College Park
Active Member
I know this is all in the category of pie-in-the-sky, but the discussions about the building continue. The MRI, MaRS, and it's stakeholders (including the OICR) continue to plan.
Xray_Crystal_Junkie
Senior Member
Wow I hope not (for the sake of the employees). They already spend enough hours in the lab. I could only imagine the expectations PI's (Principle Investigators) would have for graduate students once you stick beds in there haha
But I digress...
Not sure if this is relevant but I was walking by the site tonight around 7p.m. and noticed lights on in all of the construction trailers on site and people working/moving around inside. Could this be indicative of it ramping back up in the near future?
Mike in TO
Senior Member
There are a few others that didn't survive (obviously far less then many other global cities). However, quite a number of projects were significantly impacted by the credit crunch.
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Im sure it effected a bunch of them in the planning and proposed stages... but under construction, the only other one i can think of was Reve on Front street which was caped at ground level and has since then proceeded ahead.
Time to remind everyone what we're hoping to see here - or at least what we were told we would get!
This was the original plan, with the west tower designed to match the first phase east tower.
...and after the first phase was so successful, the decision was made to redesign the second phase to be significantly larger. Architect Patrick Fejer of Bregman + Hamann, who also designed the Cumberland Terrace redevelopment that we featured earlier this week, presented this design in August of 2008.
UrbanToronto founding member Billy Corgan took these shots of the model that sat in the atrium of MaRS. We'll start with a shot from the northwest, like the Photoshopped image above, but from closer to the ground.
Higher, from the north.
Lower again, a bit east of the previous spot.
From the east.
From the southeast.
Closing in, from the west.
And a last tight shot from the north.
This was the original plan, with the west tower designed to match the first phase east tower.
...and after the first phase was so successful, the decision was made to redesign the second phase to be significantly larger. Architect Patrick Fejer of Bregman + Hamann, who also designed the Cumberland Terrace redevelopment that we featured earlier this week, presented this design in August of 2008.
UrbanToronto founding member Billy Corgan took these shots of the model that sat in the atrium of MaRS. We'll start with a shot from the northwest, like the Photoshopped image above, but from closer to the ground.
Higher, from the north.
Lower again, a bit east of the previous spot.
From the east.
From the southeast.
Closing in, from the west.
And a last tight shot from the north.
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Nice reminder int42...now im all hyped up that construction proceeds soon.
College Park
Active Member
Phase II represents an astonishing increase in the amount of space available for R&D: it dwarfs the South Tower, which is a hive of activity, a kernel of what is envisioned.
current
Active Member
I heard one company occupying space in MaRS has leased six floors in Phase II. They are growing and there is no more space available in MaRS so they are leasing in nearby buildings. They hope construction starts soon on Phase II, so the demand is there. Why it is not restarting I do not know.
vini007
Active Member
they should go higher on the plan go as more floors as they need to its how u make money.. before this happens again.. changing on projects or lack of funds..
Automation Gallery
Superstar
You cant go to tall there with Queen's Park.
golodhendil
Active Member
Much as I think this will be a great addition to Toronto's research sector, I still feel it would have been better to preserve the symmetry of the Queen's Park "circus".
junctionist
Senior Member
I fully agree. It's quite regrettable that the University Avenue facade isn't curved to match the other buildings visible at this intersection. This issue was lamented a long time ago in this thread, but now that the project is stalled, maybe it's possible for a slight change in the design. Make no mistake, it's a great design, but the building seems to stick out too much amidst the graceful curves of the Ontario Hydro Building and the Frost Building. The curved facades of those buildings seem to bow to the grand legislature in the middle and compliment it rather than compete for attention. Someone must have had a plan at one point, and it's too bad it couldn't be continued with this building.
PL1
Active Member
Remember that SickKids has the top 5 floors of MaRS. All those labs will be relocating to the new SickKids Research building once it's complete, which surely will be before MaRS II is done.
Even if there may not be a current need for MaRS II, there likely will be in the future. It'll get done at some time.
Also, re: turning it into a residence? God, I hope not. As a former PhD student at MaRS and post-doc, we used to joke about where the leg-irons were on the benches. PIs (that's principal researchers -- the ones who make the money) might like the idea, though.
Observer Walt
Senior Member
I'm not so sure that this was a direct victim of the "credit crunch", although that may have had some impact. I think it's just a function of the fact that the proposed building will be pretty large by any standards (hundreds of thousands of square feet) and like any project, it won't be built "on spec". Commitments to lease a substantial amount of it are needed. Sick Kids was originally seen as a large potential tenant, but for whatever reasons they are now putting up their own building (a very positive step generally, but a negative for MARS).
Wil lit be built eventually? Certainly, and certainly not as a residential building! When? I don't know; maybe a certain other member here who claims inside information could tell us.
Wil lit be built eventually? Certainly, and certainly not as a residential building! When? I don't know; maybe a certain other member here who claims inside information could tell us.
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
MaRS Phase II finally set for liftoff
Reported by Tim Alamenciak
Reported on Monday, January 24, 2011
Phase II, the much-anticipated expansion to the MaRS campus at College Street and University Avenue, was announced to great fanfare in 2007, drawing attention from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and then-mayor David Miller. But by the end of 2008, plans were on hold, with the recession cited as the reason. The delay has since been the source of much speculation and interest, though there's been no word of progress—until now.
"We’re hoping to have an announcement sometime in the next month," says representative Dale Martin, a member of the MaRS real estate team. He was not able to discuss the details of that announcement, but confirmed that there have been no changes to the original building plan, which called for a twenty-storey tower that would add 750,000 square feet of space to MaRS. MaRS and California-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., who have long been in partnership to make Phase II happen, have been negotiating terms to reinstate construction on the tower, and Martin says the existing foundation will still be used.
“It’s a complex thing with lots of moving parts,” says CEO Ilse Treurnicht of the negotiation process. “The project was hit by international forces and we're continuing to work with Alexandria and stakeholders to restart construction,” she adds, noting, as Martin did, that they hope to make an announcement soon. Alexandria, a medical science real estate company that operates labs throughout the United States, did not return repeated calls for comment.
MaRS, which launched after renovating the Toronto General Hospital building at 101 College Street, just east of Phase II's site, is a private charity that provides advice and workspace for science and business ventures. They support a wide range of fledgling and not-so-fledgling businesses in the fields of health science and technology. They don't offer venture capital; rather, their mandate is to help guide entrepreneurs through the process of innovating and developing their business. The organization receives donations from private sources as well as funding from the province of Ontario. (MaRS, it should be noted, is also partners with OpenFile.)
The new building would allow MaRS to offer more space to more businesses. Current tenants include pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline Inc., RBC Royal Bank, Toronto Region Research Alliance, and over sixty other organizations.
For now, though, the construction site still lies dormant, with concrete boxes poking out of a snow-covered foundation. The PCL trailers and scaffolding are still on scene, everything waiting for work to resume.
Reported by Tim Alamenciak
Reported on Monday, January 24, 2011
Phase II, the much-anticipated expansion to the MaRS campus at College Street and University Avenue, was announced to great fanfare in 2007, drawing attention from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and then-mayor David Miller. But by the end of 2008, plans were on hold, with the recession cited as the reason. The delay has since been the source of much speculation and interest, though there's been no word of progress—until now.
"We’re hoping to have an announcement sometime in the next month," says representative Dale Martin, a member of the MaRS real estate team. He was not able to discuss the details of that announcement, but confirmed that there have been no changes to the original building plan, which called for a twenty-storey tower that would add 750,000 square feet of space to MaRS. MaRS and California-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., who have long been in partnership to make Phase II happen, have been negotiating terms to reinstate construction on the tower, and Martin says the existing foundation will still be used.
“It’s a complex thing with lots of moving parts,” says CEO Ilse Treurnicht of the negotiation process. “The project was hit by international forces and we're continuing to work with Alexandria and stakeholders to restart construction,” she adds, noting, as Martin did, that they hope to make an announcement soon. Alexandria, a medical science real estate company that operates labs throughout the United States, did not return repeated calls for comment.
MaRS, which launched after renovating the Toronto General Hospital building at 101 College Street, just east of Phase II's site, is a private charity that provides advice and workspace for science and business ventures. They support a wide range of fledgling and not-so-fledgling businesses in the fields of health science and technology. They don't offer venture capital; rather, their mandate is to help guide entrepreneurs through the process of innovating and developing their business. The organization receives donations from private sources as well as funding from the province of Ontario. (MaRS, it should be noted, is also partners with OpenFile.)
The new building would allow MaRS to offer more space to more businesses. Current tenants include pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline Inc., RBC Royal Bank, Toronto Region Research Alliance, and over sixty other organizations.
For now, though, the construction site still lies dormant, with concrete boxes poking out of a snow-covered foundation. The PCL trailers and scaffolding are still on scene, everything waiting for work to resume.