I have a feeling this will end up being more of a residential hub vs an office hub.
No doubt they'll try and adjust their approvals, but this entire thing was predicated on it being a huge office hub so to fundamentally change that is going to be very difficult. Again, not impossible, and adjustments are going to be the easiest way, but a wholesale change is not something with which the City is going to be on side.
 
A report to next week's Executive Ctte Mtg recommends that 3 East Harbour projects, including the 1A office tower be denied IMIT grants.


From the above:

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The reasoning for denial largely comes down to huge investment the City is making in flood proofing and in the Broadview Extension.

But consideration of the state of the office market and a few other items are mentioned.
Love it! Deny, deny, deny!

The only way it should've been even considered here was if Cadillac Fairview was bringing something special to the table with this development. They likely wont, so there's no point considering it.


I have a feeling this will end up being more of a residential hub vs an office hub.
With the way they'll probably go to the province and beg for it, I wouldnt be surprised either.
 
Something tells me you couldn't have used the old factory for making soap again anyhow...
One would expect they could refurbish/bring it up to snuff if they ever did that...

...to be fair though, I'm not sure debating in hindsight is really that helpful here. >.<
 
No doubt they'll try and adjust their approvals, but this entire thing was predicated on it being a huge office hub so to fundamentally change that is going to be very difficult. Again, not impossible, and adjustments are going to be the easiest way, but a wholesale change is not something with which the City is going to be on side.

The city has to at least understand that there isn’t really a market for brand new class A office towers right now, even with the transit station coming… right? I just can’t see CF building any of the office buildings on spec.

Surely they can reserve some space for office and flip the rest to residential / mixed use so that the project can at least move forward in some way.

I still want a mix of uses here - perhaps some light industrial or lab space could be possible.
 
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The city has to at least understand that there isn’t really a market for brand new class A office towers right now, even with the transit station coming… right? I just can’t see CF building any of the office buildings on spec.

Surely they can reserve some space for office and flip the rest to residential / mixed use so that the project can at least move forward in some way.

I still want a mix of uses here - perhaps some light industrial or lab space could be possible.
IIRC the key to CF unlocking the site is they need to start (Building #1) with the big KPF '1B' office tower they're currently SPA-ing. After that, I bet they'll go back, but my understanding is that they need to do that one to even contemplate building the rest out, regardless of building use or typology. I agree, a mix of uses here is definitely the best outcome, but how that might actually play out over a 20-50 year build timeline? Who knows.
 
IIRC the key to CF unlocking the site is they need to start (Building #1) with the big KPF '1B' office tower they're currently SPA-ing. After that, I bet they'll go back, but my understanding is that they need to do that one to even contemplate building the rest out, regardless of building use or typology. I agree, a mix of uses here is definitely the best outcome, but how that might actually play out over a 20-50 year build timeline? Who knows.
Do you know why the commercial tower is needed? Is it because of infrastructure? All may not be lost with it as they might be able to use some of the space for a hotel or institutional uses.
 
Demolition, and rebirth…

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...what's those felled trees left for in that pond? Beaver trolling? 🙀
 
Does anyone predict that CF could sell off this site again? That would be my dream tbh. This is so unimaginative.
 
Does anyone predict that CF could sell off this site again? That would be my dream tbh. This is so unimaginative.
Or even better, they divide it into parcels and sell them off one by one.

Master planned multi-block developments like this rarely turn out well, especially with a single developer…
 

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