Toronto QRC West (Queen Richmond Centre West) | 71.93m | 17s | Allied | Sweeny &Co

You know Taal, since you're new around here, I'll do you a favour and go back a bit in the thread for you. The quoted material below is from post 23:

I think he meant are they building it Now, or are they just demo`ing to make a parking lot for a while until they are ready to build. I too am not sure if this is being built now or whether it is just going to be a parking lot for a while like other sites in the city.
 
You know Taal, since you're new around here, I'll do you a favour and go back a bit in the thread for you. The quoted material below is from post 23:

Why thanks, the hand was a bit tired today I couldn't be bothered, I'll take an extra large double double next time you're at it - with milk - cream is yuk!

:p

Anyway, as mckarisma indicated, I'm simply inquiring if this building is going ahead or if it's going to be a temporary parking lot for now - I did have a look back to see if there was an answer to that question when I originally made the post.
 
Maybe it's just me, but I fail to see what parts of this look like an "afterthought". It's an imaginative use of a somewhat restrictive site, and it seems exceptionally well thought out, to me, at least based on what we see so far.

Untitled-2.jpg


The hideous, over-striated, elevator core is the element about which I'm leveling the majority of my umbrage, though perhaps 'afterthought' is an inaccurate term considering the core would have been a part of the design from the start.

Terminology aside, it's still a ridiculously garrish lamprey on an otherwise semi-elegant structure.
 
I love it. Very imaginative way to preserve some heritage facades and give us some very modern architecture all at the same time!
 
Allied REIT has purchased the property to the north of 134 Peter, at Queen and Peter, and plans to incorporate it into the redevelopment. They are now calling the development "Queen Richmond Centre West". From the press release announcing the purchase:

"With 89 feet of frontage on Queen Street and 142 feet of frontage on
Peter Street, the property is just north of Allied’s property at 134
Peter Street. Earlier this year, Allied received zoning approval for a
large-scale intensification project at 134 Peter Street. Allied plans to
incorporate the surplus land into the project by creating dedicated
parking spaces using parking-stacker technology. Allied also plans to
incorporate the existing building into the intensification project and to
create additional office space by building onto and out from the
building.

By incorporating 375-381 Queen Street West, the intensification of 134
Peter Street will now extend along Peter Street all the way from Queen
Street to Richmond Street. For this reason, Allied has decided to refer
to the expanded intensification project as Queen Richmond Centre West or
QRC West. Not only is this name descriptive, it builds on the fact that
Allied owns QRC, one of the very best Class I office complexes in
Downtown East, as well as the neighbouring QRC South. Allied plans to
launch the pre-leasing of QRC West in January of next year and expects
that 12 to 18 months will be required to secure an appropriate anchor
tenant."

source: http://www.alliedpropertiesreit.ca/documents/APREIT_2009_11_10_Press_Release_Acquisitions.pdf
 
Interesting. This thing is getting bigger and it's nice that some intesification is going to happen on Queen Street. I wonder how they'll manage the lane since it appears to intersect their two properties.
 
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/770944--saving-toronto-heritage-ensures-city-s-future

Saving Toronto heritage ensures city’s future

The Toronto Star, Sat Feb 27, 2010

By Christopher Hume
Urban Issues, Architecture
When a city has to decide what it wants — past or future — the answer is obvious: both.

For decades, it has been simpler just to tear down anything that stood in the way. Starting in the 1950s, modernism’s glory years, we demolished our history with gleeful abandon. Architectural heritage, no matter how significant, paled in comparison to the brilliance that lay ahead.

Things didn’t turn out quite as expected, and while the rush to the future slows, the value of the past becomes ever harder to ignore. And we’re not just talking about aesthetics, though God knows, the 19th century was eons ahead of the 21st in its understanding of urban architecture. It turns out that even the lowliest industrial structures — warehouses, factories, bakeries — are paragons of flexibility. Used and reused, they have enabled the revitalization of much of downtown Toronto, especially the Entertainment District.

Think of the area along Peter St. between Queen and Richmond Sts. Like much of the city’s lower west end, this is a neighbourhood that once was grimy and industrial. Nowadays, it is anything but; many of those magnificent brick buildings where workers once toiled are now remade as offices, lofts, shops, restaurants and bars — but much remains to be done to realize their full potential.

“These old structures are excellent,†says Toronto architect Dermot Sweeny, “but all the other systems are junk.†That includes air-conditioning, heating, wiring, the sort of internal infrastructure we generally take for granted. At the same time, the quality of 19th- and early 20th-century architecture and construction are superior in every other way to contemporary stuff.

Although there’s endless demand for corporate office space in the core, many businesses want something other than standard-issue highrise quarters. After all, not every outfit is a bank, a financial institution or an insurance company. Other more “creative†companies actually prefer the character of older spaces with their masonry walls, wooden beams, high ceilings and wide plank floors. These structures have the handmade look of an earlier era, something that stands in stark contrast to the out-of-the-catalogue design of more recently constructed buildings.

“The demand for this sort of office space is unlimited,†insists Michael Emory, president and CEO of Allied Properties, a Toronto-based real-estate firm that renovates and rents former industrial structures. “These old buildings present an extraordinarily compelling case for our clients.â€

Emory’s current focus is a trio of early 20th-century heaps on the northwest corner of Richmond and Peter, one of which once served as a Weston bakery. Though the three buildings sit beside each another, there’s plenty of space around them, space that could be reorganized to add density to the area.

“Everything between the buildings sits empty,†says Sweeney, whose firm, Sweeny Sterling Finlayson & Co., includes Allied as a client. “The old factory district does not have the density to sustain a good mix of uses.â€

His answer is to fill in these in-between spaces and put an addition on top of the largest of the structures — the bakery — thus preserving the original buildings intact and helping to create the kind of critical mass of jobs and people needed to keep the city healthy. Sweeny envisions an 11-storey vertical glass extension perched above the red-brick box at 134 Peter St. The addition reaches west of its host building to become the top of an atrium carved out of what’s now empty space.

d303c2f14d29aacfb62f8e8a1d7f.jpeg


“The new building starts 75 feet up in the air,†Sweeny explains, “well above the two existing buildings below. We’ve discovered that one of the issues is the need to make better use of these great old buildings and the land around them. In this project, there’s about half an acre of empty land currently used for parking. The question for us is how to charge residual space with new life. The void between buildings is often as important as buildings themselves.â€

Sweeny refers to the “Two Kings,†an innovative program initiated by the old City of Toronto that eliminated traditional land-use rules at King and Parliament and King and Bathurst. Both locations experienced a boom that led to the renovation of up to four million square feet of old industrial space.

“The net result,†says Sweeny, “was affordable and interesting space for companies looking for an alternative to the standard office building — and at a reasonable cost. The strategy worked well; the buildings are full.â€

He also points out that these interventions can be designed to maximize the green potential of the complex-to-be. That will mean energy reductions of 50 to 60 per cent.

And as Emory notes, “I don’t think you can build new office space today without LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. You’d be a fool to try. It’s a new best practice you can’t ignore.â€

Of course, this project will win points simply by incorporating existing structures; the energy embedded in these old buildings and others is enough to propel Toronto well into the future — and keep the city connected to its past. That’s the civic version of having your cake and eating it, too.
 
Yea I presume it is, this is still a fairly large mid-size development and they'd need to line up a few tenants before they can start. It wouldn't surprise me a ton if some of these small scale projects get off the ground ... yes, I know all my posts on how inventory is ever increasing as of late. But generally these buildings attract a different clientele, smaller firms / accountants / lawyers. If the rent is right there will always be a small demand for this type of development. Again though it'll have a similar result as the larger AAA buildings just built, cause vacancy in the older stock of (B/A? in this case) buildings to rise.
 
Thanks Ziggy - it's quite a nice project. Love those massive cross bracing...and it looks like they're using spider clamps glazing system as well for the atrium. Magnificent.

AoD
 
I now like this project quite a bit more (was sceptical at first, looked overwhelming). These renders really impress me though, as long as it gets the angled support columns.
 

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