[Strange Advance]

Congrats, SA....Hopefully GG does not forget to include the big bland rooftop mechanical box on top of this future big grey/blue rectangular package.

I'm partial to boxy modernist buildings, but I do like 'em tall and slender (FCP, CCW, TD, WTC, Sears, Aon, Hancock), not short and stout (e.g. Telus). I do hope GG doesn't go a great deal shorter than the Bazis design.
The original 1 Bloor design, which you posted above, is utterly ass-ugly, in my opinion. That thing belongs in Vancouver, not Toronto. Its hideosity is exacerbated by the atrociously amateurish low-res render.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Strange Advance:

To be fair, the rendering is cribbed from the architect's flash website before the days of multi-megapixel renderings. And for all the design failings - the proposal does have one significant plus to it - it was meant to house a multiplex theatre.

AoD

 

[Torontovibe]

Automation:

That 218 m original reminds me of a bad Vancouver condo. It already looks very dated and cheap.

And a grey glass box would be an improvement?

 

[Strange Advance]

Strange Advance:

To be fair, the rendering is cribbed from the architect's flash website before the days of multi-megapixel renderings. And for all the design failings - the proposal does have one significant plus to it - it was meant to house a multiplex theatre.

AoD

OK, but then I think it should have been done by hand instead. That one looks like it was put together by a high school student on a Commodore 64. A multiplex could still be incorporated. Of course, we peons don't know what GG is up to yet. I'm just hoping beyond hope it's something spectacular. A box can be spectacular.
And with the recovering market, perhaps we'll see something a little more prepossessing than the "something slightly more modest" GG announced a few months ago.

 

[yyzer]

from today's Daily Commercial News, so posted with the usual caveat.....

CONDOMINIUM APARTMENT, RETAIL Proj: 1320817-14
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON NEGOTIATED/PLANNING

Number One Bloor, 1 Bloor St E, M4W 1A9

$50,000,000 est

Note: This project is preliminary. Sales and marketing are expected to begin Spring/Summer, 2010. Schedules for Working drawings, Sub trade tender and construction will be determined based on occupancy. Further update Summer, 2010.

Project: concrete foundation, cast-in-place concrete structural frame, fuel fired heating system, proposed construction of a 65-storey condominium building, with 100,000 sq ft of retail space on the first and second floors.
Scope: 600,000 square feet; 65 storeys; 2 storeys below grade; 4 acres

 

[Automation Gallery]

65 stories/2 storey podium, i guess thats all that Great Gulf can deliver. aprox. 50 million bucks sounds cheap for such a structure.

 

[urbandreamer]

Phase one only perhaps?

 

[androiduk]

Only 2 storeys below grade. That doesn't leave room for another building, parking wise.

 

[Mike in TO]

65 stories/2 storey podium, i guess thats all that Great Gulf can deliver. aprox. 50 million bucks sounds cheap for such a structure.

$50m is less than what was paid for the land.

 

[Torontovibe]

So how does this compare? How much retail space did the last proposal have and how much was it expected to cost to build?

 

[Automation Gallery]

So how does this compare? How much retail space did the last proposal have and how much was it expected to cost to build?

i think, a four storey double-height podium, total cost aprox 300 million. But then again it was to be a luxury condo/hotel building.

 

[alklay]

A two story podium has me a bit concerned but I am willing to wait and see how its executed.

 

[Roy G Biv]

Only 2 storeys below grade. That doesn't leave room for another building, parking wise.

Unless they use parking lifts or something similar.

 

[Ramako]

600,000 square feet at 65 floors? This thing is gonna be pencil thin.

 

[maestro]

Some seem seem to be forget just how unreliable the daily commercial news is. You can probably get more accurate "facts" from some stranger passing by the One Bloor site.