EddyMCD said:
I know it's ugly but put me as another person in the category of hoping this monstrosity helps change the area a bit (adding more pedestrians, improved retail in the area etc.).

This building combined with the St. Lawrence condos and eventually the Whitfield will add a large amount of residents to the area.
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I think this is very fallacious reasoning as many people move (or moved) to St Lawrence because it is (or was?) a pretty well planned neighbourhood where almost all the buildings 'fitted in". This POS does not fit in. Of course, having more people in the neighbourhood may add 'better' retail but that is actually not what has happened over the past 20 years. There used to be more mom & pop stores and one-off specialty shops now there are just more pot stores, nail salons etc. Most developers do not create new retail spaces that will actually attract 'improved retail' (and certainly not at a rent they can afford.)
 
Yeah, but I have to think that it’s far too late and the odds infinitesimal that anything on this will change, it’s going to be what it is- so maybe some folks are trying to get past that and try to find some positives, something to look forward to. Increased retail? Street animation?

That little area is gonna be dramatically different than the sobeys and car dealership in a few years. 3/4 of those corners are gonna be tall condos, and they’ll have torn out/reduced the No Frills for another glass box over there. We all get it’s gonna be ugly, but maybe there’s more to discuss.
 
As someone who lives in the area, walking down Front St. E. things really start to go downhill quickly (in terms of vibrancy, cleanliness, retail options, public space, and pedestrian friendliness/access) after George St. After Sherbourne it feels like you have left downtown altogether.

So I'm all for anything that improves this experience. King and Queen are really the only streets that maintain any character in the far eastern portions of downtown. I look forward to a time when the Distillery District feels more connected to the rest of downtown.
 
August 30, 2021

Time & Space or Oil & Canning?

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EddyMCD said:
As someone who lives in the area, walking down Front St. E. things really start to go downhill quickly (in terms of vibrancy, cleanliness, retail options, public space, and pedestrian friendliness/access) after George St. After Sherbourne it feels like you have left downtown altogether.

So I'm all for anything that improves this experience. King and Queen are really the only streets that maintain any character in the far eastern portions of downtown. I look forward to a time when the Distillery District feels more connected to the rest of downtown.
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Yeah, Distillery and Canary have felt like outposts forever- I once watched a tourist during the Pan Am games walk south while looking at their map- stop, look at the map again. Then turn and go back north because the empty lots, railway and expressway didn’t look pedestrian friendly.

past George st, over the years we’ve had parking lots, a car dealership, and a closed down grocery store. For some reason, the stretch from Princess to Berkeley always felt the most dire. The bland big box store style walls of the LCBO and Dollarama and lack of activity from the Opera Company just deadened the place.

With new residents here, and whatever they end up doing to the No Frills/LCBO/Dollarama- maybe there’s a second life? I’ve often been irritated at how the Mirvishes got King and John called the “theatre district” with their two stages- and think they could rebrand this area with that moniker.

you’ve got Canstage, Young People’s Theatre, COC, Berkeley St Theatre and the Young Centre in the Distillery. If you really wanted to stretch you’ve got Bluma Apel and the Meridian. If live performance gets some financial assistance post pandemic- you could run a fringe fest between all these stages, pull in new residents.
 
A fair few here, taken yesterday, August 31st, 2021:

First from Front Street near George.

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Now from much closer, just west of Sherbourne:

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From the west side of Sherbourne:

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Inside at the south-west end of the complex:

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Looking straight-up at the western face, southern side:

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Southern face, western side:

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Close up of cladding/glazing:

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Close up of Cladding/Glazing, southern face, eastern side:

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Courtyard view, from the southern gate:

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Eastern Building - Courtyard view:

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Front Street Building from Courtyard:

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Western Building - From Courtyard:

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We didn't move to the neighbourhood because the existing buildings have a consistent look and feel. In fact, a lot of them are quite ugly! We just moved here because it's the only neighbourhood within walking distance of downtown where we could afford an apartment big enough to store a toddler in.

I don't particularly like this building because it is very large and dark, it takes up an entire block with its monotony, and I don't think the courtyard will be a good community space because of the huge mass of the buildings around it. And I hate that it has 10 floors of above ground parking contributing to that mass.

But I am happy that 1600 more families will be able to move to the neighbourhood over the next few years. That can only be good.
 
evandyk said:
But I am happy that 1600 more families will be able to move to the neighbourhood over the next few years. That can only be good.
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With all due respect though, they deserve better than this oil canning shite that's been erected for them to live in IMO. /bleh
 
I'm not one to be a NIMBY that's for sure but this just feels like it tears the fabric of the neighbourhood apart. Could they not have at least tried to match the feeling of the surrounding buildings at street level?

I certainly wouldn't want this place going up near where I live either.
 
Bjays92 said:
I'm not one to be a NIMBY that's for sure but this just feels like it tears the fabric of the neighbourhood apart. Could they not have at least tried to match the feeling of the surrounding buildings at street level?

I certainly wouldn't want this place going up near where I live either.
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Used to live there and I'd take the dealership/parking lot with the Sobeys over this garbage. It's an insult to everyone's intelligence. Complete trash. Talk about mailing it in.
 
TheSix said:
This building doesn't have one redeeming quality. I walked by the other day shaking my head and didn't even bother stopping to give it the time of day. It's really that bad.
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Its redeeming qualities are that it provides HOUSING, huge short-term and some long-term economic activity, increased property taxes, development charges, community benefits etc. etc. The critiques of built form and architecture are probably valid (let’s wait and see but… not holding my breath) but they don’t make it a total failure. There are important things other than massing and architecture.
 
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