[maestro]

I don't think there are any basement levels in the Harbour Square complex or, for that matter, any of the Queens Quay towers built before the late eighties. One York Quay has about two underground levels but the majority is still above ground. It's all very unfortunate.

 

[marcus_a_j]

55/77 Harbour Sq. (with the blue spandrels) has two levels of undergound parking. i don't think there are more than that.

 

[Zeiss]

The parking og 33/55/65/77 and 99 are connected, there is one level underground, And yes, the parking, being above ground is ugly and it could have been designed differently, it could be renovated to look better... however, who is going to pay for it? It's going to cost millions, 2 years ago there has been plans to renovate the empthy space on the 3th and 4th floors at 33, cost $1,2 millions, it was not accepted by the board. Most of the residents live here 25- 30 years, and they like it the way it is. At least the ground level on the north side should be renovated, also I have an idea about the south-east side, facing the ferry docks /on top of the tunnel/ it could be turned into very nice restaurant-bistro in the park.

 

[Zeiss]

Harbour Square is 2000 units with an average selling price of around 300 grand. On top of that you can add 1000 hotel rooms. Again, I mean this with great respect but, someone is in need of a huge reality check. You would need to build an arcology to re-coop the 800 million needed just to clear the site.

maetro, the average selling price is way more than 300 grand

 

[UrbanAffair]

Nice to hear about all the construction vehicles arriving. Is there a scheduled groundbreaking that we know of yet for ICE? And is it just the one tower or both together..I remember someone mentioning both would be starting, but didn't know if that was confirmed or not.

 

[Condo George]

Nice to hear about all the construction vehicles arriving. Is there a scheduled groundbreaking that we know of yet for ICE? And is it just the one tower or both together..I remember someone mentioning both would be starting, but didn't know if that was confirmed or not.

middle of May for ceremony

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Though HS does disconnect the lake from the city. Maybe this should be a candidate to be one of the first to have the N-S street (Bay) extended to the lake (as a pedestrian path) to an anchor park at the lake front. The park is already there.

 

[borgo100]

This might have been asked already but, are all 3 towers going up together or the condos then the office tower later?

 

[marcus_a_j]

Condos only. It will be a while before the office tower gets built.

 

[Solaris]

hopefully the City forces them to build the office with the condo at least ... because we all know what's going to happen otherwise down the road (Ooo lets change the proposal and build another condo instead) ... hence this Union South 'employment' site will become ENTIRELY residential

 

[Traynor]

hopefully the City forces them to build the office with the condo at least ... because we all know what's going to happen otherwise down the road (Ooo lets change the proposal and build another condo instead) ... hence this Union South 'employment' site will become ENTIRELY residential

That is very likely and you can thank the computer for that.

50 years ago large offices were needed for all the employees a company would need. They would be full of typists in the Steno-pool, accountants with adding machines, hundreds of file clerks in vast filing rooms, and mail rooms the size of a Shoppers Drug mart.These days all that is done by one overworked Soccer mom late for her Go train.

OK I exaggerate but the realities of corporate office space has definitely changed with the advent of the computer. Even the rise in telecommuters has reduced the amount of space many companies need.

Sadly, the need for the Empire State buildings of the world, is dwindling with each technological advance, yet the desire to live in such a great city like Toronto is increasing. Therefore we get lots of Condos and fewer and fewer office towers in comparison.

 

[Mo-tage]

hopefully the City forces them to build the office with the condo at least ... because we all know what's going to happen otherwise down the road (Ooo lets change the proposal and build another condo instead) ... hence this Union South 'employment' site will become ENTIRELY residential

Excluding of course 18 York, Telus and all the office space in MLS.

 

[borgo100]

That is very likely and you can thank the computer for that.

50 years ago large offices were needed for all the employees a company would need. They would be full of typists in the Steno-pool, accountants with adding machines, hundreds of file clerks in vast filing rooms, and mail rooms the size of a Shoppers Drug mart.These days all that is done by one overworked Soccer mom late for her Go train.

OK I exaggerate but the realities of corporate office space has definitely changed with the advent of the computer. Even the rise in telecommuters has reduced the amount of space many companies need.

Sadly, the need for the Empire State buildings of the world, is dwindling with each technological advance, yet the desire to live in such a great city like Toronto is increasing. Therefore we get lots of Condos and fewer and fewer office towers in comparison.

I don't understand then how cities like Chicago and NY are still building massive office towers, is it because its a different economic climate? Another thing is it true that Chicago has a plan to add something like 250000 jobs to its downtown core? Toronto should have a plan like this and should state that if Ice wants to build its complex then the office tower should be built the same time.

 

[Solaris]

Excluding of course 18 York, Telus and all the office space in MLS.

let's put this in context ... the lands for 18 York, 16 York (now York Centre), 25 York (now Telus), and 15 York (now MLS) were designated entirely for EMPLOYMENT purposes (ie: Office) ... out of that 2/3 of 16 York (ICE) + 15 York (MLS) got converted to residential ... how is that not altering the employment intent for the Union South District? clearly that is a net loss of office space in the area

 

[taal]

I don't understand then how cities like Chicago and NY are still building massive office towers, is it because its a different economic climate? Another thing is it true that Chicago has a plan to add something like 250000 jobs to its downtown core? Toronto should have a plan like this and should state that if Ice wants to build its complex then the office tower should be built the same time.

Chicago hasn't been putting up too many office towers as of late ... and the 250K plan is something that I don't see happening, it's just one of those 'plans' ... but it's a great idea.

Lets not forget Toronto has been putting up a couple large towers in the last few years.

I completely agree though, I'd love to see way more employment downtown, but I'm not sure how to make it happen, if taxes are any indication that's a large problem here.

btw, the idea of build it and they'll come just doesn't work, so forcing them to build it even though there will be no tenants isn't the best idea ...

On a more interesting point though, Toronto the city ( downtown core ) has had office vacancy rates quite a bit lower then Chicago historically. But I think that has more to do with the conservative nature of office developers in the area.

Anyway the point is, I think regardless of taxes (but they may play some role) Toronto / GTA isn't the sort of place we can just say, zone everything south of the railway tracks offices and expect them to built in a few days ... it'll take years / decades. So in the meantime, there's nothing wrong with allowing some residential development in the area, anyway we know mixing the two does lead to more vibrant neighborhoods. The problem with approach that many here will have is it creates areas that seem empty / barren / sparse, because between the condos are vacant lands waiting to be developed.