Toronto St Regis Toronto Hotel and Residences | 281.93m | 58s | JFC Capital | Zeidler
Nebakenezer
Active Member
haha... this is worth seeing for all those that missed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGZaCnfNgLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGZaCnfNgLE
Dugmor
Banned
I love that clip. Donald is hilarious. I'd love to sit and chat with him and Kevin O'Leary from Dragons' Den/Shark Tank, simultaneously.
UrbanAffair
Senior Member
^I think they are both arrogant pompous pricks who would likely talk about their accomplishments and bore the pants off you.
steveve
Senior Member
Donald Trump is cocky... I remember this one video he was in which was an interview about the older proposal of the new WTC... He called it disgusting! (which was true for the older proposal that libeskind did)...
Anyways... He wanted it to be rebuilt "HIS" way... By that he wanted to rebuild the (ugly IMO) twin towers but with 1 more floor...
But one things for sure... He's rich, famous, and gets the ladies
Anyways... He wanted it to be rebuilt "HIS" way... By that he wanted to rebuild the (ugly IMO) twin towers but with 1 more floor...
But one things for sure... He's rich, famous, and gets the ladies
Dugmor
Banned
They're arrogant twits but they're also very witty.
Cooool
Active Member
The way he's presented you'd think he was Bill Gates. Hell, even Oprah is wealthier than him, and she's a self-made woman.Donald Trump is cocky... I remember this one video he was in which was an interview about the older proposal of the new WTC... He called it disgusting! (which was true for the older proposal that libeskind did)...
Anyways... He wanted it to be rebuilt "HIS" way... By that he wanted to rebuild the (ugly IMO) twin towers but with 1 more floor...
But one things for sure... He's rich, famous, and gets the ladies
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Dear Those Who Might Know:
Is there any possibility that height might be re-added to this design? That is to say, whether or not it's likely, does the way it's engineered accommodate for height changes at this stage of construction?
Is there any possibility that height might be re-added to this design? That is to say, whether or not it's likely, does the way it's engineered accommodate for height changes at this stage of construction?
khris
Senior Member
I'm gonna guess no to that question. Due to it being such a thin tower, and already so far along in construction. They would have had to build it to allow for that to happen, and I don't know if they have or not.
Last edited:
Conrad Black
Senior Member
The structure is strong enough to accommodate a few more floors easily. The issue with the elevators I'm not so sure about.
aiekon
Active Member
From Globe & Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/trump-tower-gets-squeezed/article1352310/
Val Levitan is peering out the window of a helicopter circling above Toronto's financial district.
The Toronto-based entrepreneur has spent a lot of time on the ground-level construction site of Trump International Hotel & Tower, but this is the first time he has surveyed the rising spire from the sky.
As chief executive officer of Talon International Development Inc., Mr. Levitan is teaming with the Trump organization to fit a five-star hotel, luxury condominiums and multilevel garage onto the site of a former Woolworths store.
His guide on this trip is Mark Garland, a seemingly unflappable engineer who is making plain the challenge of erecting a slender 60-storey tower on a patch of land at Bay and Adelaide.
“It's unheard of in North America,†Mr. Levitan says in comparing the density of the building to its lot size. “Logistically it's a nightmare to deal with.â€
From the helicopter, it's easier to see how the parts fit into this puzzle: Looming over the construction site is Scotia Plaza, the 60-storey head office of Bank of Nova Scotia.
No small part of Mr. Levitan's task has been placating the bankers next door.
“The building is worth probably a billion dollars and we're going to be swinging a crane around,†he says. “I understand them. They have prime real estate. They don't want it compromised.â€
With each swivel of the crane, there is 45 centimetres of clearance between the tip of the boom and the historic National Club on one side and the Bay-Adelaide Centre on the other, says Mr. Garland, the project director for construction management firm Lewis Builds Corp.
“This is the most complicated building structure I've ever worked on,†he says.
Now, two years into construction on the 15,000-square-foot site, the hotel lobby and seven floors of corkscrew parking garage are complete. Work has begun on the first floor of the luxury hotel, which will rise 22 stories. Above that, 27 floors of residential units and a titanium-clad onion dome will take the building to its full height of 281 metres by the time it is finished in 2011.
Getting the building to completion has been a Sisyphean task.
The flamboyant U.S. real estate mogul Donald Trump unveiled his plans for a Trump Tower in Toronto in the spring of 2001 with a 70-storey building designed by Zeidler Partnership Architects.
But the Trump organization's development partner was revealed to be a convicted embezzler and things pretty much fell apart after that.
Talon's chairman, Alex Shnaider, is a Russian-born magnate who lives in Toronto and has built a fortune trading in steel. Talon struck a deal with Trump in 2004 and the principals set about to revive the project.
While the Zeidler design remained largely intact, many other aspects changed.
Ten stories were lopped off the building and suites were redesigned.
From the start, Mr. Levitan envisioned a three-storey penthouse with floor-to-ceiling windows, 51/2 metres of clear glass and a 360-degree view of the city.
“It's never been done before. This will set our building apart.â€
Not everyone in self-effacing Toronto so easily feels an affinity for the vision of Donald Trump and the project has been controversial all along, Mr. Levitan acknowledges.
But the developer, who was born in Minsk and travels the world, says Toronto stands out for its lack of opulent hotels that know how to cosset the business traveller.
He's not worried that Four Seasons, Shangri-La, Ritz-Carlton and the Hazelton are all aiming to create that ethereal atmosphere in the city.
All told, Toronto will have about 1,000 luxury rooms, he points out, which is relatively few for a financial capital of Toronto's size.
“The city needs something like this.â€
Meanwhile, Mr. Levitan has been working to assuage the tetchy neighbours and wrangle with zoning regulations, city planners and politicians, traffic gridlock and deliveries on a construction site that goes from property line to property line.
He has commissioned traffic studies, wind studies and parking studies. Security on the job site is biometric. The way that all delivery trucks will arrive at the hotel had to be negotiated.
“You have to be very focused, very diligent,†says Mr. Levitan. “We made sure what we promised, we delivered.â€
Mr. Garland had photographs taken of the heritage building that houses the National Club and its illustrious Bay Street membership so that any existing cracks in the walls are documented.
During building, Lewis had nowhere to put the concrete trucks, so they found a way to get six at once inside the ground floor.
“It's very rare to open a 60-storey building with no adjunct property available,†says Mr. Garland. “We actually redesigned the lobby.â€
Then they had the crane supplier tinker with the boom – “like a guy with a '57 Chevy†– until they finessed the whole contraption into place.
“We got that hammerhead crane to fit in there. I never thought it would happen.â€
There was a period, when the Bay-Adelaide Centre was also under construction, that two curb lanes on Adelaide were closed down.
“Traffic became very bad on Adelaide,†says Mr. Garland. “And we didn't even get to close the sidewalk.†The Bay-Adelaide builders had been allowed to close the sidewalk; Trump's builders were denied that advantage.
One at a time, Mr. Levitan says, Talon addressed its neighbours' concerns. Scotiabank eventually gave Talon permission to use their driveway as the staging location for construction. And the National Club has now become a friendly home base where the developers mark milestones along the way to completion.
With units ranging from about $1-million in price to upward of $15-million for the penthouse, the building may rank as the most expensive residential real estate per square foot in Canada.
About 75 per cent of units have been sold, with many going to British and South African purchasers, says Mr. Levitan.
“Torontonians are very conservative people,†he says. “They need to see a building†before they buy.
Building a five-star building in the midst of a ground-shaking recession has been unnerving, he acknowledges, and sales have been slow at times.
“Right now, we see it as a good investment. In the beginning, it was a challenge,†he says. “Of course we are hoping to make a profit. We are capitalists.â€
As the helicopter's pilot swings around and heads back to a landing site on the edge of Lake Ontario, Mr. Levitan is transfixed by the view below.
“I'm very proud to e this building rising from the ground,†says Mr. Levitan. “It's an incredible feeling.â€
Val Levitan is peering out the window of a helicopter circling above Toronto's financial district.
The Toronto-based entrepreneur has spent a lot of time on the ground-level construction site of Trump International Hotel & Tower, but this is the first time he has surveyed the rising spire from the sky.
As chief executive officer of Talon International Development Inc., Mr. Levitan is teaming with the Trump organization to fit a five-star hotel, luxury condominiums and multilevel garage onto the site of a former Woolworths store.
His guide on this trip is Mark Garland, a seemingly unflappable engineer who is making plain the challenge of erecting a slender 60-storey tower on a patch of land at Bay and Adelaide.
“It's unheard of in North America,†Mr. Levitan says in comparing the density of the building to its lot size. “Logistically it's a nightmare to deal with.â€
From the helicopter, it's easier to see how the parts fit into this puzzle: Looming over the construction site is Scotia Plaza, the 60-storey head office of Bank of Nova Scotia.
No small part of Mr. Levitan's task has been placating the bankers next door.
“The building is worth probably a billion dollars and we're going to be swinging a crane around,†he says. “I understand them. They have prime real estate. They don't want it compromised.â€
With each swivel of the crane, there is 45 centimetres of clearance between the tip of the boom and the historic National Club on one side and the Bay-Adelaide Centre on the other, says Mr. Garland, the project director for construction management firm Lewis Builds Corp.
“This is the most complicated building structure I've ever worked on,†he says.
Now, two years into construction on the 15,000-square-foot site, the hotel lobby and seven floors of corkscrew parking garage are complete. Work has begun on the first floor of the luxury hotel, which will rise 22 stories. Above that, 27 floors of residential units and a titanium-clad onion dome will take the building to its full height of 281 metres by the time it is finished in 2011.
Getting the building to completion has been a Sisyphean task.
The flamboyant U.S. real estate mogul Donald Trump unveiled his plans for a Trump Tower in Toronto in the spring of 2001 with a 70-storey building designed by Zeidler Partnership Architects.
But the Trump organization's development partner was revealed to be a convicted embezzler and things pretty much fell apart after that.
Talon's chairman, Alex Shnaider, is a Russian-born magnate who lives in Toronto and has built a fortune trading in steel. Talon struck a deal with Trump in 2004 and the principals set about to revive the project.
While the Zeidler design remained largely intact, many other aspects changed.
Ten stories were lopped off the building and suites were redesigned.
From the start, Mr. Levitan envisioned a three-storey penthouse with floor-to-ceiling windows, 51/2 metres of clear glass and a 360-degree view of the city.
“It's never been done before. This will set our building apart.â€
Not everyone in self-effacing Toronto so easily feels an affinity for the vision of Donald Trump and the project has been controversial all along, Mr. Levitan acknowledges.
But the developer, who was born in Minsk and travels the world, says Toronto stands out for its lack of opulent hotels that know how to cosset the business traveller.
He's not worried that Four Seasons, Shangri-La, Ritz-Carlton and the Hazelton are all aiming to create that ethereal atmosphere in the city.
All told, Toronto will have about 1,000 luxury rooms, he points out, which is relatively few for a financial capital of Toronto's size.
“The city needs something like this.â€
Meanwhile, Mr. Levitan has been working to assuage the tetchy neighbours and wrangle with zoning regulations, city planners and politicians, traffic gridlock and deliveries on a construction site that goes from property line to property line.
He has commissioned traffic studies, wind studies and parking studies. Security on the job site is biometric. The way that all delivery trucks will arrive at the hotel had to be negotiated.
“You have to be very focused, very diligent,†says Mr. Levitan. “We made sure what we promised, we delivered.â€
Mr. Garland had photographs taken of the heritage building that houses the National Club and its illustrious Bay Street membership so that any existing cracks in the walls are documented.
During building, Lewis had nowhere to put the concrete trucks, so they found a way to get six at once inside the ground floor.
“It's very rare to open a 60-storey building with no adjunct property available,†says Mr. Garland. “We actually redesigned the lobby.â€
Then they had the crane supplier tinker with the boom – “like a guy with a '57 Chevy†– until they finessed the whole contraption into place.
“We got that hammerhead crane to fit in there. I never thought it would happen.â€
There was a period, when the Bay-Adelaide Centre was also under construction, that two curb lanes on Adelaide were closed down.
“Traffic became very bad on Adelaide,†says Mr. Garland. “And we didn't even get to close the sidewalk.†The Bay-Adelaide builders had been allowed to close the sidewalk; Trump's builders were denied that advantage.
One at a time, Mr. Levitan says, Talon addressed its neighbours' concerns. Scotiabank eventually gave Talon permission to use their driveway as the staging location for construction. And the National Club has now become a friendly home base where the developers mark milestones along the way to completion.
With units ranging from about $1-million in price to upward of $15-million for the penthouse, the building may rank as the most expensive residential real estate per square foot in Canada.
About 75 per cent of units have been sold, with many going to British and South African purchasers, says Mr. Levitan.
“Torontonians are very conservative people,†he says. “They need to see a building†before they buy.
Building a five-star building in the midst of a ground-shaking recession has been unnerving, he acknowledges, and sales have been slow at times.
“Right now, we see it as a good investment. In the beginning, it was a challenge,†he says. “Of course we are hoping to make a profit. We are capitalists.â€
As the helicopter's pilot swings around and heads back to a landing site on the edge of Lake Ontario, Mr. Levitan is transfixed by the view below.
“I'm very proud to e this building rising from the ground,†says Mr. Levitan. “It's an incredible feeling.â€
blago
New Member
Interesting article + neat to see Trump Tower from that angle - thanks.
Re Scotiabank tower:
“The building is worth probably a billion dollars and we're going to be swinging a crane around,†he says. “I understand them. They have prime real estate. They don't want it compromised.â€
A billion dollars - that sounds high to me, though I'm just guessing. Does anyone have an educated idea of how much the Scotiabank tower would be worth?
Re Scotiabank tower:
“The building is worth probably a billion dollars and we're going to be swinging a crane around,†he says. “I understand them. They have prime real estate. They don't want it compromised.â€
A billion dollars - that sounds high to me, though I'm just guessing. Does anyone have an educated idea of how much the Scotiabank tower would be worth?
Strange Advance
Active Member
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http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/306891
Total value of Toronto's major downtown bank/office towers is >$5 billion. I remember seeing a breakdown of individual value in the Star one or two years ago, but I can't find it online.
caltrane74
Senior Member
Well im pretty sure the bow project in alberta is costing around 1 billion dollars... but its value will probably be higher. Scotiaplaza is at least 20 - 30% Larger than the bow and its in toronto....
caltrane74
Senior Member
just took this photo...
