I'd say that DUKE and Kingston&Co were overall positive projects by TAS. Where details were mostly well executed, apart from the comments about marks being docked off Kingston&Co for not having the rounded corners.

For 888 Dupont, I certainly appreciate the out of the box thinking and pursuit by Suulin. There's subtle nods to the existing building, which has already been an enigmatic presence, and forged into a new structure with deconstructivist and neo-industrial influences.
 
There are a ton more views of the project on the architect's website, for those who didn't check previously.

TAS seems committed to being much more than just a private equity driven developer, given their attention to community details in other projects and seemingly here as well:

1595958394699.png
 
The building really looks to be in terrible shape.

Agreed. But its charm was as a sort of last vestige of the King West and Liberty Village of the 1990s when old warehouses were unrestored and used by artists and craftsmen. It wasn't fancy, but it was cool. It meant more diversity in uses than condos, retail, and office space. You could buy a handmade local coffee table for a decent price.
 
Site Plan Approval application submitted on Aug. 31:

Development Applications

Updated project description:
Site Plan Approval for a 13-storey mixed-use building, inclusive of a 3-storey podium element, having a non-residential gross floor area of 2285.31 square metres, and a residential gross floor area of 12,388.39 square metres. A total of 136 rental dwelling units are proposed.
 
Well I hope they hurry - the building has never looked worse than it does right now. They literally stapled mesh to sections of the exterior to catch pieces of falling masonry it seems 😆
 

After three years working at a warehouse at Dupont and Ossington in Toronto’s west-end, photographer Lindsay Duncan suddenly has no studio. In early October, up to 50 artists, and working creatives were evicted from 888 Dupont St. to make way for a new development at the site.

While the eviction wasn’t a surprise — developer TAS had given 90-days notice — that still doesn’t make the loss any less difficult for Duncan or the other tenants.

“It was the last somewhat affordable space in the city,” she said. “There were jewelry designers, other photographers, musicians, and people who needed things to do their work.”

She was one of the last people to leave the building and spent some time taking pictures, soaking in its decades-long role in Toronto’s arts scene.

“It has a long history of being an unofficial live workspace that really provided for a lot of people,” she said.

In its place, TAS is proposing a 13-storey mixed-use building with 136 residential live-work units — 13 of which, or 10 per cent, would be “affordable” units set at 80 per cent of Toronto’s average market rent.

That won’t be enough to accommodate all those who were working in the old warehouse, though.

When news spread of the eviction in July, Duncan said there was “panic” among the tenants over where they could move to and potentially having to pay double their rent elsewhere.
 

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