B
buildup
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
What happened to it afterwards? Was it a pre-Columbus Chinese vessel?
What happened to it afterwards? Was it a pre-Columbus Chinese vessel?
S
Sir Novelty Fashion
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
^ It was hauled off-site and converted to a condo.
^ It was hauled off-site and converted to a condo.
B
bizorky
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
^lol!
And given a name with a New York reference, to boot.
^lol!
And given a name with a New York reference, to boot.
M
Mike in TO
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
Buildup, sorry - no idea what actually became of it.
Buildup, sorry - no idea what actually became of it.
S
simply Dan
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
New projects in Germany take forever to complete... even worse than Canada, I think. Probably has to do with safety regulations and strict union rules. Buildings there tend to be more sophisticated in design as well, which may add to construction delays.
New projects in Germany take forever to complete... even worse than Canada, I think. Probably has to do with safety regulations and strict union rules. Buildings there tend to be more sophisticated in design as well, which may add to construction delays.
M
Mike in TO
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
^ There's also a lot more statutory holidays and vacation time in Germany which could slow things down as well.
^ There's also a lot more statutory holidays and vacation time in Germany which could slow things down as well.
A
AlvinofDiaspar
Guest
Star: Maple Leaf Square Green Roofs
From the Star, condos section:
How green is my roof?
Living roofs can reduce air and noise pollution, cool down the city and soak up rainwater
Jun. 10, 2006. 01:00 AM
THERESA BOYLE
REAL ESTATE REPORTER
Even though the installation of a green roof at the Residences of Maple Leaf Square is happening at the behest of the city's planning department, the developers of the downtown condominium complex have embraced the concept and are running with it.
The feature is being touted in a promotional brochure for the development, right alongside other amenities, including indoor and outdoor pools, a 40-seat home theatre and direct access to the Air Canada Centre.
"We were asked to do it, but it didn't take a lot of convincing," explains Lanterra Developments chair Mark Mandelbaum.
"We're doing it and we're proud of it. I think green roofs are going to become a much larger part of the development process in the City of Toronto," he says.
Toronto's deputy mayor Joe Pantalone thinks so, too. As chair of the city's Roundtable on the Environment, he spearheaded the city's adoption in April of a pilot program that gives financial incentives to condo developers and others to install green roofs.
"We're hoping that in a few years from now Toronto will be renowned for its green roofs," Pantalone says, noting that there are now about 82 built or planned green roofs in the city.
"We hope that number will grow dramatically and I think it will," he says.
Green roofs — also referred to as living roofs or vegetated roofs — are far more than rooftop gardens. They are installed on the flat portions of roofs and include plants, a thin layer of growing medium, landscape cloth to keep the soil from washing away, drainage layers, a root barrier and a waterproof membrane.
They can be integrated into amenity and leisure space.
Vegetation is usually made up of several varieties of drought-resistant sedums, but if the soil is deep enough, trees can be planted.
Their benefits are many and include absorbing heat and reducing temperatures in the city. Green roofs help combat the "heat island effect," which results in temperatures of up to 6C higher in metropolitan areas than in surrounding areas. This occurs because roof and paving materials with low reflectivity absorb more of the sun's rays. And there are fewer plants to shade buildings, block solar radiation and cool the air.
Green roofs soak up rainwater that would otherwise flow into the sewer system and then into treatment plants to be cleaned up.
Other benefits include beautifying concrete buildings, reducing air conditioning use in the summer, preventing heat loss in the winter, reducing air pollution, and cutting down on noise pollution.
They are also aesthetically pleasing.
"From the vantage point of looking down, there will be a lot of green that you're looking at as opposed to hard surface," Mandelbaum explains.
A study released last year by Hitesh Doshi, an architectural science professor at Ryerson University, found that if only 8 per cent of eligible rooftops in the city were converted to green roofs, the temperature in the city would drop by up to 2C.
What's more, the green roofs would generate more than $300 million in initial cost savings in areas such as storm water management, combined sewer overflow reduction, building energy savings, and urban heat island reduction, the study found. Operational cost savings for the city from this level of coverage was calculated at approximately $40 million annually.
Another report, released in Ottawa earlier this year and conducted by the National Research Council Canada, Environment Canada and the University of Toronto, found that green roofs could reduce the energy use for heating by more than 10 per cent.
Green roofs can be used for local food production and they provide a habitat for birds and invertebrates, states the Ottawa report, citing additional benefits.
"It's a very visible way of coming to terms with a lot of environmental issues," Pantalone says.
If green roofs were used as much locally as they are in some European countries, Ontario could be spared from making controversial decisions to keep its coal-fired plants opened longer and to build more nuclear energy plants, he notes.
For more than three decades, ecoroofs have routinely been installed in Germany. They now make up 14 per cent of total roof area there.
In Toronto, they are becoming more prevalent. There are now 62 in the city, 28 of which are on multi-unit residential buildings, including condominiums. Another 20 are in the planning stages, 11 of which are multi-unit residential.
One of the oldest is at the Manulife Centre, a mixed-use building on Bloor St. that includes condominiums. The 25-year-old installation built atop a parking garage includes large trees.
The Merchandise Lofts on Dalhousie St. had a 10,000- square-foot green roof installed in 2000.
Some of the more notable, non-residential green roofs in the city can be found at Toronto City Hall, Mountain Equipment Co-op and Ryerson University.
In addition to Maple Leaf Square, other condominiums in the development stage that will incorporate green roofs include Minto midtown on Yonge St. and Tridel's Circa in Markham.
"Over the last few years we've been evolving a green strategy. Circa helps us in that aspect, but the green roof will also be aesthetically pleasing," explains Jim Ritchie, vice-president of sales and marketing with Tridel.
Despite the progress, Pantalone acknowledges the city has been forced to nudge developers to get on board with the concept. That's because of the hefty upfront costs involved in installing green roofs.
In April, councillors voted in favour of a pilot project that would finance those installing green roofs to the tune of $10 a square metre, up to $20,000 a project.
The city is also pushing Toronto Hydro and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund to make additional financial incentives available to those who might install green roofs.
Meantime, back in February the city approved a commitment to install green roofs on new and existing buildings owned by the city, whenever practical to do so.
"There is a growing sense of environmental responsibility among Torontonians and green roofs over the long term lower the cost of maintenance, improve the environment, lower our demand for electricity and can be beautiful as well," says Toronto Mayor David Miller one of six North American mayors recently featured in Vanity Fair magazine's first-ever "green issue."
But Stephen Peck, president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a Toronto-based non-profit green roof industry association, says Toronto condo developers could do a lot more to help the environment.
"A lot of the condominium development we're seeing in Toronto isn't very progressive ... The market for green buildings in Canada isn't nearly as advanced as it is in the United States," he says.
"We've got a ways to go to catch up. Because so many condominiums are being built in the city, if more of them were energy-efficient, it could potentially have an impact on the need for energy in the city and the need to build a new power plant in the Portlands," Peck adds.
Still, at a conference in Boston last month, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities saw fit to honour Pantalone with the Civic Award of Excellence for his work on promoting green roofs.
But Pantalone is the first to admit that a lot more work has to be done.
"We are hoping to see more green roofs on different kinds of structures, from homes to condominiums to factories to institutions," he says.
The deputy mayor would like to see green roofs become mandatory on eligible new buildings
"We need a regulatory framework to make it happen. The city has to require it of those are doing new construction, where it makes sense," he says.
But it's the cost of installing green roofs that's holding developers back.
Andrew Pride, vice-president of energy management at Minto Urban Communities, points out that it costs $110 to $200 a square metre to install a green roof.
"We're moderate supporters of green roofs," he says.
When it comes to building environmentally friendly condos, developers can get a better bang for their buck by installing stairwell lighting controls, which use motion sensors to prompt lights to come on only when someone is using the stairs.
If the city is going to force developers to build green buildings, Pride says builders should be allowed to use the technologies they think make the most sense rather than have one, such as green roofs, imposed on them.
Pride says green roofs make more sense on low-rise buildings with a lot of flat roof surface than on highrise buildings with less roof surface. In a lower building where the roof makes up a larger component of the overall exterior, there is more of a dramatic impact on lowering the need for air conditioning and soaking up rainwater, he notes.
Still, Pride points out that green roofs can be incorporated into highrise complexes by installing them on lower surfaces, such as on podiums and garages. That's what Minto is doing at its Minto Midtown development on Yonge St. A green roof is being installed on top of the six-storey podium that sits between a 54-storey tower and a 39-storey tower.
"In this situation the motivation is predominantly aesthetics," Pride says. "The people looking down from the 54-storey building would like to see something pretty."
Pride says green roofs drive up the price of individual condo units. Meantime, the entire community benefits, not just the condo residents. Because of the societal benefits, the city should provide more financial incentives more green roofs, Pride says.
"I really hope the city steps up and says this is a great benefit for the city, so we're going to help fund green roof projects because they're extraordinarily expensive," he says, adding that adding that $10 a square metre from the city is "a start in the right direction."
But Pantalone says it's necessary to look at the long-term savings to condo owners, including reduced energy costs and a longer lasting roof membrane.
"The problem with green roofs financially is the installation costs are higher. Developers look at the money they have to come up with right now and they say, `Oh my God, conventional roofs are cheaper.' But that's a false savings," he says.
Minto is doing its own study to determine if the long-term costs of having a green roof outweighs the large initial installation cost. The company has erected a green roof at its head office on Yonge St.
"We're trying to figure out what the long-term additional costs are," Pride says.
Proponents of green roofs say they add to the property value of a condominium. So even if the upfront costs are higher, owners will get their money back if they sell.
Mandelbaum says this will be the case at Maple Leaf Square. Including a green roof has added to the panache of the project and helped it sell out in record time, he notes.
"We are trying to produce a state-of the-art, cutting-edge, way-ahead-of-its-time kind of project," he says, noting the development will be equipped with smart-building technology and will have a LEED designation under the green building rating system that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
"It's a whole package and obviously it all contributed to making it a sales success and getting it awarded the Community of the Year (by the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association)," Mandelbaum adds.
A glossy sales brochure for Maple Leaf Square sums up the advantages:
"The benefits for Maple Leaf Square owners are increased value, an aesthetically pleasing, and environmentally responsible and more enjoyable place to live."
AoD
From the Star, condos section:
How green is my roof?
Living roofs can reduce air and noise pollution, cool down the city and soak up rainwater
Jun. 10, 2006. 01:00 AM
THERESA BOYLE
REAL ESTATE REPORTER
Even though the installation of a green roof at the Residences of Maple Leaf Square is happening at the behest of the city's planning department, the developers of the downtown condominium complex have embraced the concept and are running with it.
The feature is being touted in a promotional brochure for the development, right alongside other amenities, including indoor and outdoor pools, a 40-seat home theatre and direct access to the Air Canada Centre.
"We were asked to do it, but it didn't take a lot of convincing," explains Lanterra Developments chair Mark Mandelbaum.
"We're doing it and we're proud of it. I think green roofs are going to become a much larger part of the development process in the City of Toronto," he says.
Toronto's deputy mayor Joe Pantalone thinks so, too. As chair of the city's Roundtable on the Environment, he spearheaded the city's adoption in April of a pilot program that gives financial incentives to condo developers and others to install green roofs.
"We're hoping that in a few years from now Toronto will be renowned for its green roofs," Pantalone says, noting that there are now about 82 built or planned green roofs in the city.
"We hope that number will grow dramatically and I think it will," he says.
Green roofs — also referred to as living roofs or vegetated roofs — are far more than rooftop gardens. They are installed on the flat portions of roofs and include plants, a thin layer of growing medium, landscape cloth to keep the soil from washing away, drainage layers, a root barrier and a waterproof membrane.
They can be integrated into amenity and leisure space.
Vegetation is usually made up of several varieties of drought-resistant sedums, but if the soil is deep enough, trees can be planted.
Their benefits are many and include absorbing heat and reducing temperatures in the city. Green roofs help combat the "heat island effect," which results in temperatures of up to 6C higher in metropolitan areas than in surrounding areas. This occurs because roof and paving materials with low reflectivity absorb more of the sun's rays. And there are fewer plants to shade buildings, block solar radiation and cool the air.
Green roofs soak up rainwater that would otherwise flow into the sewer system and then into treatment plants to be cleaned up.
Other benefits include beautifying concrete buildings, reducing air conditioning use in the summer, preventing heat loss in the winter, reducing air pollution, and cutting down on noise pollution.
They are also aesthetically pleasing.
"From the vantage point of looking down, there will be a lot of green that you're looking at as opposed to hard surface," Mandelbaum explains.
A study released last year by Hitesh Doshi, an architectural science professor at Ryerson University, found that if only 8 per cent of eligible rooftops in the city were converted to green roofs, the temperature in the city would drop by up to 2C.
What's more, the green roofs would generate more than $300 million in initial cost savings in areas such as storm water management, combined sewer overflow reduction, building energy savings, and urban heat island reduction, the study found. Operational cost savings for the city from this level of coverage was calculated at approximately $40 million annually.
Another report, released in Ottawa earlier this year and conducted by the National Research Council Canada, Environment Canada and the University of Toronto, found that green roofs could reduce the energy use for heating by more than 10 per cent.
Green roofs can be used for local food production and they provide a habitat for birds and invertebrates, states the Ottawa report, citing additional benefits.
"It's a very visible way of coming to terms with a lot of environmental issues," Pantalone says.
If green roofs were used as much locally as they are in some European countries, Ontario could be spared from making controversial decisions to keep its coal-fired plants opened longer and to build more nuclear energy plants, he notes.
For more than three decades, ecoroofs have routinely been installed in Germany. They now make up 14 per cent of total roof area there.
In Toronto, they are becoming more prevalent. There are now 62 in the city, 28 of which are on multi-unit residential buildings, including condominiums. Another 20 are in the planning stages, 11 of which are multi-unit residential.
One of the oldest is at the Manulife Centre, a mixed-use building on Bloor St. that includes condominiums. The 25-year-old installation built atop a parking garage includes large trees.
The Merchandise Lofts on Dalhousie St. had a 10,000- square-foot green roof installed in 2000.
Some of the more notable, non-residential green roofs in the city can be found at Toronto City Hall, Mountain Equipment Co-op and Ryerson University.
In addition to Maple Leaf Square, other condominiums in the development stage that will incorporate green roofs include Minto midtown on Yonge St. and Tridel's Circa in Markham.
"Over the last few years we've been evolving a green strategy. Circa helps us in that aspect, but the green roof will also be aesthetically pleasing," explains Jim Ritchie, vice-president of sales and marketing with Tridel.
Despite the progress, Pantalone acknowledges the city has been forced to nudge developers to get on board with the concept. That's because of the hefty upfront costs involved in installing green roofs.
In April, councillors voted in favour of a pilot project that would finance those installing green roofs to the tune of $10 a square metre, up to $20,000 a project.
The city is also pushing Toronto Hydro and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund to make additional financial incentives available to those who might install green roofs.
Meantime, back in February the city approved a commitment to install green roofs on new and existing buildings owned by the city, whenever practical to do so.
"There is a growing sense of environmental responsibility among Torontonians and green roofs over the long term lower the cost of maintenance, improve the environment, lower our demand for electricity and can be beautiful as well," says Toronto Mayor David Miller one of six North American mayors recently featured in Vanity Fair magazine's first-ever "green issue."
But Stephen Peck, president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a Toronto-based non-profit green roof industry association, says Toronto condo developers could do a lot more to help the environment.
"A lot of the condominium development we're seeing in Toronto isn't very progressive ... The market for green buildings in Canada isn't nearly as advanced as it is in the United States," he says.
"We've got a ways to go to catch up. Because so many condominiums are being built in the city, if more of them were energy-efficient, it could potentially have an impact on the need for energy in the city and the need to build a new power plant in the Portlands," Peck adds.
Still, at a conference in Boston last month, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities saw fit to honour Pantalone with the Civic Award of Excellence for his work on promoting green roofs.
But Pantalone is the first to admit that a lot more work has to be done.
"We are hoping to see more green roofs on different kinds of structures, from homes to condominiums to factories to institutions," he says.
The deputy mayor would like to see green roofs become mandatory on eligible new buildings
"We need a regulatory framework to make it happen. The city has to require it of those are doing new construction, where it makes sense," he says.
But it's the cost of installing green roofs that's holding developers back.
Andrew Pride, vice-president of energy management at Minto Urban Communities, points out that it costs $110 to $200 a square metre to install a green roof.
"We're moderate supporters of green roofs," he says.
When it comes to building environmentally friendly condos, developers can get a better bang for their buck by installing stairwell lighting controls, which use motion sensors to prompt lights to come on only when someone is using the stairs.
If the city is going to force developers to build green buildings, Pride says builders should be allowed to use the technologies they think make the most sense rather than have one, such as green roofs, imposed on them.
Pride says green roofs make more sense on low-rise buildings with a lot of flat roof surface than on highrise buildings with less roof surface. In a lower building where the roof makes up a larger component of the overall exterior, there is more of a dramatic impact on lowering the need for air conditioning and soaking up rainwater, he notes.
Still, Pride points out that green roofs can be incorporated into highrise complexes by installing them on lower surfaces, such as on podiums and garages. That's what Minto is doing at its Minto Midtown development on Yonge St. A green roof is being installed on top of the six-storey podium that sits between a 54-storey tower and a 39-storey tower.
"In this situation the motivation is predominantly aesthetics," Pride says. "The people looking down from the 54-storey building would like to see something pretty."
Pride says green roofs drive up the price of individual condo units. Meantime, the entire community benefits, not just the condo residents. Because of the societal benefits, the city should provide more financial incentives more green roofs, Pride says.
"I really hope the city steps up and says this is a great benefit for the city, so we're going to help fund green roof projects because they're extraordinarily expensive," he says, adding that adding that $10 a square metre from the city is "a start in the right direction."
But Pantalone says it's necessary to look at the long-term savings to condo owners, including reduced energy costs and a longer lasting roof membrane.
"The problem with green roofs financially is the installation costs are higher. Developers look at the money they have to come up with right now and they say, `Oh my God, conventional roofs are cheaper.' But that's a false savings," he says.
Minto is doing its own study to determine if the long-term costs of having a green roof outweighs the large initial installation cost. The company has erected a green roof at its head office on Yonge St.
"We're trying to figure out what the long-term additional costs are," Pride says.
Proponents of green roofs say they add to the property value of a condominium. So even if the upfront costs are higher, owners will get their money back if they sell.
Mandelbaum says this will be the case at Maple Leaf Square. Including a green roof has added to the panache of the project and helped it sell out in record time, he notes.
"We are trying to produce a state-of the-art, cutting-edge, way-ahead-of-its-time kind of project," he says, noting the development will be equipped with smart-building technology and will have a LEED designation under the green building rating system that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
"It's a whole package and obviously it all contributed to making it a sales success and getting it awarded the Community of the Year (by the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association)," Mandelbaum adds.
A glossy sales brochure for Maple Leaf Square sums up the advantages:
"The benefits for Maple Leaf Square owners are increased value, an aesthetically pleasing, and environmentally responsible and more enjoyable place to live."
AoD
T
thenay
Guest
Thanks for the article AoD 
Your always posting gr8 articles
Your always posting gr8 articles
J
JackhammerTO
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
Just viewed the Toronto Legal docs pdf ... Page 28 of the report shows the total height with the mechanical for the 54 floor tower as 610 ft. (186 metres) and 571 ft.(174 metres) for the other tower.
I think this is an increase from previous info. Anyway, these suckers are quite big and will definitely have an effect on the skyline.
www.toronto.ca/legdocs/20.../it002.pdf
Just viewed the Toronto Legal docs pdf ... Page 28 of the report shows the total height with the mechanical for the 54 floor tower as 610 ft. (186 metres) and 571 ft.(174 metres) for the other tower.
I think this is an increase from previous info. Anyway, these suckers are quite big and will definitely have an effect on the skyline.
www.toronto.ca/legdocs/20.../it002.pdf
M
Mark Dowling
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
I really hate the M-L-Square radio ads with the hockey guys "last minute of play to get your condo" - barf.
I really hate the M-L-Square radio ads with the hockey guys "last minute of play to get your condo" - barf.
F
fiendishlibrarian
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
Now that Domi has been put out to pasture, he may pop up somewhere in that complex, perhaps a concierge..
Now that Domi has been put out to pasture, he may pop up somewhere in that complex, perhaps a concierge..
A
adma
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
Wow, a Gen X George Chuvalo...
Wow, a Gen X George Chuvalo...
B
bizorky
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
Yup, and try to slip past him to deliver flyers to doors and he'll mess you up bad.
Yup, and try to slip past him to deliver flyers to doors and he'll mess you up bad.
A
adma
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
Maybe he can team up w/Dash
Maybe he can team up w/Dash
C
caltrane74
Guest
Re: Residences of Maple Leaf Square - Update/Retail
I read in the condo guide 90% sold on north building 75% sold on the south.
Lets hope they get shovel to ground sooner rather than later.
I read in the condo guide 90% sold on north building 75% sold on the south.
Lets hope they get shovel to ground sooner rather than later.