Rumours continue to fly regarding the death of Woodbine Live. Last week in an interview with Global Toronto, while discussing Rob Ford's campaign, George Smitherman mentioned in passing the project is dead. "The one that keeps coming back to me is Woodbine Live. In every all-candidates meeting...

Buried in the middle of an article about school enrolment levels in Rexdale, there's an interesting quotation from a TDSB spokesperson about Phase 2 of Woodbine Live (that's the proposed residential/office portion). "The anticipated enrolment from the 555 Rexdale Boulevard (Woodbine Live -...

This is not possible. The developers haven't received final approvals for Woodbine Live Phase 1 (Site Plan and Plan of Subdivision). If the developers have started the building hotel, they are going to get in a lot of trouble! They might be prepping the site for the future development, but to...

I think it's too soon to say Fairmont is out of the picture. They currently operate (but don't own) the Royal York, and there's no reason to rule them out as the operator at the Block 7B condo-hotel. Also, I agree there's about to be a flood of luxury hotel rooms downtown, but the industry...

Rezoning approved! The rezoning for 56 Blue Jays Way has been approved by City Council (tentatively, I guess, until this session of Council ends).

Hotel Gansevoort proposal dead? Not sure how reliable it is, but... http://www.martiniboys.com/Toronto/articles/Gansevoort-Toronto-Hotel-is-a-No-Go-13216.html According to this unsourced report, the Hotel Gansevoort is no dice.

The public meeting on Monday was kind of a wash. Woodbine/Cordish planned a kind of drop-in style format, and a there was no public presentation or Q & A. There was no information on potential residential development partners. The plans that were up and available were conceptual to say the...

Phase 2 public meeting There's a public meeting for Phase 2 of Woodbine Live tonight (June 15th at 6pm) at the Racetrack. The developers will be presenting their plans for the residential/office portion of the project.

Actually, the developers will receive at least two different types of public subsidy so far. One is a property tax rebate called a TIEG, which will mean about $120 million in deferred property taxes over 20 years. The other is a Development Charge exemption that could amount to an additional $8...

I'm not sure of the reason for the OMB hearing. We might have to wait until the hearing to find out. (Normally you can call the OMB and request an appointment to see any active or closed file, but given that it's only two days away I imagine it would be easier just to check out the hearing...)

Shangri La and the City at the OMB The developers of the Shangri La are taking the City of Toronto to the OMB. The next hearing is on Friday, November 7th at 10am. http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/ecs/CaseDetail.aspx?n=PL081213

Hyatt Regency proposal in trouble? Sagecrest II LLC, the mother company of the local subsidiary that bought the Regal Constellation, has filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut. The (very) long list of creditors includes Terrasan, the company currently doing demolition at the site, as well as...

426 University applications submitted OPA/Rezoning and Site Plan Applications for 426 University have been filed with the city. http://www.toronto.ca/planning/development_portfolio/pdf/non_residential_may_2008.pdf