Full Metal Junkie said:
I am only familiar with three smaller buildings in the financial district and one in the Bay/Bloor area, all very old. Only 2 have bike cages, none have showers. One is so bad in terms of the washrooms that there are constant lineups there and to make it worse the ongoing meme there is to make eye contact with the person at the urinal next to you and make awkward small talk as you are relieving yourself. So from my subjective perspective, I would take my SoCo building over any one of those any day of the week. But then again, I'm not familiar with the amenities of the big skyscrapers in the financial district. I agree that there is more variety of shopping and eateries there, but all the SoCo buildings are connected to the PATH. It takes me 30 minutes of a brisk walk to get to Eaton's and back taking the PATH, leaving 30 minutes for lunch if I feel like I want to go for a walk or hit up a food place there. Architecture-wise and finish-wise, I agree, a lot of the financial district buildings are nicer, but how much does that play into executives' decision when picking a location? Also, not sure if the financial district buildings are also being renovated with the new open office layouts like the newer buildings, but you can cram a lot more people per sq.ft. into these new offices compared to the classic cubicles.
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Sounds like we have a different POV. I'm at Commerce Court and find the bike and shower facilities to be first class with no cost admittance and free towel service (Although, I will say the secure bike room gets crowded in the summer). In terms of navigating the PATH to get to better retailers and food...sure (of course, the financial district towers are there already, and have top retail beneath). And yes, firms are renovating in the Financial District to cram more in less. It's happening all over (not just in the core, but in the suburbs as well).
 
Part of my beef is that I find this stretch of Bremner to be miserable. I like the trees, but hate the built form. I just find it depressing. I am sure my perspective will change with CIBC and the HUB.
 
Yeah, Bremner is not the most cheerful of boulevards. In addition to the trees, I try to find some solace in the fins of the Telus building and the pavers in front of the PWC building. The pavers are made of this purplish brown brick material with metallic/graphite sheen. The sidewalk surface literally becomes blinding with sun's reflection during certain hours of the day in the summer when the sun is low in the sky in the morning/evening and is perfectly aligned with the Bremner corridor. Unfortunately, CIBC Square will take even that away once it fills in the skyline behind the ACC (yes, I still refuse to call it SBC, same goes for the Skydome), though I am also really looking forward to CIBC Square and the HUB additions to the South Core. But yeah, a pretty soulless place right now, SoCo is.
 
Just now, CN tower helping out with the heavy lifting :)

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They are making record time with this tower along with others in the Downtown area. It is as though they are so familiar with highrise construction now they are able to assemble them in no time flat.
 
I'm pretty sure they could build them even faster with their logistical know-how, but at this point the speed of construction is simply limited by concrete cure times.
 
Dustin William said:
It's been slowly going up now for 3 weeks or so...
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I'm not seeing much, if any, glass in @ProjectEnd's street level photo from Nov. 27th. Anyways, some shots from right now:

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Since the lobby glass is shaded by the diner-style overhang, there ale almost no reflections, so it looks almost completely transparent. No wonder I never noticed it before.
 
The floor plate is either the most favourable layout for concrete or they went above and beyond to put the columns right on the edge. I appreciate it either way having had to work around columns in reinforced concrete building in the past.
 
Truly incredible how fast it's going up! Will be exciting to see more of the lobby complete. Definitely looks like they are prepping the next floor, the cantilevered one. Also wondering is the strip light under the lip of the green roof overhang will be a thing again once it's all done
 
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