p5connex said:
As far as I know, there is to be $500 million spent on store revamps/upgrades across the country and this is for all HBC brands. First, that sounds like a lot of money, but spread out it amounts to maybe a couple of million for the Bloor St. store. I somehow don't believe they are going to change the tower or the exterior of the store, when in actual fact, there is nothing physically wrong with them - aesthetically maybe! I am not suggesting that they don't, but I could imagine the private equity firm isn't concerned with the looks of The Bay- at least for the most part. Now I hope I am wrong and they are interested.

p5
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The ownership of the Bay is not the same as the ownership of the Hudson's Bay Centre - the two are in different hands - and someone else could be ready to pony up some cash to upscale the HBC. With a makeover of Cumberland Terrace coming and 1BE to rise across the street, they may be feeling the pressure to keep up appearances!

42
 
The Bay is probably just a leased tenant in this building. I know that the rest of the building has gone through various owners over the years. If there is an intended renovation, it is probably being lead by the owners of the property, not the Bay.
 
Sure, the Plaza 2's a watered-down ManuLife slab buried within an ungainly perch. But it's positively elegant next to this.

And I hope that's no benchmark for the makeover.
 
Towered said:
I have no issues with the tower, but the department store is a disgusting eyesore that should never have been allowed to be built in the way that it was. Get the wrecking ball swinging!
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Agreed. The store is a monstrosity. Even in the heyday of brutalism, I can't imagine what they were smoking when they designed this big blank concrete wall. It's as uninviting as they come in Toronto. The sooner it can be either massively revamped or just pulled down, the better.
 
Redroom Studios said:
no! I love the overwhelming weight of all that concrete looming overhead, the way The Plaza (Marriot) is perched on top of that giant blank wall of a podium. It makes you feel like an insignificant little ant. This is a Toronto and Canadian landmark, like it or not! I say hands off!
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I lived there for years, I love that building inside and out.
In 1977 I came in from Scarborough to see a movie at the Uptown called "Damnation Alley". I came out of the Y&B subway on the south side (where Xerox now stands) and as I came up the stairs to the street I was overwhelmed by The Bay & the other 3 towers in front of me and it made me feel the same as you expressed, like a small ant. It made quite an impression on me as a kid.
 
I must agree that the Plaza/Marriott, especially, has a comforting womb-like feeling within--if a little illicitly so. Perfect place for a tryst with some Ashley Dupre type, in fact...
 
adma said:
Sure, the Plaza 2's a watered-down ManuLife slab buried within an ungainly perch. But it's positively elegant next to this.

And I hope that's no benchmark for the makeover.
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The parking base of 8 Park Road is just so aggressively, sloppily and freakishly awful i can barely believe it. ever time i walk by it i find myself in state of wonder how something so incomprehensibly hideous was ever allowed to be built. i mean, the condo above merely sucks, but compared to the thing it sits on, it looks like a masterpiece. a dog's breakfast is too kind--more like what the dog does after breakfast.




parkroad.jpg
 
The ironic thing is that, as above-ground parking garages go, this one is not so bad. Ther isn't much you can actually do to dress up a parking garage.

It's the front of this thing, facing Bloor Street (one of our most important streets, and you might naively think it should be one of our most elegant ... ) that needs to be rethought to put it mildly.
 
valantino said:
-new curtain glass for podium and plaza 2
-possible allowances for 3rd party signs on Bloor
-plaza 2 may be converted to condos but certainly no more cheap rents or runaway elevators
-reconfigured Bloor entrance for a possibly expanded and rebranded hotel
-high end retail facing bloor (see above)
-bay will close ... unsure whether its indefinite or temporary


those dreaming of busting the block will have to wait (hopefully after the Yonge Line has been mothballed to allow undergorund parking ;))
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From our source... The mink mile is going east people!
 
valantino said:
-new curtain glass for podium and plaza 2
-possible allowances for 3rd party signs on Bloor
-plaza 2 may be converted to condos but certainly no more cheap rents or runaway elevators
-reconfigured Bloor entrance for a possibly expanded and rebranded hotel
-high end retail facing bloor (see above)
-bay will close ... unsure whether its indefinite or temporary


those dreaming of busting the block will have to wait (hopefully after the Yonge Line has been mothballed to allow undergorund parking )
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It would be sad to see The Bay close but the rest of this is great news, especially to see The Bay opened up to retail onto Bloor Street.
I don't think the Plaza II apartments can be converted to condos due to building code problems. Some apartments are only separated by wide water closets, with no firewalls.
 
thedeepend said:
parkroad.jpg
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Actually I must say this isn't all that ugly with the nice stucco and black glass, a good attempt was made to create half decent elevation ... I recall when they built 8 Park H&R recladded portion of the facade immediately below the tower (that's why you can still see the ugly old facade in the far left of this picture which was not subject to the redeveloped area)
 
I recall when they built 8 Park H&R recladded portion of the facade immediately below the tower
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technically, they added cladding to the unfinished stump of an early 90s, Bramalea tower
 
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