[balenciaga]

Street retail needs people walking past but they do like that some people can park in front and dive in.

that's such suburban mall-shopping kind of thinking. Do people in Toronto really expect to find parking just in front the store they want to visit on Queen West? It is not a Costco in Markham...
Plus, what % of customers can really get the chance to park in front a store on Queen W on a Sat afternoon?

Queen W is four lane, and two are ofen occupied by parking, leaving one lane on each direction. Don't forget the 501 which stops every 200M. It will be a miracle is the traffic can go faster than 15mph.

 

[TOareaFan]

that's such suburban mall-shopping kind of thinking. Do people in Toronto really expect to find parking just in front the store they want to visit on Queen West? It is not a Costco in Markham...
Plus, what % of customers can really get the chance to park in front a store on Queen W on a Sat afternoon?

Queen W is four lane, and two are ofen occupied by parking, leaving one lane on each direction. Don't forget the 501 which stops every 200M. It will be a miracle is the traffic can go faster than 15mph.

Feel free to disagree with me on why, for instance how much value retailers put in on street parking....that said, it is the absolute opposite of what you call "suburban mall-shopping kind of thinking".

 

[CEonUT]

I attended the planning meeting this evening and can add a few noteworthy points that haven't been mentioned here yet:

The developer's intention while retrofitting the current office structure and construction of the additional residential component on top is to maintain the employment use of the office structure throughout the entire construction period so that no jobs are lost (and no leases and the resulting revenue are lost).

The developer has a letter of agreement with the TTC for direct access to the subway station through the building. Their proposal for this is a $2.5M project that will introduce full barrier free, wheelchair accessibility to the subway from this station.

The suite mix was mentioned earlier but I thought the sizes here were remarkable and worth bringing up again. No studios, a large amount of 2BR+D and 3BR+D. The average unit size for the whole building is tentatively 820 square feet.

Valet parking.

Finally no mention has been made of the "Tree Structure" at the podium (see pictures). The architect mentioned this was inspired by University Ave. as a "Tree Line Boulevard".

www.charlesetienne.ca

 

[CITY_LOVER]

Hi, thanks for the info. Out of curiosity, as per the third pic, it seems that the current office portion of the building would be re-clad, so that the building as a whole would look more seamless. Is my assumption correct? Thanks! If yes, do we know what color will be used?

 

[Critique]

Wow, that podium looks great! I wish they would have made it so that the tree structure was larger so that it enveloped much more of the building and reached higher up. Can't say too much about the building considering we can just see the the bottom but overall, this project just got a whole lot more interesting!

 

[EL72]

I wonder if architectural designs are copyright-able.

No, but names are protected by trademark. The Icon is also the name of a Tridel condo on Wellington St. W. (270 @ Peter). I wonder how they got away with that one.

 

[saynotofaux]

LOVE the podium. Very Herzog and De Meuron Birdnest-esque.

 

[Edward]

Does Tridel really care about a name for a project that was completed years ago?

 

[maestro]

No, but names are protected by trademark. The Icon is also the name of a Tridel condo on Wellington St. W. (270 @ Peter). I wonder how they got away with that one.

I doubt Tridel would have paid to have the name trademark and doubt even more that it would be possible to have the term "Icon" trademarked. If so, it would take a cruise shipload of cash.

 

[ShonTron]

I attended the planning meeting this evening and can add a few noteworthy points that haven't been mentioned here yet:

The developer's intention while retrofitting the current office structure and construction of the additional residential component on top is to maintain the employment use of the office structure throughout the entire construction period so that no jobs are lost (and no leases and the resulting revenue are lost).

How is that practical? Who would want to work inside a construction site for two or three years? How can they dig out a deeper foundation and maintain the two levels of parking? Where are tenants' bikes going to be stored? What about deliveries?

Not to mention the recladding!

Edit: The new podium extension to University Avenue would be especially tricky to retain tenants on a business as usual basis on the second, third and fourth (and possibly the fifth and sixth). I don't get how it could be done.

 

[interchange42]

Front page article here with more info, and links to the extensive dataBase page with many renderings.

42

 

[Chris_Hull]

The tower looks like four season

 

[HotStuff]

Great addition to university. Right behind Shangri la and RCMI

 

[Automation Gallery]

Great addition to university. Right behind Shangri la and RCMI

Yeah, I wonder whats next for that grand avenue

 

[balenciaga]

Yeah, I wonder whats next for that grand avenue

Maybe that RBC building on SE corner? For University, I hope for more retail/public space than better buildings. It is already a decent boulevard (not to say anything of the buildings are particularly appealing as they look all the same concrete chunk with the same colour), at least in Toronto standard, what is lacking is stuff for people to do (besides work and hospitals).

I actually hope Dundas West can be revitalized between Bay and University. Currently the south side is occupied by ill-maintained low rises and boring low quality restaurants, and the north side are incredible dull and uninviting concrete God-knows-what structures. Between University and Beverly, there is plenty of retail (it seems) but the pubs at the corner of McCaul are the only ones that's worth visiting.