gristle
Senior Member
I believe so. There are other buildings that will also install similar systems - including Brant Park and the Mercer condo.
Toronto Massey Tower Condos | 206.95m | 60s | MOD Developments | Hariri Pontarini
thecharioteer
Senior Member
Uncovering the beauty under bird poop on Toronto’s Yonge Street
DAVE LEBLANC
Toronto
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Last updated Thursday, Mar. 15, 2012 11:21AM EDT
Call him Mr. Yonge Street.
Well, right now, call him Mr. Cautious: “Feel this floor right here,†says Gary Switzer of MOD Developments as he probes a section of warped, decaying floor with the toe of his shoe, “that feels like you could go right through.â€
Illuminated by a sliver of sunlight pushing past dirty double-hung windows, Mr. Switzer stands proudly (and somewhat precariously) on the third floor of his company's newest purchase, Darling & Pearson's 1905 Bank of Commerce at 197-199 Yonge St.
In a few months, the bird-pooped but beautiful Beaux-Arts building – abandoned since 1987 – will become the sales office for the striking Massey Tower condominium. Once the proposed 60-storey tower is complete, a concierge will greet residents on the first floor of the bank, the second floor might house soundproof rehearsal rooms, and the ceiling between the third and fourth floors may come down to join the two, since the gloomy fourth is lit only by skylights.
But about that “Mr. Yonge Street†thing. While it may be too early to crown Mr. Switzer – Sam Sniderman, the current title holder, has only been in retirement for a little over a decade, after all – in three short years MOD is making an impact on the city’s most storied thoroughfare. Up the street at Yonge and St. Joseph, the company’s first project, FIVE, is under way with partner Graywood Developments. There, a row of heritage storefronts and a warehouse built by Rawlinson Cartage is being saved, put to good use as the retail component of a residential complex, and, not surprisingly, winning awards.
The Yonge and Queen site, while also a massive exercise in heritage restoration, is completely different; Mr. Switzer compares the insertion of a tall tower into the cramped space behind the bank to “micro-surgery.†Boxed in by the other heritage bank’s long rear end (an unoccupied E.J. Lennox building), the loading docks of the old Heintzman Piano building (HomeSense) and Elgin/Winter Garden theatres to the south, and Massey Hall to the north-east, this is no exaggeration: “This is going to cost an absolute fortune,†he laughs. “This is a lot more complicated than saving a façade or five Victorian stores; this is on the level of the Summerhill train station.â€
Luckily, the features identified by the city as retention-worthy make sense to Mr. Switzer, who switches easily between his developer’s hardhat and the graduation cap he received from the University of Toronto’s school of architecture. Besides the ruins of a once-proud fireplace and a few partition walls, there isn’t much to consider on the third floor. Descending to the second, we find there isn’t much left in these old offices either – a neat 1950s mint-green sink a long-ago dentist washed up in, a few bare-bulbed wall sconces, and “creepy in a Blair Witch kind of way†peeling walls covered with graffiti – so it’s down one more flight to the first floor.
This is more like it! From floor to ceiling, there is much to savour. First, there’s the staircase that deposited us here: pink marble treads and risers are flanked by a sculpted metal baluster and carved wooden handrail. In the foyer under a small domed ceiling is a gorgeous mosaic tile floor medallion underneath multiple layers of brittle vinyl tile that Mr. Switzer chipped away one weekend until the old glue resisted: “I couldn’t stop,†he laughs. Behind that, there are the big original front doors and the massive Ionic columns outside. “To walk into a building through these columns, that’s what really makes this whole thing so amazing,†he says.
To the right of the foyer over a cluster of small offices, an ornate plaster ceiling sporting a recessed ellipse framed by egg-and-dart moulding and rhythmic modillions awaits repair (ERA Architects are on the case); the showstopper, however, is a rounded wooden pediment supported by two wooden Ionic columns that anchors a span of dentil moulding running the width of the building. Somehow, it has remained pristine.
Beyond the carved wood, however, there is nothing worth saving. At some point in time, the high-ceilinged, one-storey room was completely gutted, leaving only a tiny vintage water fountain and a locked safe.
This is good, since Mr. Switzer can have a clear conscience when this is razed for the Hariri Pontarini-designed condo tower. Had he purchased the bank next door (which wasn’t for sale anyway) he never could have done this, since its interior was fully restored by the city in 1992.
What will keep him up at nights, however, is the responsibility associated with this much heritage: “It’s a bit daunting, you know,†he says quietly. Brushing some dust off his coat, he reassures himself with the memory that, even at the tender age of 16 in 1970, he watched with disgust as the 1895 Temple Building came down. Our collective lack of enthusiasm for the city’s built heritage has bugged him ever since.
“What does it say about our city to have a building like this empty right on the main street?â€
If this project is as successful as FIVE – and there’s every reason to suggest it will be – perhaps Mr. Switzer will turn yet another neglected piece of Yonge’s past into our future…and, along the way, earn the right to call himself Mr. Yonge Street.
Published on Thursday, Mar. 15, 2012 11:19AM EDT
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/h...s-yonge-street/article2370135/?service=mobile
DAVE LEBLANC
Toronto
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Last updated Thursday, Mar. 15, 2012 11:21AM EDT
Call him Mr. Yonge Street.
Well, right now, call him Mr. Cautious: “Feel this floor right here,†says Gary Switzer of MOD Developments as he probes a section of warped, decaying floor with the toe of his shoe, “that feels like you could go right through.â€
Illuminated by a sliver of sunlight pushing past dirty double-hung windows, Mr. Switzer stands proudly (and somewhat precariously) on the third floor of his company's newest purchase, Darling & Pearson's 1905 Bank of Commerce at 197-199 Yonge St.
In a few months, the bird-pooped but beautiful Beaux-Arts building – abandoned since 1987 – will become the sales office for the striking Massey Tower condominium. Once the proposed 60-storey tower is complete, a concierge will greet residents on the first floor of the bank, the second floor might house soundproof rehearsal rooms, and the ceiling between the third and fourth floors may come down to join the two, since the gloomy fourth is lit only by skylights.
But about that “Mr. Yonge Street†thing. While it may be too early to crown Mr. Switzer – Sam Sniderman, the current title holder, has only been in retirement for a little over a decade, after all – in three short years MOD is making an impact on the city’s most storied thoroughfare. Up the street at Yonge and St. Joseph, the company’s first project, FIVE, is under way with partner Graywood Developments. There, a row of heritage storefronts and a warehouse built by Rawlinson Cartage is being saved, put to good use as the retail component of a residential complex, and, not surprisingly, winning awards.
The Yonge and Queen site, while also a massive exercise in heritage restoration, is completely different; Mr. Switzer compares the insertion of a tall tower into the cramped space behind the bank to “micro-surgery.†Boxed in by the other heritage bank’s long rear end (an unoccupied E.J. Lennox building), the loading docks of the old Heintzman Piano building (HomeSense) and Elgin/Winter Garden theatres to the south, and Massey Hall to the north-east, this is no exaggeration: “This is going to cost an absolute fortune,†he laughs. “This is a lot more complicated than saving a façade or five Victorian stores; this is on the level of the Summerhill train station.â€
Luckily, the features identified by the city as retention-worthy make sense to Mr. Switzer, who switches easily between his developer’s hardhat and the graduation cap he received from the University of Toronto’s school of architecture. Besides the ruins of a once-proud fireplace and a few partition walls, there isn’t much to consider on the third floor. Descending to the second, we find there isn’t much left in these old offices either – a neat 1950s mint-green sink a long-ago dentist washed up in, a few bare-bulbed wall sconces, and “creepy in a Blair Witch kind of way†peeling walls covered with graffiti – so it’s down one more flight to the first floor.
This is more like it! From floor to ceiling, there is much to savour. First, there’s the staircase that deposited us here: pink marble treads and risers are flanked by a sculpted metal baluster and carved wooden handrail. In the foyer under a small domed ceiling is a gorgeous mosaic tile floor medallion underneath multiple layers of brittle vinyl tile that Mr. Switzer chipped away one weekend until the old glue resisted: “I couldn’t stop,†he laughs. Behind that, there are the big original front doors and the massive Ionic columns outside. “To walk into a building through these columns, that’s what really makes this whole thing so amazing,†he says.
To the right of the foyer over a cluster of small offices, an ornate plaster ceiling sporting a recessed ellipse framed by egg-and-dart moulding and rhythmic modillions awaits repair (ERA Architects are on the case); the showstopper, however, is a rounded wooden pediment supported by two wooden Ionic columns that anchors a span of dentil moulding running the width of the building. Somehow, it has remained pristine.
Beyond the carved wood, however, there is nothing worth saving. At some point in time, the high-ceilinged, one-storey room was completely gutted, leaving only a tiny vintage water fountain and a locked safe.
This is good, since Mr. Switzer can have a clear conscience when this is razed for the Hariri Pontarini-designed condo tower. Had he purchased the bank next door (which wasn’t for sale anyway) he never could have done this, since its interior was fully restored by the city in 1992.
What will keep him up at nights, however, is the responsibility associated with this much heritage: “It’s a bit daunting, you know,†he says quietly. Brushing some dust off his coat, he reassures himself with the memory that, even at the tender age of 16 in 1970, he watched with disgust as the 1895 Temple Building came down. Our collective lack of enthusiasm for the city’s built heritage has bugged him ever since.
“What does it say about our city to have a building like this empty right on the main street?â€
If this project is as successful as FIVE – and there’s every reason to suggest it will be – perhaps Mr. Switzer will turn yet another neglected piece of Yonge’s past into our future…and, along the way, earn the right to call himself Mr. Yonge Street.
Published on Thursday, Mar. 15, 2012 11:19AM EDT
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/h...s-yonge-street/article2370135/?service=mobile
metroTO
Active Member
No, I believe 1 King West has a car elevator similar to the ones at Glas and Trump Tower.
There are a number of condos on the boards in the ED that will have a fully automated parking system.
These systems are not uncommon in Asia and Europe and have been used for 30 years.
I'm sure these will become more and more common as sites get smaller and more restrictive to build and land prices continue to escalate.
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Considering that this development is that far south of Yonge-Dundas and closer to Queen with tall buildings planned and built in between.....Is there even a possibility of shadowing
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Uncle Teddy
Senior Member
Mr Yonge Street!
ptbotrmpfn
Senior Member
Ae shadows dead liar then falling glass in Toronto or what .. I personally don't understand issues with shadows no matter how it's examined and explained. It's a shadow. Period. Thanks! JMO! (just my oppinon)walk a few steps and Theres the sun. Problem solved.and also considering all of the glass in the city eventually reflected sunlight will reach the sunles spots. Again problem solved.
buildup
Senior Member
I am persuaded by your argument.
Panontario
Active Member
Why people don't like showdows? Imagine buying a place that has at least some sunlight shining into an aparment.... and then some developer comes along, demolishes a low-rise next door, and builds a super monster blocking your view, sun and everything else.... and please, leave NIMBY comments out
Buyer beware. Don't buy something where they can build big next door or across the street. Because someday they may. Buy at something like Vu Condo where St James Park will most likely remain forever.
buildup
Senior Member
I think you are talking more about views as opposed to shade which is another thing. As often as not, I prefer the shade both sitting and walking.
Panontario
Active Member
I am talking about both, but primarily about sun exposure of the condo units. For instance, take a look at older condos of Bay Street.... esp the condos across from the college park condos... got sandwiched and completely blocked from any sun. Pretty sad. Even better example are condos on Bay directly north of Wellesley. Developers actually demolishing low and midrise buildings around to build more crap-boxes (ie, 1000 Bay = demolition of 2 buildings including a 7 story building, and 5 St Josephs = demolition of multiple buildings including a 5 story building or Sutton Place and thier crazy idea of building another tower on top of/next to Sutton Place)
Xray_Crystal_Junkie
Senior Member
And what about the low rise buildings that lost their sun exposure thanks to the older condos you mention? Sorry but this is downtown in a major metropolis, what do you expect?
someMidTowner
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You are contradicting yourself by saying "leave NIMBY comments out" while making a NIMBY comment. If you don't like your condo view being ruined I can name some decent real estate agents in the 905
gristle
Senior Member
If there is an issue with shadows, it has to do with shadows on green space like parks. Point towers, while having longer shadows, usually provide shadowing of a shorter duration.
Roy G Biv
Senior Member
Yupp. Although the concept they are considering is not what you see elsewhere in the world. I am very skeptical.
1 King West and Trump have individual car stackers with valets. Glas has a car elevator, where the user is actually transported in the car, to another floor. There are many examples of both technology in Toronto.