Toronto King East Centre | 140m | 39s | First Gulf | WZMH

The site plan shows the office on the north east of the property but not on Berkley as the existing corner building at King and Berkley is to remain. It also shows a new building on the south east corner in the parking lot at Front/Berkely identified as Retail/Residential but from the render this appears to be only a single extra high storey for retail not another tower.

If this is approved for 20 office storeys, given how close it is to the Greyhound parcel it may help Cityzen get 27 residential storeys.

Great addition to the neighbourhood though it would have been nice to see something more interesting for the tower design.
 
CityPainter said:
The render shown in those marketing flyers takes a lot of artistic liberties, so it's pretty much impossible to place it into any neighbourhood context, but as far as I've always understood the tower (or was it two potential towers?) will go on the eastern end of the property along Berkeley, where there the parking lots are. The 3 story Coca Cola addition is on the western end of the property, above the existing building. But the exact details remain vague.
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The render is shown on their website. The view is looking northwest from Front/Berkeley, so the new tower is as shown on the site plan, on King, between the building that currently exists on the corner at King/Berkeley (which you can see in the render), and the existing buildings. It also shows new retail? with that garden on top at the NW corner of Front/Berkeley.

FG_home_1.jpg


The birds on the left appear to be sea gulls - what are those on the right - which look more like a squadron of Vulcan bombers in a dogfight than birds ...
 
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The no frills is horrid. I can't believe anybody would set out to create something like this, new, in this century. It looks like a nightmare from the seventies. The slightly lower prices don't justify that kind of misery. The very definition of banal. And not an interesting ironic banal but a "we could give a shit this is what you get" kind of banal.
 
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neubilder said:
The no frills is horrid. I can't believe anybody would set out to create something like this, new, in this century. It looks like a nightmare from the seventies. The slightly lower prices don't justify that kind of misery. The very definition of banal. And not an interesting ironic banal but a "we could give a shit this is what you get" kind of banal.
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If I understand you right, you do not like the No Frills. The outside is actually far better than what it replaced - the bricked-up loading entrances to the Toronto Sun printing plant - and inside it has pleasantly wide aisles and far fresher - and cheaper - vegetables than Metro just down the street. The entrance on Princess is not terribly good, though I can't see what else they could have done and the entrance on Front through the car park is not good for pedestrians. If it had been a new building I agree it could and should have been far better but as a conversion it is really not too bad and it is becoming quite popuar too.
 
neubilder said:
The no frills is horrid. I can't believe anybody would set out to create something like this, new, in this century. It looks like a nightmare from the seventies. The slightly lower prices don't justify that kind of misery. The very definition of banal. And not an interesting ironic banal but a "we could give a shit this is what you get" kind of banal.
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Something tells me, this pertains more to No Frills in general than this particular outlet. (Ah, well. One's mileage may vary.)
 
adma said:
Something tells me, this pertains more to No Frills in general than this particular outlet. (Ah, well. One's mileage may vary.)
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Certainly, but it still shocks me they are spawning new no-frills locations under the same generic branding. These stores have about as much ambience as a subway car from Kipling Station at midnight in January. (Curiously, JNF's seem to actually improve when they get dirty and lived in for awhile, like the one on King East in the heart of Parkdale)
 
"Generic"? At a No Frills? Say it isn't so!

Neub, you have some grasp on reality, right? Ambience is a frill, and you have to pay for it.
 
neubilder said:
The no frills is horrid. I can't believe anybody would set out to create something like this, new, in this century. It looks like a nightmare from the seventies. The slightly lower prices don't justify that kind of misery. The very definition of banal. And not an interesting ironic banal but a "we could give a shit this is what you get" kind of banal.
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I find myself gravitating toward Sobey's or the St. Lawrence Market for most grocery trips, just because I find it to be a much more peaceful and pleasant shopping experience. We save up a No Frills list and only hit it once a week or so, because shopping there seems like much more of a chore. Packaged and canned goods are very cheap and worth the trip, but we've found many of the fruits and vegetables at No Frills to be of hit-and-miss quality -- I had to toss an entire bag of carrots I bought there because they literally tasted like metal. But I've also noticed a drop in quality of produce at Sobey's since the No Frills opened. The section is now stocked less frequently, I suspect because sales are down due to the new competition.

But I think considering grocery store ambiance is a luxury for those of us who have a bit more disposable income than many others in the neighbourhood. For a lot of people, having to deal with fluorescent lighting, low ceilings, longer lines and oppressively omnipresent yellow is a small sacrifice to be able to afford more food.

But I must admit I was super jealous when visiting the Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws that the locations of the two stores weren't reversed... WHERE IS MY WALL OF CHEESE?! :mad:
 
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I imagine an 18' wall of cheese in a No Frills would consist of Kraft Singles and Babybel (all varieties, obviously), with a few blocks of exotic Cracker Barrel old cheddar to up the class factor.
 
egotrippin said:
I imagine an 18' wall of cheese in a No Frills would consist of Kraft Singles and Babybel (all varieties, obviously), with a few blocks of exotic Cracker Barrel old cheddar to up the class factor.
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wow, I laughed at loud for a while ... and so did the others in room.
Too good !
 
CityPainter said:
I find myself gravitating toward Sobey's or the St. Lawrence Market for most grocery trips, just because I find it to be a much more peaceful and pleasant shopping experience. We save up a No Frills list and only hit it once a week or so, because shopping there seems like much more of a chore. Packaged and canned goods are very cheap and worth the trip, but we've found many of the fruits and vegetables at No Frills to be of hit-and-miss quality -- I had to toss an entire bag of carrots I bought there because they literally tasted like metal. But I've also noticed a drop in quality of produce at Sobey's since the No Frills opened. The section is now stocked less frequently, I suspect because sales are down due to the new competition.
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I usually frequent Sobeys as well (only because No Frills doesn't take Visa), and I've definitely noticed a drop in the customer service experience since No Frills opened. They now usually have no more than one regular checkout open, and traffic seems to be slower. I had a bit of a blow-out with the store manager on December 23rd because they had only one checkout open (which wasn't even a regular cash - it was the customer service counter) and a gigantic line - on what is one of the busiest grocery shopping days of the entire year.

I think the issues as Sobeys are partly because of poor management.

Sorry, I realize this is OT!
 
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