Toronto Union Centre | 298m | 54s | Westbank | Bjarke Ingels Group

"hole in the centre" ... Will a Tim's be located on the ground level?
 
Good grief. I don't spend much time worrying about security concerns...
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Hmmm. Is that really true? You read an article about a building housing a major node of the Canadian internet and what was one of your first thoughts?
 
Our very own version of the AT&T Long Lines building. We really are gaining on New York!

I'll be interested to see it rise. I'm pleased about the streetscape improvements, because that could really use some work. It's worse along the convention centre and RBC data centre, though. I don't know what possessed John Parkin to build all those emergency exits along the street.
 
Convention Centre wasn't Parkin, it was Crang & Boake--with a Zeidler-consulted glasshouse up front. (RBC, I don't recall; though it resembles what the Convention Centre was originally to look like...)
 
Hmmm. Is that really true? You read an article about a building housing a major node of the Canadian internet and what was one of your first thoughts?
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That it would make an awfully high-profile target?

I guess I usually think of major Internet nodes being distributed across nondescript suburban bunkers. Any building that is shiny, downtown, futuristic-looking, and houses a critical piece of network infrastructure seems destined for the climax of a second-rate sci-fi flick.
 
Okay, adma, that makes me feel a bit better. It certainly didn't really look like Parkin, and it seemed rather late for him, but that's what I had heard people saying. I guess that should teach me not to trust "people"! The glass house is alright, I guess, but they really could have accommodated more retail. I'm not one of those people who feels every street in the city needs to be lined with retail, but the convention centre and Front Street could certainly support it.
 
Parkin *did* do the Citigroup building at 123 Front, though...same vintage, and some would argue same defective urbanity...
 
^ That is one of my least favorite office buildings in the core. From the cladding to its frumpy dimensions I hate it. The fact that it is located in such a commanding position only amplifies its inappropriateness. A missile hitting this one may not be a bad thing.
 
It probably seemed like a good idea at the early 80s time, because it wasn't another of those boring, er, Parkinesque International Style boxes, and shiny metallic "high tech" skins were in vogue (cf. the prime tenant's NYC HQ).

Montreal's (rather larger) equivalent, chronologically, stylistically, and urbanistically, might be the Complexe Maisonneuve...
 
"I'll be interested to see it rise. I'm pleased about the streetscape improvements, because that could really use some work. It's worse along the convention centre and RBC data centre, though."

Agree. The city has shown a complete lack of any attempt at streetscaping or planning in this part of town, one which was/is essentially a blank canvas.
 
I like the building design. What is the use of the building now besides housing East Side Mario's?
 
With this and other developments in the area, can it be long before the parking lot on the NE corner of John and Front is built on? This has to be one of the most prime pieces of undeveloped realestate in the core. Anyone know if there has ever been a building proposed for this site in the recent past?
 
Simcoe Place Phase 3? Was there ever a master planned rendering ever released that you know of? I didn't know Cadillac owned the site across the street as well. I've always wished it would get developed sooner rather than later.
 
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