Historic building at 1 Front St. W. up for sale, and it won't be cheap
Dominion Public Building: ‘marquee property’ at 1 Front St. W. could be multibillion dollar ‘megaproject'

The property is zoned "commercial residential" and building regulations would permit a tower up to 137 metres tall.

The site is flanked by recent and planned developments, both residential and commercial, including the L Tower condominium to the east and a proposed 53-storey office tower directly south of the property.

Lamb believes multiple office or residential towers could be built on the site and that the maximum height permitted could be increased since the surrounding neighbourhood consists of mostly tall buildings.

"There are very little limits to the height here. There's no reason this can't be super tall," Lamb said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-government-building-for-sale-1.3929252
 
DonValleyRainbow said:
I'd much prefer if Ivanhoe Cambridge acquires it, and expands 141 Bay a bit to encroach upon the back of DPB. Convert the planned laneway into a covered galleria that preserves the integrity of that back wall. You know, kinda like what they did just up the street?
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The bigger question is whom will buy it with all the heritage protection? There was a huge potential to redevelop the laneway behind the building and cantilevering the new tower(s) over the old structure to preserve both the interior and exterior. However, 141 Bay has killed that. Goes right to the property line. So they cannot build on the Bay side (i.e. office tower potential). Instead it can only be redeveloped this way on the Yonge side (condos) and/or in the middle.

Means that some of the building will need to be torn down (if possible under the heritage laws) to maximize the potential ($$$ for the developers) of this block.

The ideal scenario is the Invanhoe does buy this and integrates into their 141 Bay project (making the towers larger and adding an extra tower or two.

Hopefully there are also streetscape improvements as part of this. Somehow humanize the base of the building. A bit to brutal to my taste. It needs a street level coffee shop or something.
 
Automation Gallery said:
Historic building at 1 Front St. W. up for sale, and it won't be cheap
Dominion Public Building: ‘marquee property’ at 1 Front St. W. could be multibillion dollar ‘megaproject'

The property is zoned "commercial residential" and building regulations would permit a tower up to 137 metres tall.

The site is flanked by recent and planned developments, both residential and commercial, including the L Tower condominium to the east and a proposed 53-storey office tower directly south of the property.

Lamb believes multiple office or residential towers could be built on the site and that the maximum height permitted could be increased since the surrounding neighbourhood consists of mostly tall buildings.

"There are very little limits to the height here. There's no reason this can't be super tall," Lamb said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-government-building-for-sale-1.3929252
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That Brad Lamb. Likes to talk, and frankly, he's fun to interview. Brad wants to make sure people are listening, so he says things that make for attention-grabbing headlines, and which give the reader a jolt. Follow Brad's alarmism with some more knowledgable talk from Heritage Preservation Services, and you have more well-rounded CBC-style click bait.

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muller877 said:
...
The ideal scenario is the Invanhoe does buy this and integrates into their 141 Bay project (making the towers larger and adding an extra tower or two.

Hopefully there are also streetscape improvements as part of this. Somehow humanize the base of the building. A bit to brutal to my taste. It needs a street level coffee shop or something.
Click to expand...

The ideal scenario would be adding height to 141 Bay and additional space downwards. Agree re public realm along front, though I wonder how far they can go opening up street level without running afoul heritage.

AoD
 
This is one one of those buildings I think where keeping the facade as-is is better than forcing retail in- the change in floor height definitely doesn't help as well.

I think a Food Hall-style concept (like City Kitchen, Eataly in NYC) that takes over the ground floor would work well in creating a lot of activity at the entrances- you can then maybe do some plantings outside to soften the edge between the building and the sidewalk.
 
muller877 said:
The bigger question is whom will buy it with all the heritage protection? There was a huge potential to redevelop the laneway behind the building and cantilevering the new tower(s) over the old structure to preserve both the interior and exterior. However, 141 Bay has killed that. Goes right to the property line. So they cannot build on the Bay side (i.e. office tower potential). Instead it can only be redeveloped this way on the Yonge side (condos) and/or in the middle.

Means that some of the building will need to be torn down (if possible under the heritage laws) to maximize the potential ($$$ for the developers) of this block.
Click to expand...


upload_2017-1-11_9-48-23.png


Yeah with 141 Bay occupying the Bay side, the Yonge side would be about the only place to develop a complex without much heritage exterior loss to the structure
 

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Only the long room is of that quality.

@Automation Gallery, your drawing above includes land to the south not part of the property.

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interchange42 said:
Only the long room is of that quality.

@Automation Gallery, your drawing above includes land to the south not part of the property.

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Well if that's the case then it would be next to impossible to build anything without demolishing a good amount of this bldg.
I doubt anyone out there is going to be paying 200-300 million bucks just for the looks
 
Agreed.

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AlvinofDiaspar said:
Thanks for sharing - didn't know the interior was this sumptuous.

AoD
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It is stunning inside......a real old fashioned "publicly owned" building. I think the level of protection on this building extends beyond the facade.

from the CBC.ca story:

City staff have also filed a notice of intention to designate the building under a separate part of the Ontario Heritage Act that would protect its interior.
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