Toronto Sun Life Financial Tower & Harbour Plaza Residences | 236.51m | 67s | Menkes | Sweeny &Co

Mongo said:
Yeah, the pdf linked to a few posts up suggests a coverage of 12x. So using that number, 108,900 x 12 = 1,306,800 sq. ft.

Minus 408,375 for the (rather large) podium leaves 898,425 sq. ft. for the tower(s). At 15,000 sq. ft. per storey, that's enough for 60 storeys.

So a large 5-storey podium covering 75% of the block, topped by a single 60-storey tower (for a total of 65 storeys) would fit the city's own density guidelines, without appealing to the OMB for more density.

Or on the other extreme, perhaps an 87-storey tower (or two towers adding up to 87 storeys) without a podium at all. This would also fit the current density limits for the site.
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from the pdf ... 90 H is a 160,000 sf, 5-storey office building with 3-storey wings in 1953

Frontages:
Harbour Street - 557 feet
York Street - 160 feet
Lakeshore Blvd. – 537 feet


i'm thinking that 2 x 40-45s towers of 12,000 sq ft floorplates will be built next to the west and east wings incorporating the existing building as its' podium; or 1 supertall of 80s+ on top of current building and convert the parking lots to greenspace.
 
Mongo said:
According to this sales brochure, the current allowable density is 6 times coverage, but it has considerable potential to be rezoned up to 12 times coverage. Since it is the City that is trying to sell the land, this sounds like a reasonable assurance and not just realtor's spin.
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Actually it is the Province that is selling the land and assisting the developer in getting whatever coverage they can from the city. I'm just saying that we shouldn't assume 12 times is all that is available on such a prime site.
 
maestro said:
AFAIK, the city is still debating whether to unload of the Harbour Commission lands so I'm not sure why it's continually brought up in this thread. Whatever happens, it won't be part of this development.
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No, thats 60 Harbour street, a whole different can of worms...what a great place to build Toronto's first Casino Hotel, a 30-35 storey well designed wrap-around structure facing Bay street and incorporating the Harbour Commission building as its main Casino entrance.
Hahaha...now say im loosing my mind.:D Anyways sorry to get off topic and lets get back to 90 Harbour Street, which most likely will happen much sooner than this.
 
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I still think you guys are likely off base. The brokerage on behalf of the province will chose a commercial developer (if there is one) over any residential developers. It could be two years or twenty before we see anything built; replacing a surface parking lot in either case.
 
In terms of future pedestrian access to this plot of land:

The city made sure that the PATH network within both the ACC and MLS was built so that it could be extended under the Gardiner (and over the Lake Shore) into this building: two pedestrian bridges, in other words, may link this building to the network north of the Gardiner.

Also, the plan is to replace the current exit ramps from the Gardiner to Yonge (the straight ramp) and to Bay & York (the circular one) with one straight ramp that will touch down at York Street. The effect of that would be to connect visually whatever is built at 90 Harbour with a large green square across the street to the south: the whole area will become far more appealing to walk in. (Whether the plan to replace the ramps persists under the Ford regime, and then when it might happen, is open to speculation.)

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maestro said:
I still think you guys are likely off base. The brokerage on behalf of the province will chose a commercial developer (if there is one) over any residential developers. It could be two years or twenty before we see anything built; replacing a surface parking lot in either case.
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Yeah but in this Boomtown...'Money talks and bullshit walks."
 
maestro said:
Do you even know what you are sayin'?
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Ok, let me clarify it......Toronto happens to be in a building boom at the moment, also at the moment the province happens to be in the position to unload that piece of property to whom ever gives them the right amount of cash, after that they couldn't care less of what gets built there.
I dont believe that this property (90 Harbour) is one that the City of Toronto has designated strictly for office development, therefore a couple condo towers will most likely be built at this location, and it wont be in no 20 years.
Actually mark my words, on this one.. we will probably hear about the big ones before the years end.
 
Say the province doesn't care about what gets built there. You don't have a problem with it? The province as with the city should be above profiteering and make certain a major part of any deal includes the appropriate useage for the site.

Condos are the lowest common denominator. A developer with resources will make a helluva lot more sitting up to 20 years waiting for the right moment in the commercial office market to build than constructing two condo towers tomorrow.
 
maestro said:
Say the province doesn't care about what gets built there. You don't have a problem with it? The province as with the city should be above profiteering and make certain a major part of any deal includes the appropriate useage for the site.

Condos are the lowest common denominator. A developer with resources will make a helluva lot more sitting up to 20 years waiting for the right moment in the commercial office market to build than constructing two condo towers tomorrow.
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That's nonsense. A condo developer gets in takes his cash and goes on his way.

If you buy this piece of property for let's say $20M the cost of carrying this land will burn a hole in your pocket very quickly much less wait twenty years. To carry this property twenty years would cost you more than a million a year to carry - not including taxes. The key is to limit your carry because it impacts your bottom line.

There is a short window here because the province wants cash so Ontario Realty Corp has been instructed to sell off pieces of property that will net a big return with little negative consequences (public opposition) and this is definitely one of them. There is currently nobody living nearby to complain about height (remember ICE? - absolutely no objection to the 67 stories) and the existing building is not historically significant. I would be shocked if the province and developer weren't trying to get at least what ICE got or more. The more they get approval for the more the province is likely to get for the land. There is no down side here.
 
The site is fenced off, they are unloading equipment. We missed this one, they are starting construction and we don't know what exactly this is going to be.
 
Zeiss said:
The site is fenced off, they are unloading equipment. We missed this one, they are starting construction and we don't know what exactly this is going to be.
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I doubt we missed anything..this is most likely the approved demolition of the building on that property..they might just keep and store some of the facade for future development.
 
Zeiss said:
The site is fenced off, they are unloading equipment. We missed this one, they are starting construction and we don't know what exactly this is going to be.
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There is a valid Demolitio Permit, applied for in January 2011, approved ?? (Note that it says Purpose: Office` but that can certainly change, there is no Development Application active.

Application: Demolition Folder (DM) Status: Permit Issued

Location: 90 HARBOUR ST
TORONTO ON

Ward 28: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 11 110475 DEM 00 DM Issued Date: Feb 14, 2011

Project: Office Demolition

Description: Proposal to demolish existing five storey office building.
 
Well on that note:

Here's a picture taken half a century ago when 90 Harbour was getting built:

Harbour Yard was built in the early 1950s as an extra place to store Yonge trailer trains. Located between York and Bay Streets just north of Queens Quay (note the Royal York Hotel in the background) it was the final resting place of a number of the Witt cars. This 1953 shot of 2518 was donated by Curt Frey from the collection of Julian Bernard
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streetcar-4501-10.jpg

(Image courtesy Toronto Transit website found here: http://transit.toronto.on.ca/streetcar/4501.shtml )
 
Just got back from a walk around the waterfront, and the building is in the process of coming down. There are two large holes on the west side, and a pile of debris.
 
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