probably racing against Wong Tam to make sure its gone before anything can be set in place to prevent its demolition. The rational start point for demolition would have been the rooftop billboards, but yet here they are removing the facade. Its pretty clear they are trying to get rid of it ASAP.
They are moving quick though, I walked by this last night and there wasn't even fencing up.
Mizrahi knows what they are doing, they might only have 2 condo developments under their belt but they know how to do things. They bought an old house on Hazelton that was under heritage designation, they wanted to demolish the building and heritage refused it, so they cut a couple of strategic holes on the roof and walls, left the windows open and let it sit for a while, water and ice got in and the property was a "write off" (according to their people), heritage still refused to allow them to demolish but they got their way after all.. he bought the property for dirt cheap as well and sold it as land value after demolishing it for quite a good profit.
That's interesting that they're dismantling the facade and not just taking heavy machinery to it. I wonder if they have plans to sell off the stone, or if they were hoping to reuse it in the new building.
Also, this reminds me of the buildings that came down for 1 Bloor E. I thought there was one building midblock that had a window or part of its facade preserved. Is that still sitting in storage somewhere, or is it long gone now?
edit: And weird that they're hoarding in the space where the clay tiles are being removed. And also that they've left the billboard in place while all of this is happening. I'd have thought that if they were trying to clear the lot the first thing to go would've been the billboard. And once you've started demolishing a building there's really no reason to go to any length to protect it from the elements. I'm not so sure they're actually tearing it down.
Yeah, it *does* seem that way--sort of like having it both ways: prepping the site for clearing, yet not precisely *demolishing* the existing "heritage features". IOW perhaps putting them aside for future reuse, here or wherever.
30 to 40 workers on site this morning dismantling the building. All the spanish tile is gone and most of the north facade has been removed. All done by hand, no heavy equipment at all.
30 to 40 workers on site this morning dismantling the building. All the spanish tile is gone and most of the north facade has been removed. All done by hand, no heavy equipment at all.
30 to 40 workers on site this morning dismantling the building. All the spanish tile is gone and most of the north facade has been removed. All done by hand, no heavy equipment at all.
Its because of the noise by-law, this way they can work on Sundays and not get any complaints to the city due to noise. I am happy to see they are working so fast!
about an hour ago. They are taking jackhammers to the facade, so no, they aren't trying to save it. The guy in the far jack lift is using a Jackhammer to remove some of the stone detailing below a window.
Everyone walking by was standing and watching the demolition work, I think many are almost shocked to see the building go. Its such a large intersection that any major changes like this become noticeable very quickly.
Even today, a Sunday, still at least 20 workers on site. They are moving fast. I counted at least half a dozen other people taking pictures of the site for the 20 minutes I spent staring at this. Yeah, at first I thought they were saving some bits of the facade like the art detailing under the windows, but as innsertnamehere said,the workers took that down with the jackhammers. I saw a few older men walked by this site and almost had a sad look on their face, as if they can't believe this is going down.
I visited this afternoon. What got me was the deliberate jack hammering of the architectural details before taking other parts of the facade apart. Nefarious actions. They wanted to make sure that even if the province intervened with an attempt at a work stop order (this was done up at 1 Austin Terrace, I believe) the things that made this building unique were destroyed. Such dirty work. **** these guys.
I disagree...they have their permit so they can dismantle the building however they wish. Can't really blame the developer here. Maybe different departments of the city should work together to avoid these types of situations.
Yeah I can't say it really bothers me. This building shouldn't be preserved in my opinion. So the faster they get it cleared and start construction on the project the better. We know something big and potentially iconic is going here. So I say let it rain. Stalling the process for some beaurocratic inquiry about nothing is pointless. This is no more a heritage building than flying to the moon. It takes long enough in Toronto to get a tower from the planning stage to construction , why drag your feet and slow it down?
I disagree...they have their permit so they can dismantle the building however they wish. Can't really blame the developer here. Maybe different departments of the city should work together to avoid these types of situations.
After the loss of 81 Wellesley E. (Odette House & coach house) Councillor Wong-Tam put a Motion before Council, which passed, stating that every demolition permit has to go through the local Councillor's office before being approved. So she either approved it, or the order did not get past her desk on Friday. I presume it's sitting in her 'inbox' at this moment.
I am so angry about this I could just scream. And what about the Burgendy's/Florida Jacks building immediately south of former Sunrise? They should designate that building just to put the screws to them - even though it should be designated anyway.
For those who don't care about what is happening here (and elsewhere) and cheering on the crews this weekend, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Every heritage building should have the opportunity to be researched and designated, if worthy - we have a democratic process here to do just that and it just flew in the face of everyone who is heritage conscious in this city.
Mindless skyscraper geeks, party on....
