Amare said:
This is a hot flaming piece of blazing trash in every way, shape, and form imaginable. It's obvious they want to extract the most amount of money possible on this site, while creating the cheapest product possible. Design was clearly an afterthought here.

How can you have one of the most prominent intersections in Toronto (Yonge-Dundas), one of the most prominent streets in Canada (Yonge St), and one of the most desirable malls in North America (the Eaton Centre), and the end result is that you end up with a horrific, bland, and lazy development right next to all of them?

This city and its developers never cease to amaze with how they can continuously set the bar lower and lower.
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This could simply be a rezoning exercise to increase the value of the property in order for Lalani Group to one day sale (likely to Ryerson, but they'll want to fleece Ryerson for every penny).
 
ushahid said:
i hope DRP and the city push them to design better and i hope the mayor sticks to what he said about better design.
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Tory couldnt care less, it's all lip service. If he did he would put his money where his mouth is, and actually give city planning the resources that they need. Instead of you know, depriving them of funds and keeping their budget stagnant while the city explodes in growth. Combine that with the fact he's had 5 years to correct this issue, and it's only now that we're hearing a peep from his about the issue should show everyone how much he cares (ie: he couldnt care less) about the issue.
 
Oh wow I really hope you are right. If thats not the case, as a Ryerson student, I will chain myself to the fence for as long as it takes so this trash is not built beside my campus. I don't care what year it is and what country my career has taken to, I will be here to block it. This is the main gateway to Ryerson and the SLC embraces that, this building just destroys the feeling of any community there is.

Ryerson should really buy this site and build another incredible building to show that sense of a grand entry.

This is just disgraceful for the location it is at.

Currently writing this in the SLC looking at the site, its bad not but this building will make it worse.

RyanD said:
I have been waiting for something to be proposed on this site for a long time, but I'll bet this proposal is a simple rezoning exercise by Lalani, very unlikely this is not the final design (or players involved). The whole thing just screams "let's get this approved as fast as possible to sell the rezoned site" Couple reasons why:
  1. Correct me if I am wrong but Lalani Group isn't an experienced residential landlord. Why suddenly foray into that kind of a property management role at such a prominent location. The empress hotel (again limited knowledge) was basically falling apart right before its arson in 2011. Why would a firm that manages a property that way be looking to hold a long term investment that requires lots of maintenance effort - especially with strict tenant standards laws?
  2. The project data sheet (which the developer often completes) lists the project as a condo, while their consultants Bousfield's (one of the most competent planning firms in the city) asserts it is a rental property. Firms building long term assets Downtown Toronto have better attention to detail than that.
  3. The renderings look the same as what has been advertised as a for-lease space since 2012-2014ish. Why not present a more serious design concept rather than use the same placeholder rendering that has been around for 6+ years?
  4. There are only two floorplate configurations in the architectural plans - even for a ZBA that seems to just be designed to meet the % ratios of 2 and 3 beds.
  5. Rental (seems to be) easier to get through the planning process vs condo, allowing for a quick rezoning turnaround and sale to either Ryerson or a developer.
  6. 30s is pretty conservative for this site (unless there's shadowing on Dundas square concern here.) A more serious developer would likely assemble this property with the abutting (former HMV) Tokyo Smoke + Five Guys Building… not sure the status of those leases considering Tokyo is in the process of building out their full store. (my assumption, given no shadowing issues)
Anyway, this zba will likely be approved, but won't be built in this scheme...just a guess.
For those that don't know, this rendering has been around since at least 2014:
View attachment 216092
image via here but originally from CBRE
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It's truly impressive that they managed to make it look like a mullion-riddled mess in the renderings, which should theoretically make the building look good. So that probably means the final product would look like Design Haus or something equally horrific ? ? ?
 
raptor said:
Condos per the project fact sheet.
May I just say that not every building in this city must be a 'stunner'. It's essentially an infill project, much better than what is there now.
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It’s absolutely not better than what’s there now. Toronto is far better off with the existing food market sitting on the lot. I’d hate to lose it; especially for this crap
 
reteequa said:
Ryerson should really buy this site and build another incredible building to show that sense of a grand entry.
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I am more than sure that it is not for a lack of trying that Ryerson does not already own this site. The owners are holding out for a significant payday, and with an institutional investor like a University next door who doesn't look at the bottom line like a normal developer, and the Toronto real estate market being what it is, it's obvious why they think this is a winning strategy.
 
Throwback Thursday!


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Is anyone really surprised by this? The owner is still the same pathetic slumlord that fought the city tooth and nail over performing even the most basic maintenance of the wonderful heritage hotel that used to grace this corner. As punishment for egregious neglect they should be forced to rebuild at least the façade of the Empress Hotel (I suppose with a tower dropped on top because that seems to be the only way Toronto knows how to keep historic buildings alive.)
 
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