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Is it really below sea level? I’d very surprised if the pit is 75+ metres deep.. toronto isn’t exactly close to sea level?
 
Only had a wide-angle with me yesterday so didn't bother getting a photo, but the office tower is already doing big things for the skyline view from the Bathurst Bridge. I've always loved that viewpoint, but the one drawback has been that everything feels a bit distant. Not anymore!
 
smably said:
If that's 69m from the bottom of the main excavation, then I guess it does go below sea level!
View attachment 195330
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I could very well be wrong - but I think this is deeper than the storm water storage shafts we had, and it may very well be the deepest pit of substantial size in the city.

AoD
 
CanadianDriver said:
@smably could you point me to where I can download these plans? i'm curious to learn more about the project. thank you kindly!
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Sure! It's all in the Application Information Centre on the City of Toronto's web site. You can search for 440 Front or any other development you're interested in here: http://app.toronto.ca/DevelopmentApplications/mapSearchSetup.do?action=init

If you click "Learn More" from the bubble in the map view, a window will open with this page: http://app.toronto.ca/DevelopmentAp...3504724&isCofASearch=false&isTlabSearch=false
Look for "16 269540 STE 20 SA" (the last Site Plan Approval item in the list). Click to expand "Supporting Documentation", then you should see several items labelled "Architectural Plans" that you can download. I forget which one has the elevations, but they're all pretty interesting.

Shameless plug, if you found that process way more difficult than it should be, I'm working on a passion project that may help make it easier and I'd love some feedback: https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/city-of-torontos-application-information-centre.30190/
 
interchange42 said:
Yesterday I spent a good deal of the afternoon leading a pair of reporters from the Buffalo News around the area. We met at the Eaton Centre, and gradually walked west and south through the Entertainment District. They were here researching a feature story on how Toronto has become the boom city that it is while Buffalo has struggled over the past several decades (and has only recently begun to turn around).

Our southwestern-most point on the tour was the spot where @Red Mars and @AHK took the photos above. While they had seen all the cranes as they walked west along Wellington, they both had "audible gasps" when they saw the panorama of the pit open up in front of them.

That was great!

Anyway, we reversed course, at Queen and Spadina hopped on a 510 to Spadina station, and then the subway over to Bloor Yonge so they could see that station at the height of the evening rush. They were similarly amazed by the crowds on the TTC. After a well earned beer, I handed them off to Oren Tamir of Toronto Planning at the Yorkville Library to continue their touring.

They had started their day in Markham to see what suburbs were like here too, and walked something like 17 km total yesterday… so they had a very full day. It will be pretty interesting to see what they end up with in their story. No idea how long before it's published, but at least it'll have their take on The Well, and I'll pass on the link when their story is up.

42
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Toronto's astonishing growth: Will it matter to Buffalo?

buffalonews.com

Toronto's astonishing growth: Will it matter to Buffalo?

“I don’t think most Americans understand the scale of what’s going on in Toronto,” said Frank Clayton, a senior research fellow at Ryerson
buffalonews.com buffalonews.com
 
interchange42 said:
I mentioned several posts ago about leading the two reporters around from Buffalo. Here’s the story: https://buffalonews.com/2019/07/19/toronto-keeps-growing-whats-that-mean-for-buffalo/
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Cool article. Always fun to hear an outsider's perspective on the madness here. Though they botched a couple of things in photo captions that I probably shouldn't be nitpicking:
• saying 100 Queens Quay is a condo
• American spelling for Eaton "Center"

Also the comment section has this gem:

"Canada should be growing, their defense and NATO spending is nil, relying on the U.S. of A. defense spending and umbrella protection for decades. But than bordering New York makes them look more sucessful by the ineptness of New York politics and taxes."
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someMidTowner said:
Also the comment section has this gem:

"Canada should be growing, their defense and NATO spending is nil, relying on the U.S. of A. defense spending and umbrella protection for decades. But than bordering New York makes them look more sucessful by the ineptness of New York politics and taxes."
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To be honest, that is a true fact- but whether you chalk it up to American overspending (more likely than the rest of the world underspending) or not, the fundamental issue is that Upstate New York has little political power nor any exceptionally strong economic draws- an effect of Albany and NYC concentrating power down the Hudson, and the service and finance industry naturally gravitating towards New York and its huge pools of capital. As a result, policies tend to be tailored in NYC and Albany, and you get NYC politics and taxes as a result. Same thing happens between Toronto and Northern Ontario, IMO.

What's left are some mid-sized service industries (some regional banks, insurance and healthcare for the region), some good universities, and the afterglow of a manufacturing industry (still important, but nowhere where it used to be). There's some tech, but not enough to fill the gaps. Toronto's cultural scene has also surpassed Buffalo's, meaning that there isn't as much of a draw for cross-border sights anymore, and crossing the border is much more of a hassle these days.

Buffalo and Rochester are also a bit too far away from Toronto to be directly linked into its economy (and you also have the problem of the border and differences in regulations)- and the fact that the US economy tends to be heavily introverted means that those potential connections aren't usually actively sought, despite Canada's reliance on the US economy.

I would make a bold claim that the region would be in a far better condition today if it had become its own state long ago.
 
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jje1000 said:
To be honest, that is a true fact- but whether you chalk it up to American overspending (more likely than the rest of the world underspending) or not, the fundamental issue is that Upstate New York has little political power nor any exceptionally strong economic draws- an effect of Albany and NYC concentrating power down the Hudson, and the service and finance industry naturally gravitating towards New York and its huge pools of capital. As a result, policies tend to be tailored in NYC and Albany, and you get NYC politics and taxes as a result.

What's left are some mid-sized service industries (some regional banks, insurance and healthcare for the region), some good universities, and the afterglow of a manufacturing industry (still important, but nowhere where it used to be). There's some tech, but not enough to fill the gaps. Buffalo and Rochester are also a bit too far away from Toronto to be directly linked into its economy (and you also have the problem of the border and differences in regulations).

I would argue that the region would be in a far better condition today if it had become its own state long ago.
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OT - Wouldn’t have done a thing - the rest of the Rust Belt doesn’t necessarily have this primate city phenomenon and they are in the same kind of economic doldrums (e.g. OH). If anything the tax revenues from economic activities in the globally competitive primate city probably help to bolster state finances - funds that would otherwise not be available to the hinterland.

As to defense spending - US is at 3.5% vs 1.2% for Canada - that’s a fact, The assertion that it would have been a decider in growth trajectory of the two regions is BS.

AoD
 
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