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

/\ So far it's all bargain-bin garbage, in keeping with the tradition of what used to come out of that building.
 
Miscreant said:
Just rode by this the other day, on Front heading west. The store front of Dollorama etc. looks...terrible. It just comes across as shoddy. Anyone else?
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It's a pretty disappointing effort.

I don't mind the stores. I just don't like how everything was put together. Looks very mismatched. Is this really the best they could have come up with?

Even the LCBO looks cheap and "unfinished".
 
July 9, 2012:

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Coca-Cola cladding continues on the south and east elevations:

IMG_4431.jpg
 
DSC said:
The black brick-faced building beside PD is for George Brown College. The scaffolding should be removed next week.
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Looks like the wraps are coming off today (or at least in part?). From what I saw it looks very nice, the new glass and the black brick facade.
 
This may be a little off topic, by an important decision was made by City Council on July 12, 2012 that may impact upon First Gulf's attempt to achieve greater density and height (i.e. 3 x "as of right") for their 24-storey condo building and 16-storey office building proposal.

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/3072134/1184663734/name/First Parliament Site Press Release.pdf


On July 12, 2012, Council approved a staff report recommendation to commence the expropriation of the privately-owned properties on the First Parliament site, whci is kitty corner to the FG's Toronto Sun building property. The City and private land owners have agreed to swap the existing Budget car rental and car wash properties for the Library Board's administration building lands located on the opposite (east) side of Parliament Street, freeing up the entire First Parliament block for what is likely to be a future library branch (notwithstanding Doug Ford's disdain for another "libary"), as well as commemorative and interpretive structures paying respect to Upper Canada's first legislatve buildings and other 19th century land uses on this site (i.e. Home District Gaol, railways, Consumers Gas Works). It is highly anticipated that the First Parliament site will be designated as a National Historic Site by the federal government now that the entire block will be back in public hands. Word has it that once the land swap has been consummated, the private land owner (Bresler family) intends to raze the current Library Board administration building on east side of Parliament Street and construct a 5-storey data centre building on the site, despite the fact that the current precinct plan for the West Don Lands contemplates a 24-storey residential point tower for that corner.

The photo below, taken July 14, 2012, shows the First Parliament block bounded by Berkeley Street to the west, Front Street East on the north, and Parliament Street on the east. This block comprises a total area of approximately 3.4 acres, and is nearly 4 times larger than Yonge-Dundas Square (0.9 acres).

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The photo below shows both the First Parliament site and the Library Board's Administration facility lands, which are the subject of the land swap.

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It will be interesting to see if the foregoing will have any bearing on First Gulf's re-zoning application for the south-west corner of Front and Berkeley.
 
Miscreant said:
Just rode by this the other day, on Front heading west. The store front of Dollorama etc. looks...terrible. It just comes across as shoddy. Anyone else?
Click to expand...

They finally put up some proper LCBO signage this week, so that aspect is looking more polished, but the wall to the left of it (where the shipping bays are) has still be left unfinished and unpainted for reasons that are not obvious. Wish they'd finish it off.

My biggest complaint with that strip of businesses is the narrowness of the sidewalks, which clearly weren't designed to accommodate the additional pedestrians those businesses bring. The entire stretch from the CIBC to Princess is essentially single file width. If there's one slow walker on that stretch then 27 other pedestrians are late for work.
 
Razz said:
... freeing up the entire First Parliament block for what is likely to be a future library branch (notwithstanding Doug Ford's disdain for another "libary")
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They'd have to move the administrative centre somewhere. If it is here, and if there is to be a library branch as well, one would presume they'd simply move the existing St. Lawrence branch, which is all of 3 blocks east near Sherbourne and Front.
 
nfitz:

The details of where the processing centre is moving to, as well as plans for the new St. Lawrence branch is in the links for the city reports contained in the SLNA release posted by DSC a few posts earlier.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
The details of where the processing centre is moving to, as well as plans for the new St. Lawrence branch is in the links for the city reports contained in the SLNA release posted by DSC a few posts earlier.
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Thanks for pointing that out, I'd missed it completely.

Good news I suppose ... though perhaps unfortunate that so many good downtown jobs at the processing facility are going to be shipped out to the Scarborough suburbs.
 
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