to-enthusiast said:
Residential development shouldn't be scorned just because you think we need more office development. Moving people downtown makes for a more vibrant, dynamic city centre where people can work, live and play. It's also a sustainable way for a city to grow (public transit criticisms aside, in this case).

It's definitely good to strike a balance between office and residential, and I think we've done that in the last decade or two with the condo developments you're referring to.
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To-enthusiast,

It's not about either or (office or non-office only)....obviously having more people living, playing, etc. in the core is beneficial (as you state above), however, Taal is correct in that the office development in the 'financial core' has been modest at best over the last two decades (inspite the new developments seen in the last five years). Toronto's financial district seems somewhat small...I'm hoping we'll see new non-residential developmens (like the other Bay-Adelaide tower, Richmond-Adelaide III, etc.) in the next few years. Another point I have wanted to make is that I find Mississauga to be quite the "force" in its new office (Meadowvale) and condo (MCC) developments - it has a lot of developments going on for a city its size and I really wish downtown Toronto could've captured some of its share (for example, regardless of what people say about the Absolute Towers, I would've loved to see them in downtown Toronto instead of near MCC)! :(

I also wish some of the current developments/proposals that we are seeing in the Entertainment District were taller in height.....(essentially something along Chicago's scale).

Cheers. :)
 
CITY_LOVER said:
Toronto's financial district seems somewhat small....
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i agree but where does it have to expand out? :( thats the problem in my opinion, what with the condo filled waterfront to the south (there are afew lots of land in this area that could hold a substantial office though), heritage building yonge street and condo filled bay street north of queen, and university with not much land, the condo filled entertainment district to the west the best thing i can think of is expanding east through old toronto preserving the older facades along front king etc etc. while building on top of them, what i think we should focus on is demolishing some of the low rise 60's era offices in our financial district that have very little architectutural signifigance and building newer more modern buildings such as the bay adelaide centre or rbc dexia where they once stood......
 
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Here's a better idea: rather than tearing down buildings you have arbitrarily decided don't have any merit - why not build our office buildings in places other than the financial district? Our city should probably have more mixed office/residential areas. And why do these new buildings have to be office towers and not mid-size office buildings?
 
Parkdalian said:
. And why do these new buildings have to be office towers and not mid-size office buildings?
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i didn't mean they have to be towers if you are reffering to my example of the ba centre or rbc dexia, i was just giving examples of buildings that have gone up recently with architecture that appeals to me personally and i agree that we should build more mixed use neighborhoods but with so much condo development on not a ton of office development its leaving less and less space to make these mixed use neighborhoods. what i meant to say in my post is that as far as making a street wall of offices that you could really classify as part of the financial district with very little residential development then there isn't many spots :)
anyways thats my 2 cents on the matter :D
 
sodapop said:
i agree but where does it have to expand out? :( thats the problem in my opinion, what with the condo filled waterfront to the south (there are afew lots of land in this area that could hold a substantial office though), heritage building yonge street and condo filled bay street north of queen, and university with not much land, the condo filled entertainment district to the west the best thing i can think of is expanding east through old toronto preserving the older facades along front king etc etc. while building on top of them, what i think we should focus on is demolishing some of the low rise 60's era offices in our financial district that have very little architectutural signifigance and building newer more modern buildings such as the bay adelaide centre or rbc dexia where they once stood......
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Another problem with expanding west is that there will be restrictions making sure the buildings do not cast shadows over City Hall/NPS...
I know many people on this site are tired of comparing Toronto to NYC, but that's one such example where groups of tall office towers can be in two different areas (downtown/wall st, and midtown)...
Why not build office towers at Yonge & Bloor? I know condos are going up there but there already are a few office towers there, and I'm sure area could be found..
 
CITY_LOVER said:
To-enthusiast,

It's not about either or (office or non-office only)....obviously having more people living, playing, etc. in the core is beneficial (as you state above), however, Taal is correct in that the office development in the 'financial core' has been modest at best over the last two decades (inspite the new developments seen in the last five years). Toronto's financial district seems somewhat small...I'm hoping we'll see new non-residential developmens (like the other Bay-Adelaide tower, Richmond-Adelaide III, etc.) in the next few years. Another point I have wanted to make is that I find Mississauga to be quite the "force" in its new office (Meadowvale) and condo (MCC) developments - it has a lot of developments going on for a city its size and I really wish downtown Toronto could've captured some of its share (for example, regardless of what people say about the Absolute Towers, I would've loved to see them in downtown Toronto instead of near MCC)! :(

I also wish some of the current developments/proposals that we are seeing in the Entertainment District were taller in height.....(essentially something along Chicago's scale).

Cheers. :)
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City-Lover,

All I was saying was that residential development -- development that makes projects like the Trump Tower possible -- isn't something to be ashamed of in and of itself, irrespective of the rate our financial district is growing.
 
to-enthusiast said:
City-Lover,

All I was saying was that residential development -- development that makes projects like the Trump Tower possible -- isn't something to be ashamed of in and of itself, irrespective of the rate our financial district is growing.
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OK, that's great, I agree! :)
 
on the fly, while walking up the street.

sany0132l.jpg
 
From that angle BA looks taller than it actually is. It looks deceptively tall since it is closer to the camera than Scotia. Nice shot Cal!
 
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The more I see of Trump Toronto, the more I like it. I think it may be Eb's best work. Very urban.
 
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Those aerial shots are amazing.

Viewed from that angle, there is a clear difference in scale between all of the Class A bank towers (including B/A) that were built since the TD centre and the rest of the office bulidings in the core. The pre-1967 office buildings were not block-spanning forms and have similar footprints to the pre-war office buildings in Lower Manhattan - the difference, of course, being that they were not nearly as tall.

Trump Tower is basically a throwback to that era of building within lots and parcels rather than establishing a giant hulking mass on its own plaza. It's also as tall as a Wall street tower like 70 Pine or 40 Wall. I think Toronto's financial district would have been more architecturally interesting and varied - and the canyon effect of Bay street more perceptible - if we had continued to build like that.
 
Wow.. what a tiny building (not height, everything else)
Compared to the buildings around that its going to be a giant toothpick sticking out...
 
you make 'sticking out' sound like it's a bad thing.....

The trailers and storage containers from the 2nd floor on the west side of the building are being removed within 2 weeks. I would expect lots of progression in the upcoming months before we get our snowy days.

And to answer somebodies question earlier, yes, I am a construction worker at Trump. I'm even in a couple of the photographs that have been posted through-out this thread lol.
 
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