And another:
REDEVELOPMENT
An 80-storey tower reclaims the lost corner of Yonge and Bloor
DEREK RAYMAKER
From Friday's Globe and Mail
November 2, 2007 at 12:00 AM EDT
So long, Harvey's. Hello, Hy's Steakhouse.
The southeast corner of Bloor and Yonge streets has long been a festering blight on the city, according to the self-appointed custodians of Toronto iconography. This February, however, its fast-food joints and kitsch stores will be on the business end of sledgehammers and backhoes. When the rubble is cleared, the 80-storey, $450-million 1 Bloor Street East will rise on the famous corner.
And unlike other skyscraping high-rises throughout downtown Toronto, few people seem to mind.
This particular project, which includes retail space and a hotel, is under the direction of Kazakhstan-based Bazis International and has set a land-speed record from concept to approval to sales launch. But the quest to bring something appropriate to the storied intersection has been a 20-year journey.
The project's powerful yet graceful rendered figure, overseen by Toronto architect and Bazis's design and construction director, Roy Varacalli, appears to have scored the thumbs-up from even the crankiest of architecture critics, (though our own John Bentley Mays has his reservations; see his column above.).
Mr. Varacalli started working with Bazis on the design team for Crystal Blu, a 38-storey high-rise now under construction on Balmuto Street, a block west of the 1 Bloor site. At the time, he was a partner in Burka Varacalli Architects. For 1 Bloor, he left the firm and became a partner and senior executive with Bazis.
He toured the company's myriad construction projects around the world, concentrated mostly in Russia.
"I learned they did things very quickly, and their projects are realized very quickly," Mr. Varacalli said. Techniques included employing three shifts of workers a day, multiple crane systems and innovation in materials, he added.
At least 100 people crammed the presentation centre for 1 Bloor on Monday night, sipping vodka-based cocktails and nibbling on rich hors d'oeuvres, to take a first glimpse at some of the model suite layouts. They also heard Mayor David Miller and area councillor Kyle Rae, fresh from pushing the municipal land-transfer tax through council, speak effusively of the project and all that it would mean to the city's most famous intersection.
Attendees included consultants and real estate agents representing interested buyers. Some were recent immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe who'd done well for themselves in Canada. Some of these particular potential buyers, while duly admiring the slick finishes of the model suite, admitted they were definitely going to purchase a suite, maybe two, as investment properties.
On their way out of the overcrowded presentation centre, a pair of cheerful, fetching ladies handed out a hefty catalogue of suite layouts and dazzling photos and renderings.
Mr. Rae, never shy to offer an opinion, has been too happy to run down the corner's current tenants (which includes, yes, Harvey's) and their low-rent quarters, and foist lavish praise upon the promise held by Bazis's 1 Bloor.
Mr. Rae has a point. But the city has no shortage of so-called revitalization structures that are only marginally more appealing than the blight they replaced. Look only as far as Dundas Square and some of the glass catastrophes among the CityPlace communities on the railway lands west of the Rogers Centre.
Luckily, 1 Bloor goes a long way toward raising the standard for high-rise design. Mr. Varacalli, who grew up in Toronto, certainly felt the pressure in delivering something that would cut a striking figure on a very important corner.
"I want it to be truly memorable," he said. "I was particularly interested in how it relates to the skyline, but also how it relates at the street level and the human scale."
To that end, Bazis purchased property south to Hayden Street, a relatively quiet side street going east from Yonge. It's here where you'll find the entrance to the condominium portion of the project, 564 suites from the 18th to 77th floor.
The first six floors above the retail platform will be a hotel, with an entrance on Bloor instead. An L-shaped steel frame dissects the entire building, settling into a cornice separating the street-level glass façade from the residences above.
Another innovative feature 1 Bloor brings to the table is the use of lanais. These are essentially extra balconies, but with moveable glass walls that can enclose the space in cooler weather.
"On a warm day it will look porous, but on a cold day it will look like a solid block," Mr. Varacalli said. "It will be able to produce a pixilated façade."
Sales officially launched Tuesday morning, ranging from $355,000 to more than $2-million for pre-registered potential buyers, with sizes ranging from 540 to 2,110 square feet (excluding lanai space). A large majority of the suites, even the smallest ones, have lanais and balconies.
Extra costs include $5,000 for a locker and $45,000 for a parking spot (available only for suites larger than 700 square feet).
AoD