Ramako:

I don't know about that - the BIA did support the proposal - and the issues mentioned can be legitimate. Their requests sounds pretty reasonable to me.


From the article:

The mass of the taller structure also raises some concerns for the BIA. “...we certainly remain concerned about the impacts tall buildings, and buildings with large floor-plates may have on adjacent buildings, properties and businesses.”


I'm just curious; what about the current height of this project concerns the BIA? If the answer is, in reality, nothing, which appears to be the case from reading the article, then I wonder why they felt compelled to comment on the issue at all, other than to simply let it be known that height, in principle, is something to be apprehensive about.
 
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The city has approved the large-scale redevelopment of a low-rise mall near one of the city’s highest profile intersections.

The latest one calls for two towers, 36- and 48-storeys respectively, above a three-storey retail podium and four floors of parking with a total of 556 condo units.

At one time, werent the units rental-only in this proposed development.
 
Great news o this one! Let's hope it goes forward even further :D

The design seems very interesting as seen in the render.. its something very different for the area but now that i've seen the Four Seasons cladding, i can actually see this one work! (of course, the design could change before construction begins...)
 
At one time, werent the units rental-only in this proposed development.

It seems "apartments", "dwelling units" & "condo" are sometimes used interchangeably but you are correct, the planning report for 2 Bloor W does state apartments in the application data sheet. I've seen a couple of other reports where they state apartments but we know they are condo units.
 
Apartment refers to dwelling unit. Rental refers to ownership. To add to the confusion, just about every market/luxury unit being built gets registered as a condominium unit. Allows for flexibility as seen with 11 St Joseph or Cosmopolitan.
 
Apartment refers to dwelling unit. Rental refers to ownership. To add to the confusion, just about every market/luxury unit being built gets registered as a condominium unit. Allows for flexibility as seen with 11 St Joseph or Cosmopolitan.

OK. In the Staff Report for this proposal the units are referred to as apartments for whatever advantage that offers.
 
Assuming these buildings were all rental, is there anything now stopping construction from commencing aside from city permits? What's the rental market like?
 
Assuming these buildings were all rental, is there anything now stopping construction from commencing aside from city permits? What's the rental market like?

Pick up a free copy of the GTA's "Rental News" and you'll find your answer. Hint: It's an inch thick.
 
Assuming these buildings were all rental, is there anything now stopping construction from commencing aside from city permits? What's the rental market like?

I don't necessarily see the shape of the rental market stopping them. OMERS in tandem with Concert Properties has been very active in the rental housing market. I wonder the situation with the existing tenants though .. any long term leases in the way of the redevelopment.
 
I could be wrong about this, but I don't believe that any project built in Toronto recently (apart from co-ops or other assisted housing) is truly "rentals". I believe what developers do, even in cases like the now-renamed Eleven on St. Joseph, is register all the units in a "rental" building as condominiums, but they choose to rent them out. That way, if the market lends itself to selling them, they don't have to turn to the city to change the building's status in any way. I would be interested to know if any of the recent projects that were billed as rentals are true rentals or not.
 
I heard there were also tax reasons to keep rental buildings as condos. Not sure, just what I heard.

For this project to go ahead would require site plan approval from the City (including TTC sign-off, which would be tricky) and the developer to commit to building the project (also tricky).
 

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