LOL that was a strange article...

First, I doubt the CN Tower would ever get willingly demolished for redevelopment. At least not in my lifetime, my childrens' or my childrens' children.

Second, if the crappy train shed is 'heritage' I would hope our only global landmark is too.
 
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Response to this article outta be good. More July fireworks to come for sure..

Maybe they could get Mammoet to move it over a few blocks?
 
The CN Tower should apply for heritage designation. What other freestanding structure on land was taller than the CN Tower between 1975 and 2007?

If the CN Tower were demolished, then there should be a taller tower to replace it, perhaps one that is one kilometre tall, so that Toronto can retake the record of having the tallest freestanding structure on land in the world.
 
That article was embarrassing and I'm surprised that the Star published it. The author being a structural engineer on the project has jack shit to do with his knowledge/opinion on whether it could be redeveloped from a planning perspective. He also misrepresents the situation by claiming that the tower is privately owned. It's owned by a crown corporation. The whole thing came off as reactionary anti-condo drivel.
 
Well some of the thoughts of the article are not completely unfounded. There was actually a story on the front page of the star about a decade ago (which I still have) that stated that the Harper government was eyeing a potential sell off of the CN Tower through the Canada Lands Corporation. The Finance Minister at the time (Jim Flaherty) stated that the government was eyeing potential asset sell-offs but he wouldnt comment on the CN Tower as part of the rumors.

Obviously nothing came out of that, but i'm sure there will be the odd foolish politician in the future who will float the idea and actually seriously look into it. The public would never allow something like that to go through, but the idea has been discussed in the past.
 
The federal government selling the CN Tower would be like the American government selling the Statue of Liberty. In other words, there would be huge riots if those world-renowned government-owned landmarks were sold.
 
Johnny Au said:
The federal government selling the CN Tower would be like the American government selling the Statue of Liberty. In other words, there would be huge riots if those world-renowned government-owned landmarks were sold.
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Actually CN Tower has changed hands several times over its' relatively short history - and CLC divesting itself of landmarks isn't necessarily an unknown practice.

Now what really concerns me isn't them selling it - but the awful stuff they put in/around it. Can we hire a decent landscape architect and redesign the entire space surrounding the tower and Rogers Centre? It's the butt-end of the city.

AoD
 
As far as I know - and I did some looking up - ownership of the CN Tower itself has only changed hands once - in 1995 when it passed from the CNR to Canada Lands Company prior to the CNR's privatization.

I believe the management and operation of a number of aspects of the CN Tower had been outsourced, initially by CNR and then possibly by Canada Lands - in particular the tower base components (admission booths, gift shop etc.), observation deck and restaurant - to various private operators over the years. The last change I am aware of, and which took place a while ago, was termination of the outsourced management contracts (at end of contract term?) with Canada Lands taking over direct management of the previously outsourced managed components.

Also, my understanding is that the transmitters at the top of the tower - the various FM Radio, Television and Paging services which are located at the top - have always been the responsibility of Canada Lands, and previously CNR - management and operation of these components was never outsourced.

Presumably, Canada Lands owns and operates the land and structures immediately surrounding the tower itself, and is thus directly responsible for what is currently / has been recently erected there.

So - one change of ownership of the tower itself, and possible multiple changes of manager / operator of the tourist attraction elements of the tower over the forty year history of the Tower, but now all consolidated under the stewardship of the Canada Lands Company.
 
AHK said:
As far as I know - and I did some looking up - ownership of the CN Tower itself has only changed hands once - in 1995 when it passed from the CNR to Canada Lands Company prior to the CNR's privatization.

I believe the management and operation of a number of aspects of the CN Tower had been outsourced, initially by CNR and then possibly by Canada Lands - in particular the tower base components (admission booths, gift shop etc.), observation deck and restaurant - to various private operators over the years. The last change I am aware of, and which took place a while ago, was termination of the outsourced management contracts (at end of contract term?) with Canada Lands taking over direct management of the previously outsourced managed components.

Also, my understanding is that the transmitters at the top of the tower - the various FM Radio, Television and Paging services which are located at the top - have always been the responsibility of Canada Lands, and previously CNR - management and operation of these components was never outsourced.

Presumably, Canada Lands owns and operates the land and structures immediately surrounding the tower itself, and is thus directly responsible for what is currently / has been recently erected there.

So - one change of ownership of the tower itself, and possible multiple changes of manager / operator of the tourist attraction elements of the tower over the forty year history of the Tower, but now all consolidated under the stewardship of the Canada Lands Company.
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I believe Canada Lands also owns the land under the Roger's Centre (known as the Stadium Lands). That is why it sold for so little cash to Rogers. Its only use is as a stadium, no development rights.
 
From about 1997 to 2001 (I might be off a year or two), TrizecHahn had a 70-year ground lease on the CN Tower and they ran the whole operation. They sold their interest back to CLC when they divested themselves of all of their Canadian assets.
 
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