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Another big one for University Ave:eek:.......http://goo.gl/maps/cXOwF

481 UNIVERSITY AVE
OPA / Rezoning 13 123864 STE 27 OZ Ward 27
- Tor & E.York Feb 22, 2013 --- --- --- ---
Rezoning application to permit the re-development of the lands for the purposes of a new mixed use building, 55 stories in height complete with 49,858m2 (748 units) of residential space, 3,192m2 of retail space and 22,207m2 of office space. This proposal includes a total of 378 parking spaces all of which are below grade
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The amount of office space they are proposing (220K) ... is identical to the existing building. So sounds like a similar project to the one up the road.
 
Another Crown Realty flip. Sold in 2011. Watch every single property CR buys they flip to a developer. Yonge Street site next.

edit: May as well make my 11,000th UT post informative. The owner appears to be DavPart & Smith Company. http://www.davpartdowntown.com/buildings/481-university-ave/ Great interior shots of the building showing many vacant floors. I suppose condos will pay for extensive heritage restoration?
 
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The building is nearly full ! There is about 5% empty ..... the empty space is the 4K unit (out of a building with more then 250K)
 
Are they keeping the current building as-is and adding on top? The office space looks like it will be reduced very slightly, while retail will grow (I'm guessing the current 2? tenants don't account for 3100 sq m of retail space), so I'm going to assume that all they're doing is reallocating space in the first and maybe second floor. If this trend of adding residential and retail space on University while keeping the office space intact continues, things are going to get a lot more lively in the coming years.
 
No love lost in this case, 481 University Ave is as banal as it gets.

AoD


Well, when it was built in the early 60s, it was the last real gasp of retardataire classical/moderne stodge on University Ave.--though "banal as it gets" is pushing it (not least given its Louis Temporale reliefs). But actually, that frontage is, chronologically speaking, the grand finale of an extraordinarily interesting block that developed over the c20 as the Maclean (later Maclean-Hunter) publishing house--including the Deco pile to the SE, the original gothic-buttressed backside visible on Centre Street, and the stark "functionalist" block to the NE that comes off as some 50s-ish institutional nonentity yet, judging from vintage photos, is a few decades older than that. And it's all still, in one way or another, intertwined inside.

My gut feeling is: a 55s project might well wind up exterminating the whole block.
 
The amount of office space in the proposal too closely matches the current building, based on that it seems like the other project i.e. leaving it along and it stays in use during construction ?
 
B+H Architects Toronto office is in this building
 
Is this one right across the street from the Icon proprosal?

Yes.

And people are right. This seems way to close to the original square footage for it to be torn down and rebuilt the exact same size. I guess we'll find out more soon regardless.
 
Well, when it was built in the early 60s, it was the last real gasp of retardataire classical/moderne stodge on University Ave.--though "banal as it gets" is pushing it (not least given its Louis Temporale reliefs). But actually, that frontage is, chronologically speaking, the grand finale of an extraordinarily interesting block that developed over the c20 as the Maclean (later Maclean-Hunter) publishing house--including the Deco pile to the SE, the original gothic-buttressed backside visible on Centre Street, and the stark "functionalist" block to the NE that comes off as some 50s-ish institutional nonentity yet, judging from vintage photos, is a few decades older than that. And it's all still, in one way or another, intertwined inside.

My gut feeling is: a 55s project might well wind up exterminating the whole block.

It's retardataire because it reminds one of the Prudential Building that went up way back in ... 1955? Really I think you're just being grumpy. Together with The Shell Building, this is the fine city hall complex that Marani and Morris never got to build. Tear off the pomo addition, spruce up the awful lobby, and please save it!
 
I don't think we need to worry. They'll keep 481 University and tear down the deco 210 Dundas.
 

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