marcus_a_j
Senior Member
That's a view of one of the largest university campuses in the country, probably bigger than a lot of small towns.
DarkSideDenizen
Senior Member
It's pretty cool also that from even this height one can see the Mississauga skyline in the distance.
What's the building at U of T going up across the street from Robart's?
What's the building at U of T going up across the street from Robart's?
golodhendil
Active Member
The prime downtown streets in many of the greatest cities of the world are lined by lowrises.
Rotman expansion.
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Yeah..but then again they were built many years ago when real estate was at a reasonable price..well Toronto missed the boat and now-a-days with the current real estate prices for property developers have no option but to go taller.
steveve
Senior Member
well it all depends on what you're looking at, if you're in new york city the story is very different with all of its grand avenues. the kinda stuff you won't find in this city,
to-enthusiast
Banned
I love New York, don't get me wrong, but these "grand avenue" references always leave me scratching my head. They're certainly impressive in their own right - monumental and immense because of the sheer width of the streets and height of the buildings - but on the whole they feel fairly vast and sterile at street level. Never the highlight of my trip when I'm there. Soho and the east end, in the areas where things are decidedly scaled down (especially along the side streets), hold far more appeal for me.
golodhendil
Active Member
Which "grand avenues" in NYC are you talking about? Because most of the grand avenues, the ones running through Midtown, are lined by highrises and skyscrapers, much like our own grand avenue (University). Whereas the main streets that are lined by lowrises (such as those in lower Manhattan, London, Amsterdam, Boston, Montreal, Melbourne, to name a few) are fairly narrow and intimate streets that are pretty much like that stretch of Yonge and similar streets in downtown Toronto. If you want grand avenues lined by lowrises, Paris would have much better examples.
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steveve
Senior Member
7th avenue, 6th avenue are the ones i'm talking about,
but i'm more talking street canyons (they don't have to be avenues) like wall st. and broadway (are streets comparable to avenues?)
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
Sort of. There's definitely a point where "going taller" hits a point of diminishing marginal returns. I mean, if you build a 20 storey building, you might spend (these are just off-the-top of my head from passively reading stuff on this forum) about $40 million developing the property and about 2 years building it to get, say, 200 units. To build a 70 storey tower, you might have to spend $300 million, take about 5 years to build to get, say, 800 units. There isn't exactly a linear relationship between height and cost and, at some point, building a tall building is driven more by ego than by any kind of financial rationality.
golodhendil
Active Member
Yes I get what you mean now. Wide avenues with street canyons - definitely less common in TO than in NYC, but lower University, Bay and to some extent Bloor would fit that category (Wall St is a narrow alley, and we are certainly not short of narrow alleys lined by highrises).
But my point, addressing your original point that main streets lined by lowrises are so un-big-city-downtown-like, is that it is hardly true if you look at the many lowrise-lined main streets in most big city downtowns around the world.
steveve
Senior Member
i understand many many world cities have low-rised main city streets (take london, paris, etc....), but paris (for example), is more acceptable since it is a much older city, and the architecture/surrounding environment is relatively low rise (compared to say, a north american city), so there is an excuse there.
but toronto is not in that category of city, it is much closer to the ranks of chicago/ny in terms of street wall atmosphere, downtown feel, but it just doesn't come close in terms of vastness/feel.
yonge street (downtown) has some character when you're closer to the CBD, but near the lake/north of dundas, things get ugly (imo).
going back to U condos, i know that tower 2 (shorter one) will be completed first, but is it starting first?
but toronto is not in that category of city, it is much closer to the ranks of chicago/ny in terms of street wall atmosphere, downtown feel, but it just doesn't come close in terms of vastness/feel.
yonge street (downtown) has some character when you're closer to the CBD, but near the lake/north of dundas, things get ugly (imo).
going back to U condos, i know that tower 2 (shorter one) will be completed first, but is it starting first?
golodhendil
Active Member
1) Chicago and NYC had at least half a century of head start over TO in "going tall", so even if your claim were true, it is both hardly surprising nor a meaningful comparison.
2) The row of lowrise along that stretch of Yonge is 2 km from the centre of financial district (say, Bay@King). 2 km from the centre of Chicago's financial district (say, Madison@Clarke), this is what you have - main streets lined by lowrises. 2 km from the centre of lower Manhattan's financial district (say, Wall@Broad), this or this are what you have - main streets lined by lowrises.
3) For many people, both here on this board and in general, these downtown lowrise neighbourhoods have significantly more "character" (or at least, very different kind of character) than highrise-lined avenues.
steveve
Senior Member
okay, i understand that nyc and chicago are much older cities than toronto, but the chicago skyline has remained relatively unchanged in the last decade, while toronto went into a boom.
it's not just yonge-street too. the entire entertainment district is relatively low rise (i'd consider this district starting west of university), aside from the few odd highrises/the recent skyscrapers to go up. that's way under 2km from the financial district and yet it's almost leveled.
also, most of the stuff west of University ave (this doesn't include the university street wall), is also low-rise.
my problem is not so much the low-rises as it is the lack of "bay streets" that we have. sure people will always say yonge-street has more distinct character, but those low-rises are grimy, and run down, you'll find very similar areas all the way up yonge-street past eglington, in fact, i'd even say further than that.
imo, bay street has more character than yonge-street.
anyway...
it's not just yonge-street too. the entire entertainment district is relatively low rise (i'd consider this district starting west of university), aside from the few odd highrises/the recent skyscrapers to go up. that's way under 2km from the financial district and yet it's almost leveled.
also, most of the stuff west of University ave (this doesn't include the university street wall), is also low-rise.
my problem is not so much the low-rises as it is the lack of "bay streets" that we have. sure people will always say yonge-street has more distinct character, but those low-rises are grimy, and run down, you'll find very similar areas all the way up yonge-street past eglington, in fact, i'd even say further than that.
imo, bay street has more character than yonge-street.
anyway...
golodhendil
Active Member
And of course, it's not just those three streets I showed that are lowrise, there are also entire swaths of lowrise neighbourhoods in downtown Manhattan and Chicago (and at similar distances from their FDs; just look in other directions). Many of them are also "grimy" and "run down", but as have been mentioned probably a hundred times on UT already, they are only so because of continued neglect. Give them a good cleanup and upkeep, and they could easily have a rejuvenation like Boston's South End.
We have plenty of Bay Sts now and we are only going to get more, over an area that is larger than Chicago's. What we have to do is to start acting more like a grownup city and take care of the lowrise heritage that we are blessed to still have.
We have plenty of Bay Sts now and we are only going to get more, over an area that is larger than Chicago's. What we have to do is to start acting more like a grownup city and take care of the lowrise heritage that we are blessed to still have.
Transportfan
Senior Member
Actually, Chicago is quite a bit newer than Toronto, it just grew a lot faster historically.