[Register123]

And I would hardly say that all the one-way streets in NYC have destroyed street life, but I know , I know NYC is an exception...

 

[Traynor]

I know it's off-topic, but do you really think the street life of Ste-Catherine or Saint-Laurent in Montreal is destroyed? If not, why do you think they're different?...

As far as One Way streets go...

The difference with Toronto to Montreal or New York is the timing of when the streets go One Way. The streets in Montreal or New York had already been built up to their present form (More or less) and businesses well-established before the streets went one way.

For Toronto, I believe that streets like Richmond or Adelaide were full of life and businesses when they were Two Way but they were switched at the same time that massive new buildings in the core were being added. The businesses in them had no time to become established as "places to go" before the streets just became thoroughfares. Once you lose the pedestrian traffic you can kiss Urban Life good-bye. When the life left the core, then the pedestrians who strolled along the same streets (only just outside of the core to get downtown), no longer had a reason to go down those streets to get downtown and the death of the street spreads outward from the core.

So, with all the new projects on Yonge Street (and ostensibly the new businesses in the podia of them), if streets like Yonge and Bay were switched to One Way at the same time as the build-up, there wouldn't be enough time to establish pedestrian interest, before the "Thoroughfare Effect" sucked the life out of the street.

 

[MisterF]

One way streets can work if you don't increase the number of lanes in each direction, and/or put in some significant landscaping/buffering for the sidewalk. Yonge could work as a one way street it were narrowed, the sidewalks widened, and some Bloor-style planting beds and street trees put in.

I'm skeptical of one way conversions because the express purpose of them is to make driving faster by increasing the number of lanes per direction. Faster speeds without any buffering between the road and sidewalk hurt street life, not one way streets per se.

 

[khris]

I think this thread was a ploy to get us talking about our one way streets.

 

[Automation Gallery]

I think this thread was a ploy to get us talking about our one way streets.

Hahaha...Good one.

 

[Mongo]

Given the recent increase in rumours about potential 80s+ buildings in Toronto, I have decided to create a thread where new rumours and announcements about these very tall buildings can go. For this first post, I will compile the existing recent rumours into one post.

GENERAL SUPERTALL NEWS

what do you guys think of this exchange on twitter today?....@buzzbuzzhome, and @benjaminbach is a prominent realtor...

@buzzbuzzhome Wow. Just got some serious juicy gossip, and saw some things that we were not supposed to see!! Wowza.. GTA, there is something BIG coming.

@benjaminbach @buzzbuzzhome the downtown one ?

@buzzbuzzhome We are being held to 100% secrecy. BUT, WOW! Epic. Huge. Beautiful.

Note that @benjaminbach implies that there are at least two "really big" projects in the works, one of which is downtown.

Met up with an old friend. The supertalls are coming!!!

Wow. I've only got two questions:

North or south of Queen?

Residential or office?

Both sides with residential as the primary usage. He says he knows of two being considered and has heard of three others. We're talking five 80+ storeys towers!

WhipperSnapper has a solid reputation on SSP for sticking close to the facts. He is not known for spreading baseless rumours or speculation.

SYNERGY CONDOS 100s+ SUPERTALL

http://exclusivetorontolistings.com...s-synergy-condos-toronto-synergy/building/192

Hearing that Synergy Condos is going to be 100+ storeys, with an unknown developer to Toronto from the UAE.

The developer being from the UAE would be consistent with the prominent gold colour and palm tree-like flourish in the logo.

YORKVILLE 100s SUPERTALL

Yeah, the rumour's not for the existing Four Seasons site, and it wouldn't make sense on that lot between the new Four Seasons and The Florian: the PTA at Jesse Ketchum School would go bananas. And it's not another height increase for One Bloor: that is going to 70 storeys, as we have been reporting for months (and is now being confirmed publicly). The rumour does centre around Bloor Street though, somewhere west of Yonge - that's all I can report - sorry!

@Marco, again.... This is all just a rumor, and I hear a lot of rumours every day. The rumor goes, Will Alsop, who did the OCAD building is the architect behind the new 100 story condo.

HOLT RENFREW TWIN 80s TOWERS

Breaking news! 1 Bloor St W to be twin 80s towers, by Oxford Properties!

I can confirm that there is truth to this, but the location is wrong- more....lets say just south of the cumberland terrace and just north of bloor

bingo- from what i saw it was not 1 but 2 80 story towers: just like the rumour stated

I cant say exactly who or which Firm I base my information off of- but I will say that I saw the renderings for this project very recently- as of 1 month ago. And yes From what I was looking at and who I was talking to, Holts will be torn down and incorporated.

197 + 205 YONGE 60s TOWER

Today I saw plans for a 60 storey condo proposed to be built on the lot between those two old empty bank buildings on Yonge St. beside Homesense. It appeared as if the two bank buildings will be incorporated into the base of the condo.

I work at the Homesense next door and some guys came by today to look at the loading dock in the rear of the store because the whole area has to be redesigned in order to allow trucks to deliver shipments to the store during and after construction of the condo. He showed me detailed plans of the property which included a rendering of the new condo. I only got a quick look at the plans - looked pretty good from what I could tell in a 5 second gander - and he said it was going to be 60 storeys. He also said it might be several years before construction is underway, but it's still pretty exciting for sure!

Yes this has been in the works for a while. It involves the south bank building and the parkette. The plan is to create a new entrance to Massey Hall as well as the condo.

Both the former branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce at 199 Yonge Street and the stately Bank of Toronto building located at 205 Yonge Street have been sold and a new future 80-storey condominium project is scheduled to take their place.

I do not believe this 80 story number, I think that Nadine Robbins may have misread whatever document she saw. 60 stories sounds about right. Well short of a supertall, though.

 

[kkgg7]

super-tall as meaning "300 meters +"? I doubt Toronto will to be bold enough to finally do this after all these years although I am hopeful it will. I have no objection of constructing high rises along/near on Yonge, Bay or University at all.

The lot between 197/205 Yonge probably has something truth to it. I posted a photo two months ago showing work being done on the top of 205 Yonge. There used to be a fence in between and it is gone since a couple of weeks ago.

update: I just walked past 197 Yonge and saw fence put around its entrance. Something is definitely happening with those two georgous buildings.

 

[skylyte]

Wasn't there also a rumour that Stollery's at Yonge/Bloor would be the site of another pair of 80 story towers?

If even one of these mega-scrapers go up, the familiar postcard skyline as seen from the island will be changed forever. People like to compare us to Chicago, but the new Toronto strikes me as becoming very Chinese (Dalian, Guangzhou etc) in composition. Let's hope the architecture will be as good as the proposals seem to be.

 

[kkgg7]

but the new Toronto strikes me as becoming very Chinese (Dalian, Guangzhou etc) in composition.

downtown Vancouver already does.

 

[urbandreamer]

Something BIG is indeed coming. One is downtown, the other ...?

 

[Register123]

^ went to the website, what are you referring to? can't find any Toronto projects.

 

[Mongo]

This is more of a pre-rumour, but still possibly significant. This site could certainly support something very tall, if it has indeed been sold to a developer.

1 BLOOR WEST

@ShadiaSarrafi Does anyone know who bought #1BloorWest! Not sure but exciting...

 

[caltrane74]

Was it sold to oxford properties.

 

[Mongo]

I think that the original Oxford twin 80s rumour for 1 Bloor West may have been a conflation of two separate leaks -- that Oxford was planning something big for 1 Bloor West, and also that a twin 80s project was being planned for almost directly across Bloor, at the Holt-Renfrew site. It is possible that both the Holt-Renfrew site and the Stollery's site have twin 80s towers planned for them, but I doubt it.

This is assuming that, as the rumour stated, Oxford had indeed bought the Stollery's site, and I would think several adjacent lots as well.

 

[Mongo]

Another 240m to 250m tower?

Also a new 75 storey proposal just passed across my desk. It hasn't been discussed here but I'm sure news of it will be forthcoming.

I've deduced from LeftCoaster's posts that he works at Cadillac Fairview (knowledge of CF projects both in Toronto and Montreal).. I'm assuming this 75s baby is by them then?