If I remember correctly, the interiors will be gutted as they are in pretty poor shape. Implying the buildings will be demolished however is purely false.
Think about it, if that were the case, why wouldn't they take them down when they demolished the warehouse? Could have expanded the underground parking as a bonus.
Not the case. I was standing inside the northernmost of those buildings on Friday, and the project manager made it clear to me that they would be either raising or lowering the floors and converting the spaces into residential and retail - nothing more. No mention was made of demolition of any sort and I am pretty certain that all the work on those buildings will be restoration - not facadectomy.
Here:
http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2012/10/interview-era-architects-heritage-five-st-joseph
In this interview posted back in October, the developer clearly says that:
1. "GS: Yes [, plan to totally gut them] Right now the floors in there are wooden and wonky, and at different levels because of the slope of street. We'll put in steel floors with concrete pads on top."
2. "Q: Is it even a situation where you were able to salvage and reface any of the wood floors? A: No, based on what's left it’s not worth it"
3. "The upper floors on the Yonge Street buildings' size might be nice, and might get great light, but the question was how to get access up there, how to get elevators in, second exits. There are currently too many stairs to get up, and they don't conform to today's code. A lot of those things don't necessarily work when you look at the buildings on an individual basis.
GS: So, we are putting the entrance to those upper floors on St. Joseph, so that area it will have its own lobby and elevator, similar to the 'Five Thieves' at Summerhill and Yonge."
~~ please tell me how that's not complete rebuild with "only facades and some minor structural items will be left, remainder will be completely rebuild from scratch" as I have previously posted. So maybe you can consider a possibility that you are not always right...
Also, please read my original post. I did not say that entire building is going to be demolished. Only that majority of the building will be rebuild from scratch, indicating that there is no way they can open retail portion by this fall.
one last quote regarding garage:
"Q: Will the garage extend all the way to Yonge?
GS: No, in the original design it came close, but it has been scaled back to preserve more of the Yonge Street buildings."