[The Preservationist]

Well at least there has been some effort to retain the streetscape experience. I would have preferred the tower set back from Yonge St as are the buildings south of Bloor, however they don't appear to have the space to do so.

 

[Doppleganger]

Disappointing to see this lovely street succumbing to 'facadism'. I wonder if there are any heritage buildings in Toronto that the city considers sacrosanct from the disease of 'facadism'?

 

[Bjays92]

I have high hopes for this project. If the finishes are the quality of 55 Mercer this should be a really solid addition to the city. IBI has designed some pretty good projects of late.

 

[M Anonymous]

I have high hopes for this project. If the finishes are the quality of 55 Mercer this should be a really solid addition to the city. IBI has designed some pretty good projects of late.

500 units sold already in 1 month, and now the applications for construction of the tower and for the heritage preservation portion are in already! As mentioned in UT's article already. This is so great! They're hoping to begin official construction by the 1st Quarter of next year! Woo hoo!

 

[AlbertC]

Toronto condo market slowdown? Not at these projects

The news cycle is replete with stories about the Greater Toronto Area’s housing market being into the doldrums, but upon closer inspection a voracious appetite for well-located developments still exists.

renx.ca

Granted, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board’s (TRREB) latest statistics reveal sales in the GTA declined by 49.1% year-over-year in October, while new listings decreased on both yearly and monthly bases.

However, 8 Elm, a 69-storey, 819-unit condominium being built near Yonge-Dundas Square has sold over 80 per cent of the units released to market at an average of $1,775 per square foot. That is substantially higher than what the market averaged even before the Bank of Canada began hiking its overnight lending rate and caused buying activity to decelerate.

 

[RickyBobby]

I walked past the site on Friday and there were numerous construction crews taking out the windows and doors, and removing furniture and some drywall from the site. Looks like maybe hazmat removal has started.

 

[Bayer]

So this building will have only 6 main elevators plus a service elevator... that sounds unwise. As I mentioned before, I lived on the 50th floor at 763 Bay St (ROCP I) for 10 years. There were a total of 6 elevators, 109 apartments per elevator, and it was either a bother or a nightmare most of the time.

 

[interchange42]

So this building will have only 6 main elevators plus a service elevator... that sounds unwise. As I mentioned before, I lived on the 50th floor at 763 Bay St (ROCP I) for 10 years. There were a total of 6 elevators, 109 apartments per elevator, and it was either a bother or a nightmare most of the time.

Here the ratio is 1 elevator for every 136.5 units. Not great, but not as bad as we've seen in some other applications as of late.

I believe we need elevator service standards , with a formula that takes into account

• how many suites/bedrooms
• number of floors the elevators could be called to
• whether or not there is a section of the building skipped and therefore travel time (eg serving floors 1 and then 30 through 60)
• the capacity of the elevator
• its speed
• how advanced the origin/destination dispatch technology is
• and how many other elevators there are in the building (being mindful of reliability, meaning how often one might go out of service).

All of those factors would have to be weighted, some experimentation required, to come up with something indicative of appropriate service levels. It's not just a matter of convenience (although I don't want to undervalue convenience for people stuck having to wait for elevators every day of their lives — that's a major quality of life issue in an ever increasingly high-rise city like this) but also of safety.

Put some statisticians on this, come up with a minimum standards formula, and require that buildings have appropriate capacity in their system.

With improvements in elevator origin/destination dispatch technology,, speeds, etc, obviously more suites can be served than by older elevators, but how many are needed? Will 1 elevator per 136.5 suites be sufficient if they're advanced? We don't know.

42

 

[jaborandi]

Here the ratio is 1 elevator for every 136.5 units. Not great, but not as bad as we've seen in some other applications as of late.

I believe we need elevator service standards , with a formula that takes into account

• how many suites/bedrooms
• number of floors the elevators could be called to
• whether or not there is a section of the building skipped and therefore travel time (eg serving floors 1 and then 30 through 60)
• the capacity of the elevator
• its speed
• how advanced the origin/destination dispatch technology is
• and how many other elevators there are in the building (being mindful of reliability, meaning how often one might go out of service).

All of those factors would have to be weighted, some experimentation required, to come up with something indicative of appropriate service levels. It's not just a matter of convenience (although I don't want to undervalue convenience for people stuck having to wait for elevators every day of their lives — that's a major quality of life issue in an ever increasingly high-rise city like this) but also of safety.

Put some statisticians on this, come up with a minimum standards formula, and require that buildings have appropriate capacity in their system.

With improvements in elevator origin/destination dispatch technology,, speeds, etc, obviously more suites can be served than by older elevators, but how many are needed? Will 1 elevator per 136.5 suites be sufficient if they're advanced? We don't know.

42

Sounds like a titanic suggestion!

 

[interchange42]

Sounds like a titanic suggestion!

I suspect the idea for standards will sink initially, industry never wants any new regulation… but it will likely be important to re-float it to get something established before the situation gets worse. With buildings taking so long between proposal and completion though, it can take years to find out how bad things are, and many more inadequately serviced buildings could be underway in the meantime.

Of course, everything will be sorted out once Dr Emory Erickson invents the transporter in the early 22nd century…
…but no-one wants to wait that long for an elevator!

42

 

[Deadpool X]

Here the ratio is 1 elevator for every 136.5 units. Not great, but not as bad as we've seen in some other applications as of late.

I believe we need elevator service standards , with a formula that takes into account

• how many suites/bedrooms
• number of floors the elevators could be called to
• whether or not there is a section of the building skipped and therefore travel time (eg serving floors 1 and then 30 through 60)
• the capacity of the elevator
• its speed
• how advanced the origin/destination dispatch technology is
• and how many other elevators there are in the building (being mindful of reliability, meaning how often one might go out of service).

All of those factors would have to be weighted, some experimentation required, to come up with something indicative of appropriate service levels. It's not just a matter of convenience (although I don't want to undervalue convenience for people stuck having to wait for elevators every day of their lives — that's a major quality of life issue in an ever increasingly high-rise city like this) but also of safety.

Put some statisticians on this, come up with a minimum standards formula, and require that buildings have appropriate capacity in their system.

With improvements in elevator origin/destination dispatch technology,, speeds, etc, obviously more suites can be served than by older elevators, but how many are needed? Will 1 elevator per 136.5 suites be sufficient if they're advanced? We don't know.

42

We can also consider situations where one elevator is out of service and another one is blocked for people moving in or out. I have been in that exact situation in a 32 floor building that had 3 elevators. On top of that, it was during peak Covid times and the capacity of the only elevator left was 2 people to allow for social distancing.

 

[RickyBobby]

Here the ratio is 1 elevator for every 136.5 units. Not great, but not as bad as we've seen in some other applications as of late.

I believe we need elevator service standards , with a formula that takes into account

• how many suites/bedrooms
• number of floors the elevators could be called to
• whether or not there is a section of the building skipped and therefore travel time (eg serving floors 1 and then 30 through 60)
• the capacity of the elevator
• its speed
• how advanced the origin/destination dispatch technology is
• and how many other elevators there are in the building (being mindful of reliability, meaning how often one might go out of service).

All of those factors would have to be weighted, some experimentation required, to come up with something indicative of appropriate service levels. It's not just a matter of convenience (although I don't want to undervalue convenience for people stuck having to wait for elevators every day of their lives — that's a major quality of life issue in an ever increasingly high-rise city like this) but also of safety.

Put some statisticians on this, come up with a minimum standards formula, and require that buildings have appropriate capacity in their system.

With improvements in elevator origin/destination dispatch technology,, speeds, etc, obviously more suites can be served than by older elevators, but how many are needed? Will 1 elevator per 136.5 suites be sufficient if they're advanced? We don't know.

42

This is what VT consultants like Soberman and KJA do. They should just target average wait times by building height and use and have to submit an engineering report.

Elevator size, door close speed, whether it is centre or side door, etc. are all factors in their models. So is where is amenity, parking, etc.

So the models exist. Office guys refer to them all the time and scrutinize them. Condo guys don't give a shit because as you know there are zero regulations.

 

[interchange42]

This is what VT consultants like Soberman and KJA do. They should just target average wait times by building height and use and have to submit an engineering report.

Elevator size, door close speed, whether it is centre or side door, etc. are all factors in their models. So is where is amenity, parking, etc.

So the models exist. Office guys refer to them all the time and scrutinize them. Condo guys don't give a shit because as you know there are zero regulations.

Thanks for the info! When we've got a little time, we'll see if we can land an interview with someone at one of those firms.

42

 

[Bayer]

This is what VT consultants like Soberman and KJA do. They should just target average wait times by building height and use and have to submit an engineering report.

Elevator size, door close speed, whether it is centre or side door, etc. are all factors in their models. So is where is amenity, parking, etc.

So the models exist. Office guys refer to them all the time and scrutinize them. Condo guys don't give a shit because as you know there are zero regulations.

Beyond technical specifications, reliability is a huge issue. Imagine a 5-year-old elevator that is out of service for 6 months because it needs a new carbon-fibre cable that is backordered and has to be shipped from Europe, and is taken offline again because said cable supposedly "shrank" due to humidity shortly after it was installed... But I also suspect how much management is willing to spend on service contracts might have something to do with how quickly problems get solved, seeing as I am now living in a nearly 50-year-old building where breakdowns are rare and promptly fixed.

 

[ProjectEnd]

This is what VT consultants like Soberman and KJA do. They should just target average wait times by building height and use and have to submit an engineering report.

Elevator size, door close speed, whether it is centre or side door, etc. are all factors in their models. So is where is amenity, parking, etc.

So the models exist. Office guys refer to them all the time and scrutinize them. Condo guys don't give a shit because as you know there are zero regulations.

This is exactly the issue and why I advocate tying elevator counts to unit counts in the code. We can get a traffic report commissioned, but it's entirely our choice whether we follow the recommendations (and too often, the shit kickers among us don't).