khris
Senior Member
Did you buy a unit in this building?
If you'd rather stand behind a Canadian builder, you shouldn't have bought a unit in the first place.
You're acting kind of childish.
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Did you buy a unit in this building?
If you'd rather stand behind a Canadian builder, you shouldn't have bought a unit in the first place.
You're acting kind of childish.
marcus_a_j
Senior Member
1 Bloor E and TLS: both the subject of receivership proceedings (of sort)
Y&B and Y&D: 2 of the 3 proposed intersections to get scramble crossings.
New conspiracy theory? Too bad Bay and Bloor is already built up.
Y&B and Y&D: 2 of the 3 proposed intersections to get scramble crossings.
New conspiracy theory? Too bad Bay and Bloor is already built up.
Pips
New Member
Newbies
And you were never one yourself. Boy are we pompous asses when we get onto a relatively annonymous site.
Why can't we deal with issues rather than egos?
And you were never one yourself. Boy are we pompous asses when we get onto a relatively annonymous site.
Why can't we deal with issues rather than egos?
Redroom Studios
Senior Member
he never said anything negative... he was just observing how much interest that this topic is creating and how many new people felt motivated to make their first posts on this thread.
relax! and welcome....
relax! and welcome....
Pips
New Member
Newbies
"crawled from under rocks" isn't negative?
"crawled from under rocks" isn't negative?
Redroom Studios
Senior Member
I guess its all in your perspective... seems like a harmless figure of speech to me. no need to be so sensitive though.
Ramako
Moderator
i.e. "appeared from out of nowhere". He implies that you were hiding, not that you're some kind of insect-like creature.
Pips
New Member
Hiding
This site should and could be amazing, but if you go through the threads, there is a huge amount of negative vibe and disrespect. It's supposed to be about the architecture, proposed developments and their impact. Most people on the site, respectfully, can only voice their personal tastes since they are not in the development business. My complaint is that the site's purpose is being usurped by negative and really hostile comments. It should be a fraternity, not a flaming screaming match. If anyone agrees, your input would be welcome. I'm really interested in the newest developments and would like to discuss them, but if I'm deemed to have just crawled out from under a rock, them perhaps the site is not for me.
This site should and could be amazing, but if you go through the threads, there is a huge amount of negative vibe and disrespect. It's supposed to be about the architecture, proposed developments and their impact. Most people on the site, respectfully, can only voice their personal tastes since they are not in the development business. My complaint is that the site's purpose is being usurped by negative and really hostile comments. It should be a fraternity, not a flaming screaming match. If anyone agrees, your input would be welcome. I'm really interested in the newest developments and would like to discuss them, but if I'm deemed to have just crawled out from under a rock, them perhaps the site is not for me.
Pips, don't take the negativity personally. Sometimes we do get "newbies" who show up only to criticize a particular development, and then disappear again, or who then go on a tirade for many posts before getting booted off. Sometimes the newbies are those who were just booted trying to join again. It makes some longtime members suspicious.
In any case, post intelligently (your post above shows you can), and you'll get respect here!
Welcome to the forum, sorry about the turbulence upon entry.
42
In any case, post intelligently (your post above shows you can), and you'll get respect here!
Welcome to the forum, sorry about the turbulence upon entry.
42
H
Hydrogen
Guest
That is too funny Eastside. Nice one!
Pips
New Member
Interchange42.
Thanks for the message.
I don't want to rock any boats, I just think people should be polite. It's an interesting site and I would like to become a member in good standing with perhaps a smidge of intelligent comment on developments.
Thanks
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
67's? 50 Maybe?
Developer makes last-ditch bid to resurrect Yonge-Bloor tower
Jul 21, 2009 04:30 AM
Kevin Donovan
Staff Reporter
A Kazakhstan-backed developer has staved off receivership proceedings with a last-minute deal to pay off a defaulted $46 million loan on land at Toronto's Yonge-Bloor intersection.
But it's becoming clear the original 80-storey glass tower planned by Bazis International of Kazakhstan will not proceed. What will be built on the southeast corner that the developer called the "epicentre of Canada" is unclear. Bazis has said in recent court documents the project will be downsized to 67 floors, but buyers suspect it will be even smaller, which will affect their investment.
"They fooled a lot of us based on 80 storeys high," said Ray Tabrizi, a Toronto man who purchased a unit on the 42nd floor two years ago. Tabrizi said he paid a $125,000 down payment toward the $500,000 price. He has tried over the past two years to find out why the project was in limbo, but said the developer won't tell him and has not returned his money, as asked.
"They kept saying the project was proceeding, but would never say when. They had a million excuses: No building permit, the ground was too frozen. Now, I just want my money back," said Tabrizi, who works in sales with a flooring company and purchased the unit as an investment for his family.
Yesterday, a Toronto judge approved a deal between Bazis and a consortium of three Toronto businessmen owed $46 million for the land purchase. Bazis's Canadian representative, Michael Gold, admitted prior to court that the loan was in default, but said in a statement that was "not unusual given the global lending crisis."
No details of the deal were made public. However, Bazis lawyer Lawrence Thacker said Bazis has made "commitments to the lender."
The matter will go back to court on Aug. 18 if the terms of the court-approved settlement are breached. The terms were to be released tomorrow morning by the court.
A Star story on Saturday revealed the project was in trouble. First the land loan was in default, then, when faced with the prospect of receivership, Gold came up with the promise of a $195 million loan from a Kazakhstan bank. That bank, called BTA, is under criminal investigation in Kazakhstan over allegations that $1 billion in assets are missing.
The lender of the $46 million stated in court documents that the BTA loan was not a credible source of funding, although Gold argued it was, saying his Kazakhstan company used it as its "house bank."
One winner so far is the city of Toronto. According to a statement by Gold yesterday, he paid the city "more than $1 million" on July 13 to purchase Hayden Street Lane on the southern border of the large site. Gold said he needed the lane to complete the project and said this was proof he was committed to it.
Gold accused the three businessmen, led by financier Gary Berman, of trying to steal the land. The group wanted to put the property into receivership and offered $50.5 million as the opening offer in a court-approved sale they proposed take place shortly.
Joe Latham, one of Berman's lawyers, declined to comment yesterday. Gold and his lawyers have, since Thursday, refused to answer questions about the project.
About $70 million in purchasers' deposits is being held in trust.
Source
Developer makes last-ditch bid to resurrect Yonge-Bloor tower
Jul 21, 2009 04:30 AM
Kevin Donovan
Staff Reporter
A Kazakhstan-backed developer has staved off receivership proceedings with a last-minute deal to pay off a defaulted $46 million loan on land at Toronto's Yonge-Bloor intersection.
But it's becoming clear the original 80-storey glass tower planned by Bazis International of Kazakhstan will not proceed. What will be built on the southeast corner that the developer called the "epicentre of Canada" is unclear. Bazis has said in recent court documents the project will be downsized to 67 floors, but buyers suspect it will be even smaller, which will affect their investment.
"They fooled a lot of us based on 80 storeys high," said Ray Tabrizi, a Toronto man who purchased a unit on the 42nd floor two years ago. Tabrizi said he paid a $125,000 down payment toward the $500,000 price. He has tried over the past two years to find out why the project was in limbo, but said the developer won't tell him and has not returned his money, as asked.
"They kept saying the project was proceeding, but would never say when. They had a million excuses: No building permit, the ground was too frozen. Now, I just want my money back," said Tabrizi, who works in sales with a flooring company and purchased the unit as an investment for his family.
Yesterday, a Toronto judge approved a deal between Bazis and a consortium of three Toronto businessmen owed $46 million for the land purchase. Bazis's Canadian representative, Michael Gold, admitted prior to court that the loan was in default, but said in a statement that was "not unusual given the global lending crisis."
No details of the deal were made public. However, Bazis lawyer Lawrence Thacker said Bazis has made "commitments to the lender."
The matter will go back to court on Aug. 18 if the terms of the court-approved settlement are breached. The terms were to be released tomorrow morning by the court.
A Star story on Saturday revealed the project was in trouble. First the land loan was in default, then, when faced with the prospect of receivership, Gold came up with the promise of a $195 million loan from a Kazakhstan bank. That bank, called BTA, is under criminal investigation in Kazakhstan over allegations that $1 billion in assets are missing.
The lender of the $46 million stated in court documents that the BTA loan was not a credible source of funding, although Gold argued it was, saying his Kazakhstan company used it as its "house bank."
One winner so far is the city of Toronto. According to a statement by Gold yesterday, he paid the city "more than $1 million" on July 13 to purchase Hayden Street Lane on the southern border of the large site. Gold said he needed the lane to complete the project and said this was proof he was committed to it.
Gold accused the three businessmen, led by financier Gary Berman, of trying to steal the land. The group wanted to put the property into receivership and offered $50.5 million as the opening offer in a court-approved sale they proposed take place shortly.
Joe Latham, one of Berman's lawyers, declined to comment yesterday. Gold and his lawyers have, since Thursday, refused to answer questions about the project.
About $70 million in purchasers' deposits is being held in trust.
Source
yyzer
Senior Member
If Bazis are unable to make payments on a $46 million dollar loan for just the land, how on earth will they be able to make payments on a much larger construction loan, even if through some miracle they get it (i.e. through the Kazakh bank)?
casaguy
Senior Member
Condo's ill wind city's salvation
Scaled-back plan could save Yonge-Bloor tower
A Kazakhstan-backed developer has staved off receivership proceedings with a last-minute deal to pay off a defaulted $46 million loan on land at Toronto's Yonge-Bloor intersection.
Jul 21, 2009 04:30 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME
No one takes joy in the misfortune of others, but the apparent bad news about the proposed condo at Yonge and Bloor could be great news for Toronto.
We know, we know, the chances the city will take advantage of the situation are remote to non-existent, yet the opportunity to wrest the now-derelict site from its squabbling owners and turn it into something worthy – a public square, say – will never come again.
We can already hear the cries of poverty coming from city hall; this is a community that can't afford to collect its own waste, let alone pay for a new square. But before dismissing the idea, perhaps we should consider what it would bring to the neighbourhood in particular and the city in general.
First, let's be honest, though Bloor and Yonge ranks as one of Toronto's most important intersections, it has been treated shabbily for decades. The towers on the north corners are architectural mediocrities that, vampire-like, suck the life from the surroundings. The Hudson's Bay store just east ranks among the city's worst buildings; it is a corporate and civic embarrassment.
On the southwest, it's a clothing shop that deadens things. Then there's the southeast corner, which, thanks to the efforts of a grasping developer, now sits depressingly but gloriously empty.
Of course, it's wrong that the city allows existing structures to be demolished without being certain replacement projects will proceed. This represents a sort of municipally endorsed vandalism that lays bare the contempt with which civic leaders hold the city. As their actions make clear, to them it is nothing but a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.
In this case, however, because the deal seems to have fallen victim to the usual corporate stupidity and the new economic reality, the city has a chance to redeem itself and revitalize Bloor and Yonge. It goes without saying that such an extravagant scheme would be much too expensive for poor little Trawnna, so let's consider the tactics of the cultural community, which is in a state of perpetual poverty. Rather than lapsing into the institutional negativism we see at city hall, it responded by mounting the biggest and most significant rebuilding campaign in Toronto history.
True, it had to rely on the kindness of strangers, rich strangers, but they turned into philanthropists and made our so-called Cultural Renaissance possible. The city played a minor role in the campaign whose virtues it now extols at every given opportunity.
If we can have a Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre, why not a Royal Bank Square, a Hudson's Bay Plaza, Thomson Place, Weston Way or Pizza-Pizza Piazza?
Let's not forget that Toronto is a city of vast wealth, and even its richest citizens and corporations have a vested interest in maintaining its health and vibrancy.
When the city launched Dundas Square (expropriating the land and putting a parking lot underground) more than a decade ago, it was an attempt to stop the decline of that intersection. That it succeeded will be obvious even to the square's most vocal critics.
As for this site, it's ideal. Facing Yonge and Bloor, it could change both streets for the better. The lot is big enough to become a destination. "This could be a great public space," says Toronto landscape architect Janet Rosenberg. "We could take ideas from the fashion business on Bloor; have runways and fashion shows. Going south from Bloor, Yonge is a bit of a dying street ... the square could help anchor Yonge."
The condo and its tawdry developers could go anywhere; but the square can only be here.
Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca
Scaled-back plan could save Yonge-Bloor tower
A Kazakhstan-backed developer has staved off receivership proceedings with a last-minute deal to pay off a defaulted $46 million loan on land at Toronto's Yonge-Bloor intersection.
Jul 21, 2009 04:30 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME
No one takes joy in the misfortune of others, but the apparent bad news about the proposed condo at Yonge and Bloor could be great news for Toronto.
We know, we know, the chances the city will take advantage of the situation are remote to non-existent, yet the opportunity to wrest the now-derelict site from its squabbling owners and turn it into something worthy – a public square, say – will never come again.
We can already hear the cries of poverty coming from city hall; this is a community that can't afford to collect its own waste, let alone pay for a new square. But before dismissing the idea, perhaps we should consider what it would bring to the neighbourhood in particular and the city in general.
First, let's be honest, though Bloor and Yonge ranks as one of Toronto's most important intersections, it has been treated shabbily for decades. The towers on the north corners are architectural mediocrities that, vampire-like, suck the life from the surroundings. The Hudson's Bay store just east ranks among the city's worst buildings; it is a corporate and civic embarrassment.
On the southwest, it's a clothing shop that deadens things. Then there's the southeast corner, which, thanks to the efforts of a grasping developer, now sits depressingly but gloriously empty.
Of course, it's wrong that the city allows existing structures to be demolished without being certain replacement projects will proceed. This represents a sort of municipally endorsed vandalism that lays bare the contempt with which civic leaders hold the city. As their actions make clear, to them it is nothing but a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.
In this case, however, because the deal seems to have fallen victim to the usual corporate stupidity and the new economic reality, the city has a chance to redeem itself and revitalize Bloor and Yonge. It goes without saying that such an extravagant scheme would be much too expensive for poor little Trawnna, so let's consider the tactics of the cultural community, which is in a state of perpetual poverty. Rather than lapsing into the institutional negativism we see at city hall, it responded by mounting the biggest and most significant rebuilding campaign in Toronto history.
True, it had to rely on the kindness of strangers, rich strangers, but they turned into philanthropists and made our so-called Cultural Renaissance possible. The city played a minor role in the campaign whose virtues it now extols at every given opportunity.
If we can have a Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre, why not a Royal Bank Square, a Hudson's Bay Plaza, Thomson Place, Weston Way or Pizza-Pizza Piazza?
Let's not forget that Toronto is a city of vast wealth, and even its richest citizens and corporations have a vested interest in maintaining its health and vibrancy.
When the city launched Dundas Square (expropriating the land and putting a parking lot underground) more than a decade ago, it was an attempt to stop the decline of that intersection. That it succeeded will be obvious even to the square's most vocal critics.
As for this site, it's ideal. Facing Yonge and Bloor, it could change both streets for the better. The lot is big enough to become a destination. "This could be a great public space," says Toronto landscape architect Janet Rosenberg. "We could take ideas from the fashion business on Bloor; have runways and fashion shows. Going south from Bloor, Yonge is a bit of a dying street ... the square could help anchor Yonge."
The condo and its tawdry developers could go anywhere; but the square can only be here.
Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca
adma
Superstar
The best square here was Roy's Square.
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