Kitsune
Senior Member
I think... and someone will confirm... 90 harbour will be parking for property tax reasons.
Toronto Sun Life Financial Tower & Harbour Plaza Residences | 236.51m | 67s | Menkes | Sweeny &Co
- Thread starter nicetommy
- Start date
I think... and someone will confirm... 90 harbour will be parking for property tax reasons.
Just look back up the thread a bit. Eleven posts back you'll see all of the equipment up there finishing up the demolition of the former WCB/OPP building. Lots more photos on previous pages.
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digitec
New Member
You mean: "It will be parking until they get the deal done for 60 Harbour St. and the
By-Law Application Approval to start building from the City, right?"
yyzer
Senior Member
why on earth would anyone pay, what was it? $80 million dollars? to own a surface parking lot, for 'tax reasons'?
/dumb suggestion
/dumb suggestion
Kitsune
Senior Member
well if there still acquiring property.... are they going to dig the land right away? Or let it sit as parking while still doing a master plan, and then start construction? I do believe there is difference in property taxes for vacant land vs a parking lot.
taal
Senior Member
Yes vacant land is cheaper ... but it's hard to say if it's enough to justify letting the site go unused.
The comment above regarding the demolition being for tax purposes is probably 100% correct ... whether it becomes a parking lot or vacant land.
Clearly this thing, whatever it is, won't get off the ground for a couple years yet - no sales / no approval / ... so in the meantime ...
The comment above regarding the demolition being for tax purposes is probably 100% correct ... whether it becomes a parking lot or vacant land.
Clearly this thing, whatever it is, won't get off the ground for a couple years yet - no sales / no approval / ... so in the meantime ...
digitec
New Member
I disagree, a huge developer like Menkes won't let the land VACANT in DOWNTOWN TORONTO!!! Their has never been any VACANT (Unused) space in Toronto, ever. To leave it vacant, Menkes is pretty much killing their company!
Ok, it will be much cheaper to leave the space vacant, but they still have big bucks to pay to the city every 3, 6, or 12 Months, whatever they choose. Although they are eligible for a "Vacant Commercial Land Tax Rebate, but that's only if the development was offices and/or retail stores, not residence. You would also be eligible for the rebate if the development was Industrial, but if Menkes builds Industrial space, then they'd be NUTS!!!
Big Daddy
Senior Member
I disagree, In terms of property taxes its cheaper, but somebody has to pay the 80,000,000 million mortgage - and that's a lot more than the realty taxes. Land banking is very expensive, but at $80mm, its nuts. your talking about $6mm per year to carry this purchase - nobody is going to do that for long, especially a seasoned developer. Time is money.
southofbloor
New Member
Regarding Digitec's comment "Their has never been any VACANT (Unused) space in Toronto, ever." Less than 10 years ago the lands west of the York Street were still only used by field mice.
digitec
New Member
Yes, your right. Sorry, I was supposed to say in the last 5 years. 10 years is a bit too far back.
Jasonzed
Senior Member
from today
E.B.
Active Member
In today's Globe & Mail
full article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...he-survived-the-wrecking-ball/article2187121/
“We were ordered to save it,†explains Ron Kepic, an estimator with Progreen Demolition, “so that nothing would fall, or hit it, or disturb it in any way.†When asked whether it was unusual to be asked to salvage art from a building, Mr. Kepic laughed. “This is a little different type of art, eh?â€
When it came to what would come of the piece, though, Mr. Kepic couldn’t say – and neither could anyone else. Progreen president Paolo Provenzano said he had “no informationâ€; HOOPP had no comment. Both pointed, instead, to Menkes, who eventually said, through a spokesperson, that they were “preserving the piece, but right now the future plans for it have not been finalized.†Roy Budgell, a Menkes general manager at the nearby Telus Tower, could say only that “a condo development with a possible commercial tower†was planned for 90 Harbour.
full article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...he-survived-the-wrecking-ball/article2187121/
“We were ordered to save it,†explains Ron Kepic, an estimator with Progreen Demolition, “so that nothing would fall, or hit it, or disturb it in any way.†When asked whether it was unusual to be asked to salvage art from a building, Mr. Kepic laughed. “This is a little different type of art, eh?â€
When it came to what would come of the piece, though, Mr. Kepic couldn’t say – and neither could anyone else. Progreen president Paolo Provenzano said he had “no informationâ€; HOOPP had no comment. Both pointed, instead, to Menkes, who eventually said, through a spokesperson, that they were “preserving the piece, but right now the future plans for it have not been finalized.†Roy Budgell, a Menkes general manager at the nearby Telus Tower, could say only that “a condo development with a possible commercial tower†was planned for 90 Harbour.
Its a Banksy they are saving.
See here. http://davidtopping.tumblr.com/post/10865851016/saving-banksy
See here. http://davidtopping.tumblr.com/post/10865851016/saving-banksy
E.B.
Active Member
I know it's a Banksy but look at the bottom of the article.
they are preserving the banksy art piece and they don't know what the future plans are for the art work. But the Menkes manager is saying that they are building a condo and possibly a commercial tower
Banksy was here. And he survived the wrecking ball
david topping
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Sep. 30, 2011 7:04PM EDT
It wasn’t long after one of the world’s most famous artists landed in Toronto that his work started disappearing.
Banksy, the pseudonymous street artist who earned an international following for his sly, winking work – like the mounted, mini-missile-packing beetle he snuck into the American Museum of Natural History (scientific name: “Withus Oragainstus”), or the “What are you looking at?” stencil he painted within sight of a security camera at a London tube station – put seven pieces up here in May, 2010. Some ended up buried beneath paint or preserved behind Plexiglas, and another, scrawled on a fallen tree, became woodchips before almost anyone could see it.
But now, more than a year later, one piece’s fate is a little less clear.
Pinned between the Gardiner and one of the expressway’s off-ramps in the denser-than-dense part of downtown Toronto, at 90 Harbour Street, was, until very recently, a five-storey brick-and-concrete office building. From 1953 until 1973, it was home to what’s now the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and from 1975 to 1995, it was the Ontario Provincial Police’s headquarters. After, while the provincial government tried to sell the land it was on, the building was mostly used for film and television shoots.
Its first real starring role, however, came when Banksy painted a security guard, clutching a leashed pink balloon dog, onto one of the building's north-facing concrete pillars. That piece stood while, on February 14, 2011, a demolition permit was issued for the building. The piece stood while, on July 15, the province finally sold the land, to the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and Menkes Development Ltd. And Banksy’s piece stood while, shortly thereafter, demolition of the building around it began. Today, the lone pillar is one of the last things standing at the fenced-in site, with plywood and what looks like polystyrene foam covering the art on it.
“We were ordered to save it,” explains Ron Kepic, an estimator with Progreen Demolition, “so that nothing would fall, or hit it, or disturb it in any way.” When asked whether it was unusual to be asked to salvage art from a building, Mr. Kepic laughed. “This is a little different type of art, eh?”
When it came to what would come of the piece, though, Mr. Kepic couldn’t say – and neither could anyone else. Progreen president Paolo Provenzano said he had “no information”; HOOPP had no comment. Both pointed, instead, to Menkes, who eventually said, through a spokesperson, that they were “preserving the piece, but right now the future plans for it have not been finalized.” Roy Budgell, a Menkes general manager at the nearby Telus Tower, could say only that “a condo development with a possible commercial tower” was planned for 90 Harbour.
So what, then, of Banksy? “I think with the work he puts up on the street – that's what its life is, whether people clean over it or tag over it or do whatever to it – that's why it's there; that's the whole point,” explains Simon Cole, director of the west-end Show & Tell Gallery, which frequently features street artists. Indeed, after Banksy’s piece first went up, it wasn’t long before other artists put a dodo on top of the guard’s head, and made the dog growl. Someone wrote “Robbin’ Banksy” beside it. “Hopefully it's still put in the public realm,” Mr. Cole continues, “so people can enjoy it, or paint over it, or do whatever they want to it.”
Other than hide it, of course.
they are preserving the banksy art piece and they don't know what the future plans are for the art work. But the Menkes manager is saying that they are building a condo and possibly a commercial tower
Banksy was here. And he survived the wrecking ball
david topping
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Sep. 30, 2011 7:04PM EDT
It wasn’t long after one of the world’s most famous artists landed in Toronto that his work started disappearing.
Banksy, the pseudonymous street artist who earned an international following for his sly, winking work – like the mounted, mini-missile-packing beetle he snuck into the American Museum of Natural History (scientific name: “Withus Oragainstus”), or the “What are you looking at?” stencil he painted within sight of a security camera at a London tube station – put seven pieces up here in May, 2010. Some ended up buried beneath paint or preserved behind Plexiglas, and another, scrawled on a fallen tree, became woodchips before almost anyone could see it.
But now, more than a year later, one piece’s fate is a little less clear.
Pinned between the Gardiner and one of the expressway’s off-ramps in the denser-than-dense part of downtown Toronto, at 90 Harbour Street, was, until very recently, a five-storey brick-and-concrete office building. From 1953 until 1973, it was home to what’s now the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, and from 1975 to 1995, it was the Ontario Provincial Police’s headquarters. After, while the provincial government tried to sell the land it was on, the building was mostly used for film and television shoots.
Its first real starring role, however, came when Banksy painted a security guard, clutching a leashed pink balloon dog, onto one of the building's north-facing concrete pillars. That piece stood while, on February 14, 2011, a demolition permit was issued for the building. The piece stood while, on July 15, the province finally sold the land, to the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and Menkes Development Ltd. And Banksy’s piece stood while, shortly thereafter, demolition of the building around it began. Today, the lone pillar is one of the last things standing at the fenced-in site, with plywood and what looks like polystyrene foam covering the art on it.
“We were ordered to save it,” explains Ron Kepic, an estimator with Progreen Demolition, “so that nothing would fall, or hit it, or disturb it in any way.” When asked whether it was unusual to be asked to salvage art from a building, Mr. Kepic laughed. “This is a little different type of art, eh?”
When it came to what would come of the piece, though, Mr. Kepic couldn’t say – and neither could anyone else. Progreen president Paolo Provenzano said he had “no information”; HOOPP had no comment. Both pointed, instead, to Menkes, who eventually said, through a spokesperson, that they were “preserving the piece, but right now the future plans for it have not been finalized.” Roy Budgell, a Menkes general manager at the nearby Telus Tower, could say only that “a condo development with a possible commercial tower” was planned for 90 Harbour.
So what, then, of Banksy? “I think with the work he puts up on the street – that's what its life is, whether people clean over it or tag over it or do whatever to it – that's why it's there; that's the whole point,” explains Simon Cole, director of the west-end Show & Tell Gallery, which frequently features street artists. Indeed, after Banksy’s piece first went up, it wasn’t long before other artists put a dodo on top of the guard’s head, and made the dog growl. Someone wrote “Robbin’ Banksy” beside it. “Hopefully it's still put in the public realm,” Mr. Cole continues, “so people can enjoy it, or paint over it, or do whatever they want to it.”
Other than hide it, of course.
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AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
E.B.
re: Commercial tower - we know, you've already posted that article once (thanks), no need to do so again.
AoD
re: Commercial tower - we know, you've already posted that article once (thanks), no need to do so again.
AoD