Toronto Union Park | 303.26m | 58s | Oxford Properties | Pelli Clarke Pelli

Automation Gallery said:
More like city council deciding what is correct...as far as i recall, city residents were split 50/50 on a Casino
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Correct. I might add, that a downtown casino has been nixed for now. This is akin to preventing Sunday shopping for eternity. Eventually the culture will accept a downtown casino much like has been done in Sydney, Halifax, Singapore, Vancouver and countless other cities around the globe. Gambling isn't frowned upon like it used to be. 'Toronto the Good' gets to live for another few years till we revisit the issue.
 
Promotional material in support of a casino. Never a serious proposal. Not a whole lot different from the Hancock clone on the 45 Bay lot 'cept everyone understood it was for marketing purposes only.

The appeal of a downtown casino seems to stem from some mega resort similar in scale to Las Vegas including a possible supertall hotel. In reality, that is highly unlikely to happen.
 
isaidso said:
Correct. I might add, that a downtown casino has been nixed for now. This is akin to preventing Sunday shopping for eternity. Eventually the culture will accept a downtown casino much like has been done in Sydney, Halifax, Singapore, Vancouver and countless other cities around the globe. Gambling isn't frowned upon like it used to be. 'Toronto the Good' gets to live for another few years till we revisit the issue.
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Opposition to a massive downtown casino isn't necessarily opposition to gambling. It can be opposition to a giant anti-urban vacuum that sucks-in hotel rooms, restaurants and shopping for a kilometre or two around it while professing to help the city its actually turning its back on.

For the record, there are many cities that are in the alpha and beta leagues that that don't allow casinos (i.e., New York) or greatly limit their size and scope (i.e., London, Berlin, etc.)
 
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I have never viewed this project as dead....then again, I never viewed the drawings put out during the casino debate as any thing other than concepts.

When Oxford bought the convention centre I happened to be at a conference where their president was speaking (ironically, at the convention centre).....on day one (essentially) he was talking about creating a massive project that would wow the city. That was long before the casino debate and indicated it (the purchase) was a development play.

Then the casino debate came along and they interjected themselves into the conversation...who wouldn't?....but in an opportuniistic "if the city wants a casino this is how it could look if integrated with other things at their site" kinda way.

My read now is that since the casino debate is over/postponed/whatever they have gone back to the plans they were making/developing before the casino issue ever arose.
 
I'm sorry but what non-sense some of the sentiment is here. The danger is not that Toronto is saying "no" to everything it is that too much is happening in the city right now and it's unsustainable.

Oxford taking their time to plan out this development for the next development cycle is probably the only prudent course of action. If the casino was given the green light they would probably have gone ahead with the hotel and some convention space changes but I doubt the office tower component would have been built for at least a decade.
 
some old stuff I found online

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http://www.dimitriosalexis.com/
 
BTW, this is in no way dead. After 100 Adelaide is built and leased up, this will probably be the next office tower form Oxford for Toronto. Keep in mind these guys are also building in the Hudson Yards mega development. They are keeping very active in the development world and have to manage their cash flow and investments.

My personal theory is they will want to see how M+G plays out before officially submitting their proposal to the city. If M+G is deemed to tall then so will their residential/hotel component. I have a feeling the city will turn a blind eye for the office towers. No one in their right mind would say no to all those potential jobs...
 
Total unabashed speculation... SkyDome's land size is way too big for what it needs to be (a 45,000 baseball stadium). Demolish SkyDome and build a more size appropriate baseball stadium along front street, cantilevered over the tracks, provides way more development space than currently exists. Rogers makes a healthy return on their SkyDome purchase, swings a new baseball stadium out of it and we're all happy.

Probably not going to happen... although its not a crazy idea either ;)
 
fedplanner said:
My personal theory is they will want to see how M+G plays out before officially submitting their proposal to the city. If M+G is deemed to tall then so will their residential/hotel component. I have a feeling the city will turn a blind eye for the office towers. No one in their right mind would say no to all those potential jobs...
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I disagree, (excluding the most easterly portion of land), the city will fight tooth and nail to keep heights at the same level as CityPlace/Entertainment District...
And yes im predicting M+G gets approved at around 220-230m, which is why due south on the site of the InterContinental Hotel, Oxford might just be able to build tall (225m/max)...no supertalls here
 
pw20 said:
Total unabashed speculation... SkyDome's land size is way too big for what it needs to be (a 45,000 baseball stadium). Demolish SkyDome and build a more size appropriate baseball stadium along front street, cantilevered over the tracks, provides way more development space than currently exists. Rogers makes a healthy return on their SkyDome purchase, swings a new baseball stadium out of it and we're all happy.

Probably not going to happen... although its not a crazy idea either ;)
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Isn't the stadium half empty most of the time?
 
my understanding that the Skydome (or, err.... "Rogers Centre") is fairly well used.. that may change once the Argos leave, but currently its fairly well used.
 
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