Blue Jays Way)
2. 401-415 King St W (LCBO site, SE corner of King and Spadina)
Are both towers part of the project? If so, the one on the left looks like some weird glass appendage that's been grafted onto the main brick(?) structure. There's very little harmony between the two structures.
The tower massing is better than the earlier version. The lower tower along Spadina is now roughly the same height as The Hudson across the street, and set back off its podium.
While the exterior design is an improvement, the podium layout itself is a bit of a mess. The "heritage" retention of the facade does little to highlight that portion of structure. It still looks glued on.
After seeing the horribly offensive design at the King Blue, this has made me feel much better. The shorter tower at the corner could be absolutely spectacular with high end materials and proper detailing.
It seems like such an environmental waste to remove the newly built LCBO (or perhaps, better put, a waste to build such a structure in the first place).