Toronto Hotel X (was Hotel in the Garden) | ?m | 27s | Exhibition Place | NORR

Thanks for the info interchange. I have mixed feelings; the tower is alright, but I find the base opposite the National Trade Centre to be very poorly thought out. I hope the final iteration has much more of a presence.

I'd assume that would mean the end of food and games along that row during the CNE? Or would they just be reduced?

The lower-middle plan below shows where the midway facilities would be located... and that's the best I know how to answer that question!

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I absolutely love this. Right up my alley as far as design goes. More buildings like this in the right locations, would really look great in Toronto.
 
Clearly, interchange42 or some other moderator on this form has problems with bears ... thanks for deleting my bear post :p
 
Clearly, interchange42 or some other moderator on this form has problems with bears ... thanks for deleting my bear post :p

Sorry Taal - it was in a duplicate thread, not this one.

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This looks like a great project and it would be refreshing, not only in form, but if they use an interesting cladding. Bring it on.
 
Sorry Taal - it was in a duplicate thread, not this one.

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It's okay, I was just kidding :)

Anyway, all joking aside, this is going to be a great project regardless of the design. This area will greatly benefit from a hotel, particularly with the renovation of the automotive building. But this is just a start ... this area needs so much more to make it great - the festivals are great but we needs thing to attract people to this area all year. I'm also thinking about the jobs that could be generated due to this. I've always thought it would be great to move the woodbine race tracks to the EX grounds - along with the planed project there.
 
This is a wonderful, modern design - exactly the kind of shot in the arm the Ex needs to jump start a new golden age. The only thing I wish would be added is a reconstruction of the Stanley Barracks on the grounds, which would be a tourist attraction and a reclaimation of an important period of Toronto's history from the ravages of a parking lot.
 
This is a wonderful, modern design - exactly the kind of shot in the arm the Ex needs to jump start a new golden age. The only thing I wish would be added is a reconstruction of the Stanley Barracks on the grounds, which would be a tourist attraction and a reclaimation of an important period of Toronto's history from the ravages of a parking lot.

Well, we already have one of the Stanley Barracks buildings there (its use once the complex is built has not been determined yet), and the East Barracks' foundations will be uncovered and featured along with artifacts in situ in a specially built gallery... so you'll get to see some actual old there. Not bad?!

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I have received a more complete, more up-to-date package of the full set of presentation boards for the proposal, including a number of new images that shed further light on the plans (especially those detailing the archeological finds and planned preservation of the Stanley East Barracks foundations) and including the architect's statement regarding the site, so please forgive me for reposting some of the images... but here you get more to chew on with the full deal, in order:

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I can see another hotel mirroring this one on the other half of the parking lot. An expanded BMO Field possibly realigned east/west and a permanent casino behind Medieval times.
 
I was back at Exhibition Place tonight for a Board of Governors meeting where the hotel proposal was brought forward or final public deputations before the Board was to vote to send the proposal on to the City for approval...

Along with a number of other members of the public bringing their interests to the attention of the Board, I also spoke to let the Board know that there had been an overall positive reaction to the proposal from those who have commented on the plans here.

The proposal was approved and is now headed to the City for discussions.

Deputations tonight were better put together than at the last meeting in September, and I had the chance to meet a number of the speakers after the meeting wrapped. I also had a chance to learn more about some of the history of the site.

Besides the hotel, which I think will be a terrific addition to the Ex Place site, and which looks quite promising simply in regards to its architecture too, there are two other major concerns for the lands here which merit much more consideration.

One is that the City of Toronto should be working with the Toronto Historical Association to see that the Stanley Barracks are put to some good use once they are surrounded by (what the renders show could be) beautiful gardens and plaza space once this project is built. For example there are numerous military regiments in this city whose stories are not told in museum spaces currently, and what better place could there be than the Stanley Barracks to redress that situation?

Another is that the land immediately to the west of the Stanley Barracks, currently more parking lot, is the site of the world's very first electric-fence enclosed internment camp, or concentration camp if you will, which was used during and immediately after the First World War to house Ukrainian Canadians, who were rounded up as "enemy aliens" at the time. The Wikipedia entry explains the situation, and can be read here, although it does not mention the Toronto site specifically. Currently there is a plaque along Princes Blvd just south of the Direct Energy Centre, but surely something better can be done than that to commemorate the injustice that took place here. While this land is outside the scope of the current project, it lies immediately west of it, and should be made more recognizable once its eastern border is delineated by new parkland and a reinvigorated Stanley Barracks.

I am hoping that a few of the gentlemen I met at the meeting tonight will add their names to our members list and add more detailed descriptions of their hopes for this site!

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