Hey I've been looking forward to hearing more about this one....thanks for the info....I live in the neighbourhood as of recently.....bought in Robert Watson Lofts....so I guess we're sort of neighbours UrbanDreamer and Catcherof Cats.
 
I live nearby--I can see the building site from my balcony. I wish the TTC would sell their streetcar driveway to a developer--ie, have a condo built on top like on McCaul. Just down Bloor St from this future condo is an excellent Russian deli (Kiev/Moscow/Warsaw deli) with my favourites piroshki, kvass and kefir. More people living nearby will surely make Bloor By The Park a more happening 'hood I hope.

I secretly sort of like the Crossway's complex; so retro 70's inside and very quiet--it's like the Junction of Malls in Toronto. I'd like to see the high school go though--I hate noisy kids.:(
 
I can take noisy kids. And it's good Aalto-mode 60s brick brutalism.

Now, as to what's on the *SW* corner, well...at least the juxtaposition of Teeple gives it urban-Surrealist justification...
 
The TCDSB completed a renovation that appears to have enhanced the modernism of the high school with those new aluminum framed windows. The artwork and lighting look good.

I'm not entirely sure on the progress for the Loblaws redevelopment, but the Zellers was supposed to close. They had a large closing sale around December, but now they're still open. Perhaps those plans are on hold because of Loblaws' financial problems.
 
Looks more like a reno/makeover--though haven't been up close to see whether it's more "outlet-like" now...
 
The Zellers had a blowout sale but has since been renovated and will NOT close in the immediate future; they reopened a week or so ago. The Loblaws plans are on indefinite hold until the company sorts out their financial problems; Maple Leaf Gardens location will most probably get built first, followed by the Lakeshore & Bathurst site, and only then the Dundas Street location.

I do agree that the only solution to improving the building on the SW corner of Bloor and Dundas is implosion, which I would fund if I could.
 
Went to the public consultation meeting about this project last night. I was dismayed at the "we're not against development...we just don't want the neighbourhood to change" sentiment repeated ad nauseum.

But I was even more sickened by the developer's misleading assertions (shadows thrown by the new building in December won't be any different than shadows now, so they didn't show them....the building does stepback from the podium on many floors (proceeded to rattle off the various "stepbacks" on many floors, implying that the building gets smaller overall higher up). I found it quite slimy.

In my opinion, this corner is definitely a place where intensification makes sense and it would be a shame to build a 4-story building at a major corner like this. You can like or hate the architecture (Teeple is a great architect but I don't really like this look), but I think the building massing doesn't work. It would work better if the tower did indeed step back from the podium (and not step back and then step out, step back and step out), so it didn't loom quite so close to the sidewalk. Lots of great examples of this in Toronto now.

I haven't been to the other meetings, but most people felt that the developer is coming back with the same proposal repeatedly with no changes. Smells like someone might be planning to leapfrog the city and head to the OMB?
 
I was at the meeting last night as well, and felt like congratulating the developer for proposing to build such an interesting building. If built as shown, it will be the most beautiful structure around (outside of low rise). The buildings around Dundas and Bloor look as if they were hit repeatedly by ugly sticks, and virtually any new construction will be an improvement.

I do believe that there will be significant problems with site access that might derail this proposal.

One interesting idea that was identified by former councilor Silvia Watson was to include a new entrance to the subway from Bloor to alleviate pedestrian traffic beside the building and streetcar tracks.
 
The businesses are now gone, and the building is empty. I just noticed that a couple of days ago, though it could have been like that for awhile. The condo proposal notice sign is on display in one of the empty storefronts. I believe we'll never see that humble fruit and vegetable stand which used to stand beside Dundas West station again.
 
Nothing says contextual and harmonious like a 29 storey building at the end of the existing strip of 2 storey buildings... not. I know the Crossways is across the street, but I think most would agree that visually it is an eyesore, and two wrongs certainly don't make a right.

Based on the width of Bloor & Dundas, 10 stories would be an appropriate height for a building on that corner. Personally I would prefer something brick to blend in better with the rest of the area, but that's just me. I'm not really into architecture that looks primed for a dystopian cyperpunk-esque future.

I'm also a little concerned with how little attention has been paid to street level. It looks pretty blank in those renderings.
 
/\Though you make a few good points, in the end Bloor/Dundas needs this sort of density. It is a major connection for the TTC (Streetcar, Bus, Subway) and GO (Trains) and is located in an area with plenty of parking lots, empty lots and old industrial sites which could be rehabilitated and densified.

With regards to the Crossways Towers, I love them. Not necessarily because of the architecture (which I also like), but because they act like a sort of landmark or point of reference for the west side of the city. It can be seen from Bay/Bloor (close to where I go to school) and Jane and Bloor (close to where I live) and is pretty much the half-way-point between those two spots. As such, whether taking the subway (D/W Stn), riding a bike or driving, it lets me know exactly how far I still have to go.

Additional buildings would bring new people to the neighborhood and with designs like TAS' "Giraffe" (apparently that's the name according to TAS' website), bold, new architecture as well. The street level looks bland because this is just a relatively monochromatic preliminary render. The people are black and white, the building is shaded but is also basically black and white. In the end, this is an evocative design which enters an interesting conversation with the all brick Crossways.

Build it.
 
The marketing campaign seems to be gearing up, with a full page ad in the National Post today. I don't know the status of this application at City Hall (anyone here know?), but it seems that the project will be into sales soon.
 
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