Yes, a condo is weird. We need condos, plural… but then there are also the L Tower, Backstage, Trump, and Empire Plaza, and the Shangri-La and Symphony Place if we go as far as Simcoe. Looking forward to 88 Scott, Yonge + Rich coming on stream. It's a start, hopefully we can shoehorn in a few more. (I wish Bay Adelaide North were to be residential. The next phase at Brookfield Place could be residential too…)
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(I wish Bay Adelaide North were to be residential. The next phase at Brookfield Place could be residential too…)
but I am just saying that, in light of this being the INDX thread, that this is a spot that I would like to see more residential. I believe that the Financial Core should have a residential building in amongst each block or two, to keep the streets livelier at night.
I still feel like placing a condo in the Financial District is kinda weird.
I'm not worried about our supply of land for office towers downtown whatsoever. There's a pile approved and ready to go whenever they're needed, probably take a decade or more to build all that out, plus more sites which are intensifiable there too. Meanwhile, there's soon to be 10 million square feet looking for tenants at East Harbour, and frankly we do need to be spreading it out a bit more at other transit stations around the city.Street life is nice, but I think it's important that these sited be preserved for commercial development. There aren't many locations left where you can build a huge office tower anymore, and if the downtown office market continues to be strong over the long run then it would be a shame to allow a bunch of condos to stunt its growth potential. Besides, the growing residential population surrounding the financial district should do plenty for the street life in the area.
There are tons of places in the core where one can build large office towers. All you need is a lot. The idea that one can't build one because there aren't any at the moment in an area is odd. The only pre-requisite seems to be proximity to a subway station. Even there we shouldn't be constrained by the inventory of subway stations in the core presently in existence. Surely when one needs better infrastructure, you build it.
Jarvis Street, Bloor, Yonge, Dundas, University, College, Front, Bathurst, Queen, King, Spadina.... and every side street in between.
I was talking specifically about the financial district. Each industry prefers to have their offices clustered together. No bank is going to suddenly expand to King & Bathurst which is dominated by artist studios and technology companies.
I just want to make sure that over the long term, there is enough capacity for growth in this area of downtown.