Toronto The Carlaw | ?m | 12s | Streetcar | TACT Architecture

Having lived in the area my entire life, my father actually used to run a youth theatre group out of the space beside 345 carlaw in the 80's. I'm surprised nobody has asked what was there before the townhomes on Filmic where built. How did the people on Pape react when these ugly townhouses were built in their backyards?
There is always "something" there before whats there now.

I remember this area since I was a kid, it was dismal to say the least. Toothpaste factories spewing god knows what out on carlaw every hour, train tracks cutting through the area, with plenty of homeless sipping anti-freeze and sleeping near the tracks in makeshift shacks. We could always pine for the "old" days where nobody wanted to live in the area, and your home was valued waaaaay under the city average.

Also I could have sworn that as I walked to the gym this morning along dundas, the construction elevator had 11 floors marked on it's track at flatiron.
 
Sorry BeeRich, but the building looks rather appropriate for the immediate context.

Travis:

I think neighbourhood groups (whether they are "hard" NIMBY or not) recognized UT as a good avenue for information and having their views heard. Not a bad thing.

AoD
 
paraone said:
Also I could have sworn that as I walked to the gym this morning along dundas, the construction elevator had 11 floors marked on it's track at flatiron.
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Shhh... you're going to make BeeRich mad. She's counted it a NUMBER of times, and it most definitely couldn't be 11 stories. Of course, she could have been using the 'counting on only fingers' method, which stops at eight...

I'm still not sure of my overall opinion of Streetcar. I haven't seen inside any suites, but their buildings (with the notable exception of the QC Vinegar condo) don't always seem to have a very nice finish on them. The Corktown might change my opinion, as it's getting the newly ubiquitous black brick look, which I really find attractive.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Shhh... you're going to make BeeRich mad. She's counted it a NUMBER of times, and it most definitely couldn't be 11 stories. Of course, she could have been using the 'counting on only fingers' method, which stops at eight...

I'm still not sure of my overall opinion of Streetcar. I haven't seen inside any suites, but their buildings (with the notable exception of the QC Vinegar condo) don't always seem to have a very nice finish on them. The Corktown might change my opinion, as it's getting the newly ubiquitous black brick look, which I really find attractive.
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Streetcar's developments in Corktown look fine from the second floor up but at street level they fail. The grey brick, for some reason, always stops at the 2nd floor. Even the new building going up near River Street will have ugly precast on the first floor and grey brick above. It would look so much better if it was all brick, so I have no idea why they would do that. Another problem is the cheap precast that they use on the first floor of their condos, always chips and seems to get stained or discoloured very easily. The precast on their last tower already looks discoloured and it's not even nearly finished. I assume this is just due to cheap quality precast.
 
urbandreamer said:
BeeRich does have a point though. Charming Victorian neighbourhoods do work without crazy towers everywhere. However, those Brad Lamb projects on Carlaw are beautiful, and appropriate density for the street.
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In the context of Carlaw/South Riverdale, particularly this project, BeeRich doesn't have a leg to stand on. If The Carlaw was on the corner of Dundas + Pape, that would be something else entirely. But it's not.
 
Streetcar has opened a showroom for The Carlaw. It was open on the weekend and Mrs. RRR and I stopped by (despite the annoying comments by staff that it was a 'VIP event', they were happy to let us wander around once we had given an e-mail address.) The eastern boundary issue has been resolved with a row of townhomes that face into the interior courtyard with a tiny backyard towards the TH on Filmic. They will be ultra-thin with very little outdoor space.

The rest of the condos seem very small, too. It looks like they've shoehorned in as many doors as possible. Otherwise, the building looks good, but I'm much more impressed with WorkLofts.
 
17 December 2011: Realized that sadly this development will block views of BJL's fantastic Flat Iron. Checked out the sales centre today as well to figure out if this project is @RenderPornStar worthy. I'm still not convinced. The brick is to be brownish red, not the purple tint as seen in the renderings. It will either look great or appalling.

032zte.jpg


Apparently it's 50% sold.
 
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I think the location is great, but these units look like they are going to be small. Definitely not going to see many families move in here. Also watch out for Streetcar Developments, they are becoming notorious for their shoddy workmanship. The architecture might look decent on paper, but I'm curious to see how many defects are in the building once it gets built - if it's anything like the problems they've been having at Corktown or Gladstone, it's going to be a nightmare for whoever moves in or lives in the area.
 
If the DRL is approved and runs along the west flank of the CN alignment before turning up Pape, (and the patch of trees on the east side of Wardell might be the sort of place to drop a station box) this building will become a lot nearer the norm than what currently exists.
 
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