Toronto Waterfront Innovation Centre | 53.03m | 11s | Waterfront Toronto | Sweeny &Co

[buildup]

Lol how is it being sold for market value if only Menkes can buy it? They haven't even disclosed what it's being sold for.

Market value would be the price on the open market. When you restrict it to this RFP process, it is not market value. Market value is the highest bidder, not the highest bidder who participated in this RFP to build a specific type of office building.

If anyone else were to offer more to WT they's get a hearing. Absent a higher offer, this is market price all things considered.

 

[Migos]

If anyone else were to offer more to WT they's get a hearing. Absent a higher offer, this is market price all things considered.

.???

This land isn't for sale. They ran an RFP to build an office building. They prequalified a few teams to build it and ended up picking Menkes. Nobody even knows the price yet.

For example, Tridel couldn't offer big bucks for it to make a condo out of it.

 

[FNTS]

That's precisely the reason why it wasn't sold to the highest bidder. WT has a mandate to build a coherent, mixed-use waterfront, and you don't necessarily get that selling to anybody just because they offer more money.

 

[DSC]

If anyone else were to offer more to WT they's get a hearing. Absent a higher offer, this is market price all things considered.

WT and the City are trying to attract employment to the Waterfront which is why they did not simply put this parcel of land on the market and accept bids (as they did for blocks further east.) It's a huge advantage to the City to be able to 'create' or 'shape' neighbourhoods and WT has been quite successful at vastly increasing the value of what was vacant land (servicing, parks, transit (maybe), high speed internet etc) and then selling it off.

 

[taal]

WT and the City are trying to attract employment to the Waterfront which is why they did not simply put this parcel of land on the market and accept bids (as they did for blocks further east.) It's a huge advantage to the City to be able to 'create' or 'shape' neighbourhoods and WT has been quite successful at vastly increasing the value of what was vacant land (servicing, parks, transit (maybe), high speed internet etc) and then selling it off.

This is true; Actually it'd be a mistake to sell the land as is; Its probably not worth much today, compared to what it likely will be in say 10->20 years; So given that this was probably the best choice, but at the end of the day it does put a lot of risk on the tax holder, which I'm personally OK with.

 

[verlander]

Such blatant plagiarism, it's a wonder they're not being sued by Snohetta. C'mon. Out of all the building forms public in the world, and all the new ones not yet imagined in this computer age, would it have killed the architects to not rip off one of our few new original buildings from just up the street? I find this just infuriating.

+1.

I'll just leave this here:

 

[Lenser]

Both look cool. There are sufficient differences between the two, as well. I'd be quite happy to look at either one from my office. The staircase on the proposed building makes for a killer grand entrance.

 

[greenleaf]

I'm not seeing the plagiarism. We're not in Tom Petty/Sam Smith territory here.

These are about as similar as say, Spire Condo and Casa, which is to say, some similarities, but very different buildings with different contexts.

 

[Mongo]

There are some superficial similarities in massing, but the cladding is very different and the specific shape is different as well, so I don't see it as being "plagiarism". If it is to be considered a product of plagiarism, then so must be 99.99% of all buildings everywhere.

 

[Tewder]

These are about as similar as say, Spire Condo and Casa, which is to say, some similarities, but very different buildings with different contexts.

A minimalist building having similarities to another minimalist building is sort of understandable though, no? These buildings are both designed to be 'one-offs'.

... and aside from certain details of finish etc. are they really all that different? The proportions, massing and design concept are strikingly alike, many of the features subtle variations of each other, i.e. the cube form, the entrance configuration and how it meets the cube on an angle, the canopy formed by the raised corner of the cube's entry, the contrasting cladding of the canopy, the staircase entry as public space, the 'floating' of the cube over a podium, the exposed angled columns, and we could go on and on. Sorry but these similarities are not superficial, the differences are.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I wouldn't go as far as saying that it is plagiarized - it's too strong an accusation for one, but the design certainly seem inspired by SLC with very similar (but uncommon) solutions (V columns, public stairs, interface with Queen's Quay). Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I suppose.

AoD

 

[Canadian Chocho]

Both look cool. There are sufficient differences between the two, as well. I'd be quite happy to look at either one from my office. The staircase on the proposed building makes for a killer grand entrance.

More Snohetta than Snothetta itself

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

More Snohetta than Snothetta itself

Not quite - the &CO design is a lot busier with more competing "themes". Snohetta designs are a lot more "confident".

AoD

 

[Canadian Chocho]

I wouldn't go as far as saying that it is plagiarized - it's too strong an accusation for one, but the design certainly seem inspired by SLC with very similar (but uncommon) solutions (V columns, public stairs, interface with Queen's Quay). Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I suppose.

AoD

To be fair Sweeny &Co seem to have expressed their affinity for V columns at QRC.

Not quite - the &CO design is a lot busier with more competing "themes".

AoD

Lol I agree, it's just the building I first imagined when when discussing a staircase on the waterfront and it happened to be Snohetta.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

To be fair Sweeny &Co seem to have expressed their affinity for V columns at QRC.

Different kind of column (symmetrical X steel, not asymmetrical cast-in-place V to the ground level at the perimeter of the building).

Lol I agree, it's just the building I first imagined when when discussing a staircase on the waterfront and it happened to be Snohetta.

That's a Snohetta you'd get with a fat budget with far less compromises like SLC. Another interesting one to look at is SFMOMA expansion under construction right now.

AoD