Toronto King Charlotte | 114.9m | 32s | Lamb Dev Corp | a—A

A report from tonight's planning meeting, 7 to 9 PM, at Metro Hall regarding this and other nearby projects would be appreciated if anyone is able to attend!

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I was at the community meeting. The proposal (presented by Peter Clewes) is for a 32-storey building (with a six floor podium) built on a tiny 5,000 square foot floorplate. It fits well within the angular plane of building heights for the area, includes 74 parking spaces for 230 units (ten percent are to be three bedroom suites) and the ground floor includes a yet-to-be-determined public institutional space. The architecture is restrained, but handsome. There is a rooftop amenity space that should add some architectural flourish to the structure. I thought it was quite nice. It appeared to garner no significant opposition from the attending crowd.
 
Reading Buzzbuzzhome's twitter feed got me here: http://www.buzzbuzzhome.com/King-Charlotte

hot or not?

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Brad J Lamb's King Charlotte
 
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It's nice but these glass boxes are getting a little tired now. They also don't seem to be as sturdy as the older all brick or cement buildings.
 
It plays nicely off the idea of Bell Lightbox--frosted balconies for example and the idea of a light box on top--but honestly, kicks BLB's ass hard!

But Jaybee I agree with you--would love to see some alternative to all glass, like some of those spectacular Montreal developments, for example M9. For bjl, this building's design is straightforward to sell and build, thus maximizing his return. But unlike say the Mercer, its architecture is still lightyears ahead....certainly the base has more interesting design.
 
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urbandreamer said:
It plays nicely off the idea of Bell Lightbox--frosted balconies for example and the idea of a light box on top--but honestly, kicks BLB's ass hard!

But Jaybee I agree with you--would love to see some alternative to all glass, like some of those spectacular Montreal developments, for example M9. For bjl, this building's design is straightforward to sell and build, thus maximizing his return. But unlike say the Mercer, its architecture is still lightyears ahead....certainly the base has more interesting design.
Click to expand...

Yea, M9 is beautiful. But I guess it all has to do with the demographic. Montrealers are big into fashion and design...not so much into flipping properties, whereas torontonians (or at least the people these buildings are geared towards) are moreso interested in investment potential...design is not that high on the list. Lamb knows what sells so he sticks to the formula. Even with all that said...I think BJL builds some of the nicer buildings in the city and has great finishes. I'd really like to see more brick and other materials used though. Still think glass boxes are sexy when done right, but it seems everything going up is a big glass box with not much character.
 
What I don't get is how they can have balconies right at the property line. Are all the adjacent properties, (MEC, the Charlotte Room building, and the lowrises on Peter, potential development sites in the coming. At least Glas has a street separating it from Charlie. This project makes no sense until the MEC property is included and they have a building site similar to Charlie.
 
I believe there is a public alley to the south of the building, where the balconies face. Sure, there could be another building mere meters away in a few years, but that's not a legal matter; it's buyer beware.
 
This will be a tight and dense little corner once Charlie and this building gets built.
 
I don't see why it's necessary to look to Montreal to see designs outside the glass box. Core and Teeple are doing stuff simliar to M9 in Toronto, mere blocks away from this site.

I'm definitely not sick of glass boxes downtown yet. In fact, another 1,000 of these would be great, just as long as they keep the annoying contrast mullion under control. Frosted balconies are a great way to hide messy window pane separations. Great work, aA.
 
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