Toronto The One | 328.4m | 91s | Mizrahi Developments | Foster + Partners

[david-realtor]

For the love of God, if residents of Toronto are so concerned about the lack of an additional store in the city, fire off an e-mail to the company. People keep whining on the streets about "not enough Apple stores" which I can see is true. These same people should put their money where their mouth is and complain to the company. Developers aren't going to listen unless it is in their best interests.

Developers want top dollar and Apple is one of those that will pay top dollar, my personal feeling is that Apple adds nothing to this this even in a flagship location such as this. Maybe I am getting too old

 

[maestro]

I assume he wants those retailers paying Bloor street rent as soon as possible, this should be an interesting project to watch during construction. As for his Apple store comments, he's a salesman and I'll believe it when I see it.

I was under the impression he sold off or at least a majority stake of the retail to a REIT. I'm sure they are demanding an aggressive timetable to Mizrahi if it's true the space has bee. Preleased.

 

[Johnny Au]

Oh Almighty Steve Jobs,

Thou sayeth that every one of your adherents must be able to book a Genius Bar appointment within one day, even for the holiest Macs.

We adherents demand that there be a temple dedicated to your divine products in Yorkville. The one in Eaton Centre is a fire hazard.



 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

One of the most interesting things about the project is the internal structure - there are some massive internal diagrids that you can get a hint of in the architectural plans that is clearly used to support the core of the tower so that the ground floor retail can be as open as possible. That stuff is totally Foster.

(From The One, Dec 2015 Architectural Plans)

AoD

 

[Armour]

If the current Apple stores are too busy, then why not order their products online?

 

[devjohnson]

I remember when the first Apple store opened in Yorkdale Mall and I was in line to get a 60 GB iPod colour for $600+ . I can understand the hype THAN when there was no Apple store anywhere else and electronics of similar nature were slim pickings, the next best Mp3 player was at that time was much bulkier, but now every major electronics retailer carries apple products and there are more than enough "flagship" stores in the GTA. As for the comment about overcrowding at the "Genius bar", there is something called the internet where 80% of problems you have can be solved by couch surfing. I have hardly if ever seen someone take in a apple product for hardware issues.

+1. Off topic, but the only time one needs to go into the Apple Store for technical support is usually for a broken/non-functioning phone that needs replacing or a repair. Most Genius Bar issues seem to be software problems, which can be solved by Apple Support online or over the phone for free. The role of the Apple Store is changing from what it was 10 years ago, however are still fantastic showrooms for Apple, and still leverage the brand into a "premium" status.

On topic. The retail component. I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple have the main level (considering the open concept design from Foster). Then again, this would mean most of the other retailers in The One would be on the second level and above. Once you hit floor two, I would assume rent is considerably cheaper than a street-facing store. I wonder if the retailers he has lined up will make up for the large amount of money he used to buy the land.

 

[Civdis]

I know for a fact some of his financing is privately being arranged by Toronto's wealthy Jewish families. Direct borrowing.

I can confirm this

 

[Contra]

Excited to see a proper Foster building done. Pharmacy is fantastic but I can't wait to see open interiors similar to Hearst Tower or St. Mary's Axe in London.

 

[Lenser]

isn't that at Bay + King?

It's debatable which intersection in this city defines its importance. I think there's room for more than one and consider the notion of one single 'premiere' corner a bit overblown. Nevertheless, Yonge and Bloor is pretty prime territory and it's going to be a dramatically different location in just a few years.

 

[Benito]

From this morning.

 

[NotARealtor]

^ this.

Excellent marketing choice to tap into people's natural draw towards greenery and beauty of nature in the dull grey of winter.


Although if the 4 storey high living wall becomes a reality, that would be okay too.

You are 100% correct. This is just a marketing tactic. Mizrahi uses greenery to soften the looks of his buildings and sell them to people. My friends bought at 133 Hazelton and got a tour of the presentation gallery from Mr. Mizrahi himself. Amongst other false promises he made to them, he sold them on the idea of having balconies more than 10 feet in depth and covered on the edge with evergreens. He showed them the renderings of the building with the greenery .

Well the building was completed almost a year ago. The balconies are less than 7 feet deep, some are under 5 feet deep. And the greenery was never put into the building.

I'm sure they are making these false promises to soften the community's reaction to another tower and another 6 years of construction. And those "winter gardens" they keep advertising, I would not be surprised if they turn out to be a small balcony with glass railing.

 

[NotARealtor]

For those who don't know, this is top-down excavation:

View attachment 65145

Ask any structural engineer and excavation company and they will tell you this method is not going to work on this site and will end up costing more money than the savings of time and interest on the borrowed money.

All of a sudden you need to raise the ceiling height of all basement levels so that you can fit mini excavators with enough clearance to dig below constructed floors. You have to use bobcats and mini excavators to move the soil around, form the walls, columns, because you are constructing inside a parking garage with columns, shoring jacks, .... and then there's the problem of taking the soil out. You can't put a crane in easily because well you have not excavated down to the lowest level to put a crane pad in and there's no room for a crane to be put outside of the site. So you need to drive the soil up the ramp up to grade where, well in theory they are building above you.

Top-Down construction is a great idea on paper but when it comes to practice it doesn't work on many sites. Specially one as tight as this. So I don't expect the building to start going up until they first dig all the way down and build back up.

 

[cogito ergo]

mini excavators? underground??
nonsense!!

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

Top-Down construction is a great idea on paper but when it comes to practice it doesn't work on many sites. Specially one as tight as this. So I don't expect the building to start going up until they first dig all the way down and build back up.

They seem to be going ok at 480 University with the parking garage being deepened there

 

[Civdis]

Is this project approved at this height and if not, is it likely to be approved?