TrickyRicky said:
Big Daddy, where does the Direct Energy Centre fit in your convention space list? Toronto has several different convention centre options and I assume other cities do to. So does size matter in convention space, is it better to have several smaller convention centres or one large one? Would a bigger convention centre at this location compete with shows with the Direct Energy Centre (which I assume is a bigger facilitynow)?
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I think it has some overlap - but DEC suffers from lack of transit and convenient access to the financial district. You really can't compete with MTCC in that regards.

AoD
 
My understanding is that we (Toronto) are missing a lot of major conventions due to the smaller size or our convention centre. I am hoping (actually I am quite confident) this will change with an expanded centre. Toronto has so much to offer conventioneers, coupled with a safer environment than some other Centres.
 
Toronto's Convention Centre is pretty lacking and small considering the size and importance of the city and this alone should be enough to push the project thru or at least one would think.

That said, what I find the most appealing of the whole project is the idea of covering the GO tracks allowing for a very wide, open, unobtrusive, and natural path over the rail lines to the Waterfront.

The rail lines aren't going anywhere as they are essential to the functioning of the city but if you have lemons then you make lemonade. This should be the long term plan of the entire rail stretch from Spadina to the DVP.............use development to cover over the eyesore and reintroduce the city to it's Waterfront in a natural way instead of some ugly yellow crane place on it's side.
 
ssiguy2 said:
Toronto's Convention Centre is pretty lacking and small considering the size and importance of the city and this alone should be enough to push the project thru or at least one would think.

That said, what I find the most appealing of the whole project is the idea of covering the GO tracks allowing for a very wide, open, unobtrusive, and natural path over the rail lines to the Waterfront.

The rail lines aren't going anywhere as they are essential to the functioning of the city but if you have lemons then you make lemonade. This should be the long term plan of the entire rail stretch from Spadina to the DVP.............use development to cover over the eyesore and reintroduce the city to it's Waterfront in a natural way instead of some ugly yellow crane place on it's side.
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NY and LA both have small centers too given they are mum larger than TO.
 
Conventions are overall in decline with more and more competition. Hard to compete with resort cities with perfect weather too. I take DCN's description with a grain of salt as I do with all their descriptions. Who knows what Oxford will ultimately put forth.
 
With spaces like the Direct Energy Centre/Automotive Building and the Congress Centre for big conventions the downtown one doesn't need to be enormous. It still hosts shows like the Auto Show just fine.
 
Red October said:
With spaces like the Direct Energy Centre/Automotive Building and the Congress Centre for big conventions the downtown one doesn't need to be enormous. It still hosts shows like the Auto Show just fine.
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True, but then again Toronto has lost to bid on a bunch of international conventions, because they don't have ONE big enough
 
A number of years ago I headed the Toronto organizing committee of the annual meeting of an association with a few hundred members. The Toronto event was, in fact, the largest ever meeting of the organization. Surprisingly enough, lots of Americans in particular wanted to come to Toronto and made it happen. Obviously, that is a small scale operation, but I don't see why the desire to come here might not be true of larger organizations also. If they have been in Las Vegas, New Orleans and San Francisco the previous three years, Toronto could look pretty good compared to the competition. Toronto even seems a little exotic to a person from, say, Kansas City! A convention centre with the right size and the right facilities could be surprisingly attractive in the North American market.
 
67Cup:

From that angle yes (and there will be some big US conference coming up - e.g. 2017 American Institute of Architects). Make no mistake though, our facilities are awfully dated. I volunteered for AIDS 2006 and our MTCC is an utter disaster of a facility to navigate - the linkage between MTCC North and South is particularly weak.

AoD
 
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A "mutant" version of Oxford Place appears in this movie short, along with a fantasy future Toronto skyline.

[video=youtube;heRijZ8V0-I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heRijZ8V0-I[/video]
 
Image is at the 2:00 minute mark.

I like how Ice is still under construction.
 
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At the 2 minute mark, the supertall at the far left of the CN tower looks like it is 400m+ and it isn't a box! When will we get a proposal like that and approve it?? By 2050?
 
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