[maestro]

here's ways of doing it right, and ways of doing it wrong. It's the scale - surrounded by low and mid-rise neighbourhoods (St. Lawrence, West Don Lands) these unnecessarily stick out like a middle finger in an area where there are still buildings that date back as far as the 1830s, and for which even demolition will take place

the distillery district expansion into the west donlands (along the railway between Cherry & Bayview) however has ~30 storey towers planned

 

[rp07]

the distillery district expansion into the west donlands (along the railway between Cherry & Bayview) however has ~30 storey towers planned

That's okay, because it's being built on new and large parcel of land and away from the distillery area. Heck thay can build 40 floor towers for I care. It's when they build 30 and 40 floor towers right inside the distillery district that I have a the problem with.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I understand there is another public meeting tomorrow night to discuss the new towers.

 

[AndreaPalladio]

That's okay, because it's being built on new and large parcel of land and away from the distillery area. Heck thay can build 40 floor towers for I care. It's when they build 30 and 40 floor towers right inside the distillery district that I have a the problem with.

Why?

 

[ShonTron]

Why why?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Although City Hall has yet to approve the 40-storey Clear Spirit tower, it is already 70% sold, says lawyer John Berman, one part of Cityscape Development Corp., which owns and manages the 5.6-hectare site it began remaking as an arts community four years ago. Clear Spirit's sister condo, Pure Spirits, is rising 32 storeys on Mill Street --and is fully sold.

I thought Pure Spirit will be 48 stories and Clear Spirit is proposed at 40 stories.

 

[rp07]

Why?

Why? Have you visited the site lately? Tell me after you visited if it isn't intrusive.

 

[maestro]

That's okay, because it's being built on new and large parcel of land and away from the distillery area.

not my train of thought however they are across Cherry Street which is hardly the scale of a 401 and/or Lakeshore Dr in Chicago hence the reasoning behind refering to this block as the distillery district expansion (although "main street distillery" is an extension of Trinity further west)

thought Pure Spirit will be 48 stories and Clear Spirit is proposed at 40 stories.

Three towers in total

Phase 1 - 32 storey Pure Spirits (u/c)
Phase 2 - 40 storey Clear Spirits (sales)
Phase 3 - 48 storey twin of Clear Spirits

 

[Hydrogen]

Others to follow: "The Moonshine," "The Screech" and, of course, the tilted and sagging architecturally daring "Hangover" tower.

 

[cassius]

Why? Have you visited the site lately? Tell me after you visited if it isn't intrusive.

In my opinion, the only reason it feels intrusive right now is that it isn't clad in glass or being lived in. At the moment it's just a big, dark, monolith in the sky.

 

[unimaginative2]

Introducing a permanent population to the area will, and Cityscape isn't allowing any big name retailers in the area, that is one of their core objectives. Hence Balzacks is not Starbucks.

No, a permanent population will not help the galleries and specialty shops one bit. A few hundred condo units will do nothing for the revenue of business like those, but will create strong demand for the more prosaic Toronto condo neighbourhood shops. So what if there are no big chains? You can have an independent dry cleaner and movie store. I guarantee that as soon as these get built, you'll have residents screaming at Cityscape to open more shops to serve them, rather than the "overpriced" specialty shops.

I don't necessarily object to the idea of towers, but I have three significant concerns. When the distillery was first being planned, massive criticism was directed at the already-built condos for plunking themselves down on top of existing heritage buildings. Everybody swore up and down that this would never be repeated. I'm also concerned about how massive the base buildings are, looming over the existing heritage buildings. This is a concern especially at Pure Spirit, but also at Clear Spirit where the benefit of a seemingly more contextual base is cancelled out by its location at the heart of the district. Finally, I'm deeply concerned with the use of the bases primarily as a parking garage. I don't care how you dress it up, a parking garage will never be very attractive.

 

[AndreaPalladio]

Why? Have you visited the site lately? Tell me after you visited if it isn't intrusive.

It's no more intrusive than any other tall building. That's the effect of having an increasingly dense city - you have to go up. And as land becomes more valuable, the owners have to go up to realize on the value of the asset.

Unless you would rather the area be what it was a few years ago - low rise, vacant and derelict?

 

[Jayomatic]

Again with those ridiculous arguments about density. Just because it should be dense doesn't mean they have to build 48 story towers beside 4 story buildings.

In case you haven't noticed, they've handled density quite well around Jarvis and King St using mid rises and there is no reason they couldn't have done the same.

 

[AndreaPalladio]

And then you look across the park to Spire, and up Jarvis to where VU is, or down Jarvis to where that new building is going and realize that tall buildings at the Distillery are no cause for panic.

 

[RJR123]

It's no more intrusive than any other tall building. That's the effect of having an increasingly dense city - you have to go up. And as land becomes more valuable, the owners have to go up to realize on the value of the asset.

Unless you would rather the area be what it was a few years ago - low rise, vacant and derelict?

I totally agree. While mid-rise is lovely, tall is nice too if it's done right. I don't understand the reflexive antipathy to tall buildings that so many Torontonians have?