…which, of course, is truly world class.

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If the rent is competitively priced, it will fill. There is a market of condo renters who probably feel gouged and will look for consistency in rental prices. As for the parking, if you live and work downtown, you don't need a car. There are car-sharing options and you can rent.
 
I think in Toronto the vast majority of people still need a car, or will be significantly inconvenienced due to not having one. Living above Queen street subway doesn't mean one's life is completely car independent - what if this person has a mother living in Vaughan that requires frequent visit? what if this person likes food in Markham and wants to go there more than once a week? TTC doesn't exactly provide torontonians a car-free life.

I don't own a car but I am often feel the need to have one, and my quality of life will be vastly improved if I had one, no question about it.

However, whether choosing to have parking or not should be the developer's choice - if it thinks the car free renter market is there, why not allow them to have a 60s parking free building? What negative consequence is there, that people will just park their cars at the intersection of Yonge and Queen?

More and more people don't have cars in Toronto nowadays - not really because they hardly need one like those New Yorkers - but because the benefit associated with owning one sometimes doesn't justify the high cost (people in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and San Francisco pay $100 or less a month for insurance, many pay $200-300 here in Toronto, not to mention gas price difference $5/gallon vs $3.XX).
 
if they do travel to the suburbs more than once a week, they can buy a condo that has a parking spot. otherwise, most can make do in the city with a car sharing service for those odd trips you need to make to the suburbs. people seem to forget that car sharing services exist, and I get the feeling that many think that if you at any time ever need a car you therefor must own one, which simply isn't true. Car sharing service can be cheaper than ownership all the way up to using the service 2 or 3 times a week.
 
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argus said:
If the rent is competitively priced, it will fill. There is a market of condo renters who probably feel gouged and will look for consistency in rental prices. As for the parking, if you live and work downtown, you don't need a car. There are car-sharing options and you can rent.
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Maybe some of us want a car, but still want to live and work downtown. Not everyone has to be molded to fit this idealistic version of the downtown city dweller.

But it's ok, I get it, cars are evil etc, etc.
 
egotrippin said:
Maybe some of us want a car, but still want to live and work downtown. Not everyone has to be molded to fit this idealistic version of the downtown city dweller.

But it's ok, I get it, cars are evil etc, etc.
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No - it is just that this is not the building for you. Obviously. Out of all the many buildings in downtown Toronto with parking available - I would think that there is plenty of choice for those who wish to own a car (as opposed to joining one of the auto share programs or renting a car, or taking a taxi when required), and have parking said owned car inside the building garage.

But why do you feel that EVERY building must be configured to your own personal value set? If the developer feels that there is sufficient market for a building in the Yonge and Queen location without indoor private parking, especially a rental building as opposed to Condominium, well why not? Are you suggesting that you should have the right to choose to be in any building in downtown Toronto that you want, with the demand that they should make a parking spot available for you?

Even in buildings with parking, not every suite gets a parking spot. Residents of the junior suites in particular often have to either rent a parking spot if they want one, or find an outside of the building parking spot.
 
AHK said:
No - it is just that this is not the building for you. Obviously. Out of all the many buildings in downtown Toronto with parking available - I would think that there is plenty of choice for those who wish to own a car (as opposed to joining one of the auto share programs or renting a car, or taking a taxi when required), and have parking said owned car inside the building garage.

But why do you feel that EVERY building must be configured to your own personal value set? If the developer feels that there is sufficient market for a building in the Yonge and Queen location without indoor private parking, especially a rental building as opposed to Condominium, well why not? Are you suggesting that you should have the right to choose to be in any building in downtown Toronto that you want, with the demand that they should make a parking spot available for you?

Even in buildings with parking, not every suite gets a parking spot. Residents of the junior suites in particular often have to either rent a parking spot if they want one, or find an outside of the building parking spot.
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I don't feel this way at all, and I couldn't care less which buildings have or don't have parking. My comment was in response to the comment suggesting that if one lives and works downtown, they don't need a car. Perhaps I should've bolded that sentence for clarity.
 
Hanlansboy said:
First, I hate you! (Lol) a Porsche? I can barely afford for 06' Grand Prix! (Granted, living on LTD isn't easy). But I totally agree. It's extremely small minded to assume just because you're living on top of a subway line that you don't need or have a car. I live in Rosedale, literally a few minutes walk to the subway, but my car is my lifeline to the outside world.
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You live in Rosedale but can "barely afford for 06' Grand Prix"?
 
Even if they wanted to build parking, where would it go? On top of the existing Eaton Centre parking structure to the north? For all we know that structure might not even be easy to retrofit to accommodate the load of several additional floors of parking.
 
The less parking spaces get built, the more people will resort to public transit making the city more liveable.
 
While New York has serious discussions to eliminate minimum parking requirements to reduce construction costs and encourage more affordable housing development, Toronto has a debate over minimum parking requirements straight out of the 1970s. I can't believe my eyes at some of the comments made here.

As has already been stated, one of the main planning philosophies behind the requirement of off-street parking requirements is to avoid or reduce on-street parking in the area. Is that really a concern for Yonge and Queen Streets in 2014? This article from the Toronto Star indicates difficulties developers have in selling parking spaces. Yet there are comments on here deriding this developer for not including enough parking. Is the lack of parking detrimental to the public and city as a whole, and if not, then what is the real concern? Developers know their market and the fact that this building is proposed to contain zero parking means there are people willing to live in Toronto that do not believe it's necessary to own a private automobile, or at least have one parked in an underground garage paying an obscene amount.

There is no such thing as free parking. It is extremely expensive to provide parking, especially in the downtown core. With the price of a private parking space exceeding $50,000 in downtown Toronto, I would not be surprised if car share continues to gain against private car ownership among downtown dwellers. In fact, there are several companies offering this service a short walk from 2 Queen St. West.

If someone absolutely loves their car and eschews the thousands of other rental properties in the city with parking to live in this building, then this person is in luck because there is no shortage of private garage space in the immediate vicinity.

Unbelievable!
 
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