any ides on what type of housing the land will have ???? condos or town homes ????? or which builder will build on that land ???

They will build approx. 2,800 units; and they are still in talks with several home builders.
 
I'm not sure what some of the expectations here are. This is a suburban site in a depressed area of the city. Big box retail is a positive move forward. Any investment is a positive move forward. As for the hype...well you can't fault the developers for hyping the project. Remember how special and how much of a destination Vaughan Mill's was hyped out to be?
 
Why so much surface parking? And box stores? :(

Some of the surface parking is being reserved for future phase expansions, and some will be underground parking (lands between the theatre and casino)....however the parking fields are still pretty vast, yet they need to accomodate the hotel, office and residential uses as well. The box stores will help generate traffic and some may be land lease deals. A site like this will need activity generators. Now if it were to be built on the port lands, with greater vertical density and subway access, then you would see very little parking (maybe a modest deck) and no big box, just unique entertainment uses.
 
Some people expect instant gratification. This isn't downtown. You can't just expect this development to be developed in one sweep.
 
So with the province jumping on board the online gambling bandwagon, would it be an indicator that they're open to expending gambling in the province? (ie. a casino within city limts.. Woodbine?) Or is there something else at play?
 
The Woodbine Live! (exclamation mark required to let people know the word live rhymes with hive, not give?) website looks like it has had more time and money spent on it than was spent building The Star of Downtown. It's worth a look to understand the massive scale of this project if all goes as the developer plans it to. The extensive website includes maps, videos, 'precedent photos', more renderings, and some specious claims (Toronto = 3rd largest city in North America), but I'll give you some renderings here to whet your appetite for all the development porn you'll find with a few clicks. Check 'em out:

The Broadway District

WoodbineBroadwayRender.jpg



The Market District

WoodbineMarketDistrictRender.jpg



The Live! District

WoodbineLive!DistrictRender.jpg



The Ice Park Plaza District

WoodbineIceParkPlazaRender.jpg



The Galleria District

WoodbineGalleriaDistrictRender.jpg



The Euro-Fashion District

WoodbineEuroFashionDistrictRender.jpg



and three images from the Live-Work District

WoodbineLiveWorkNeighbourhoodRender.jpg


WoodbineOfficesRender.jpg


WoodbineMidtownOfficeResidentialRender.jpg



Digging should start this fall.

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As much as I want this to work out as planned, I don't think it will anytime within the next decade. I just don't think the demand is there for all of this. It's too far away from any major tourist attractions. Maybe it will work though... who knows? Time will tell.
 
WHY DID THE RACE TRACK EVER MOVE????????????? This would be soooooo cool downtown.... How about mixed in with the underused CNE grounds? I dont want to have to get into a car and go to Suburbia to have a few hours of gambling. Didnt MLSE at one point have an appplication for a downtown casino? Maybe that will get built.
 
Some people expect instant gratification. This isn't downtown. You can't just expect this development to be developed in one sweep.

No. But you can expect good design.

This is just a fancy strip mall with some 'pedestrian' areas. At a look at the 'Downtown Markham' idea... a suburb that will be building something similar to Woodbine. But utilizes good design.
 
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very much reminds me of The Grove shopping mall / Farmer's Market complex in LA which is a very vibrant and bustling place. I dont think we have anything quite like this in Canada. Also it remains to be seen if this can be a successful year round location/destination. I think it would suffer in the winter months as the outdoor / open air portion will not be so attractive... looks really nice in renders though.
 
Check out their website. They promise outdoor fireplaces and warming places. They also have the skating rink and canal plan, so they are aware that winter will hit...

but yes, in suburban settings, these are all experiments, aren't they?

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No. But you can expect good design.

This is just a fancy strip mall with some 'pedestrian' areas. At a look at the 'Downtown Markham' idea... a suburb that will be building something similar to Woodbine. But utilizes good design.

It's interesting you bring up that comparison, I was going to mention that as well.

Expect I'm not sure where you're cumming from - we have no evidence of the design that'll be used here whatsoever - these are just preliminary renderings - so I'm not sure how can compare the two.

They look similar in many ways ... it seems downtown Markham has a lot more residential space and a smaller focus on being an attraction in it self - yes there's a main strip / and what not but not to the scale here ... then again they're different projects all together in many ways too.
 
The renders we've seen to date are the original design/vision; however there has been a sharp change with respect to the overall design/size of the project. What we've been told is that the skating canal will be removed, yet the entertainment portion (what Cordish is famous for in their other projects) will remain. New plans and renders should be coming out to the market shortly. For now we'll have to either dream or speculate.
 

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