Toronto Parliament Street Data Centre | ?m | 5s | BRL Realty | WZMH

Interesting thread about this project on Twitter today, with some back and forth between city planners and UT's own Alex B: https://twitter.com/giulio_plans/status/922807695551299584 (too lazy to storify, so scroll up and read down if you want to see the full thread)

Apparently the city asked for retail fronting Parliament, but couldn't demand it as it was built as-of-right. Toronto won this project over SF and Singapore, and the timeline for site plan approval was unusually tight, so we were lucky to get such a good-looking final product.
 
smably said:
Interesting thread about this project on Twitter today, with some back and forth between city planners and UT's own Alex B: https://twitter.com/giulio_plans/status/922807695551299584 (too lazy to storify, so scroll up and read down if you want to see the full thread)

Apparently the city asked for retail fronting Parliament, but couldn't demand it as it was built as-of-right. Toronto won this project over SF and Singapore, and the timeline for site plan approval was unusually tight, so we were lucky to get such a good-looking final product.
Click to expand...
The speed of the approvals etc was greatly helped by Pam McConnell and staff in Community Planning who really prioritised the work as the land swap with the First Parliament site land on west side of Parliament Street was dependent on it getting done.
 
smably said:
Apparently the city asked for retail fronting Parliament, but couldn't demand it as it was built as-of-right.
Click to expand...
What does "as-of-right" mean in this context?

And I am not at all surprised that a data centre would not allow any other tenancy in its building due to physical security concerns.
 
Toronto's zoning bylaws are, for the most part, old, and were not designed to create the kind of city we generally want now. Since the bylaws have not been replaced, then no, the City cannot demand uses be added to buildings if the developer is proposing something that is as-of-right. The development plans just have to pass muster at the Site Plan stage, and stage that is not to work out zoning details.

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I think the whole issue of a lack-of-retail on ground floor for the newer phase could be resolved in part by the integration of kinetic artwork.
 
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