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  #1  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2011, 8:33 PM
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Red face TORONTO | Teahouse Condominiums | 170 metres + 86 metres | 52 + 25 floors

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mongo View Post
West Elevation:


North Elevation:


As you can see, the elevations are FAR less stumpy than the photos posted earlier (at a severe angle).
City planning....two 58-storey towers containing 960 residential condominium units on a shared 7-storey podium.
And here on DCN....proposed construction of two 58-storey towers containing 960 residential condominium units above a shared 7-storey podium.
Makes me wonder if these structures are not 65 storeys high.

CONDOMINIUM APARTMENT BUILDING
Proj: 9137519-1
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON
CONTEMPLATED

501 Yonge St, Alexander & Grosvenor Sts, Maitland Place, M4Y 1Y3
$80,000,000 est
Note:
This project is extremely preliminary. Owner is seeking city council official plan amendment and rezoning approvals. Contact information for the architect will be released when approvals are secured. Schedules for design, tender and construction are undetermined. Further update early winter 2011.
A project manager at the owner has not been determined.
Project:
proposed construction of two 58-storey towers containing 960 residential condominium units above a shared 7-storey podium. The podium would contain retail uses at grade and two storeys of above grade parking with 302 parking spaces for residents and 58 parking spaces for visitors. Driveway access and servicing would be from Maitland Place. The lobbies for the residential condominiums would be on Alexander Street and Maitland Street.
Scope:
70,230 m²; 58 storeys; 2 structures; 960 units; parking for 360 cars; 1 acres
Development:....New
Category:...Apartment bldgs; Retail, wholesale services

http://dcnonl.com/cgi-bin/top10.pl?r...region=ontario


MASSING RENDERINGS





thread here:

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthr...58s-x2)/page16
     
     
  #2  
Old Posted Jun 11, 2011, 9:28 PM
yaletown_fella yaletown_fella is offline
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I doubt the podium will have any color. This is Lanterra after all lol. Strictly grey. The density is going to be s!ck though!
     
     
  #3  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2011, 7:08 PM
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Apparently the Podium will be glass, maybe like MLS or Casa.

We'll see. - There will be retail on 3 sides of the Podium including the side streets too!
     
     
  #4  
Old Posted Jun 13, 2011, 9:07 PM
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They darn well do an amazing job on the podium! This is Yonge St. and it needs something special and very interesting, funky, and colourful.

In this case I actually consider the podium more important than the rest of the building. I have to admit that I'm a little uncomfortable with the height at this location (which freaks me out since I don't recall that ever happening before) but if the street-level interaction is good enough it would ease my concerns.

Also, in terms of aesthetics, I think I'd prefer it to not be twins.
     
     
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Old Posted Jun 13, 2011, 10:06 PM
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There will also be public art on the podium.
     
     
  #6  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2011, 3:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by interchange42 View Post
I was at the meeting as well, and just have not had enough time until now to mention it.

I was pleasantly surprised that the meeting did not descend into a screaming match, and that despite the polarized aspirations for the site, that the meeting ran smoothly enough and coolly enough. Much of the thanks for that must go to City of Toronto Planners Sarah Henstock who handled many questions, and Michael Hynes who facilitated the audience questions, and both of whom set the tone for the evening I thought. While the great majority of comments and questions from the audience were hostile to the project as currently proposed, the demeanour of the crowd was reasonably respectful nevertheless. Peter Clewes was the consummate professional; articulate, dispassionate, able to engage, and also to simply disengage when he was not in the position to answer a question (which was a minimal number of times). If he was ever feeling pressed, he did not telegraph that, but at the end of the meeting when mentioning the copious notes he had taken and from which aA would take what advisement they could for refinements, he did single out one comment that he found hurtful; an audience member declaring something akin to this project is a gesture of "overwhelming negativity".

Clewes did show renderings as noted earlier, but he was careful to say that these were "massing studies only". For clarity's sake, in case any readers are not certain what that means, Clewes is saying that no expectations of final architectural details should be created by these massing studies. It's more than "details could change" at this point; it's closer to saying "this is not what the towers will look like". The massing studies are used to determine, more than anything, where shadows would be cast, how the project's volume would fit into the local cityscape, and to an extent how the project would affect wind. More detailed wind studies, however, come later when the project is more detailed.

*

The Towers

Here is my take on why the intended architectural design has not been released yet: doing so would indicate to neighbours that this project is already at a stage where they would have little input… and now is the time for input!

The snazzy renderings we see at marketing time cost a lot of money anyway. That's why we rarely see new renderings when a project adds height mid-way through a project, etc., and why the developers would not be in a rush to show us more yet: why spend the cash on something that's likely to change still.

All of that is not to say that more detailed plans would not be brewing yet at aA. It's reasonable to expect that all sorts of ideas have been considered, and that there may in fact be a favourite concept at this point, and in fact renderings of a concept have been spotted by a forum member already.


looking west-southwest


looking west-southwest


looking south


looking southeast


looking east


looking west


*

The Podium

Much time was spent at the meeting presenting various possible strategies of disguising the parking levels behind an attractive skin. Precedents from several cities were shown, including instances where the walls have been turned green by plants, and others where artists have typically created modern, avant garde screens of many different sorts. The images below show in every case a series of storefronts, all two floors in height, and separated by recessed articulations in the building's Yonge Street façade. None of the façade treatments shown are meant to be seen as a final design of any kind.










*

Parking

Lanterra is proposing to build half of the parking spaces required by the zoning bylaw for the number of units they propose to build.

While many posts here ask 'why build any, it's on a subway line', (and there were a couple of comments in that vein at the meeting), the lack of parking seemed to be a greater concern for most who spoke (albeit no-one wants a podium as large as is being proposed).

Here's the reason that City zoning bylaw requires, and the neighbours want, "adequate" parking for the proposal: buildings create a need for it. The question now though is 'what is adequate?'.

While recent sales history for condominiums downtown show that fewer residents are buying parking spaces, and therefore what the zoning bylaw requires is becoming increasingly out-of-date, it is unrealistic to expect that no owners will want parking in new buildings. (One building right at St. Patrick subway station has so far been allowed to build without parking (other than a few Zipcar/Autoshare spaces) as an experiment.) Some owners who buy without a car may eventually buy, and then need space to park their vehicle. People visiting condo residents sometimes look for visitor parking. It happens. The worry is that without adequate parking for each building, cars will clog street parking and other facilities, and potentially cause more congestion. Then it is not just a problem for the building, but for the wider area.

Again though, there is a question about what is an adequate number of spaces per unit now.

*

Worth noting: the very first comment made was read from a prepared speech written by Robert Fabian, a neighbour who has put up 501yonge.ca, a website to track the project. It would not have mattered what was said during the presentation, and it didn't, as Mr. Fabian had his prepared script. Mr. Fabian's website comes complete with his own somewhat misleading massing studies, especially noteworthy being an image that shows the disappearance of Yonge Street's sidewalk past the building, whereas the proposal plans to widen it by at least a metre if not two.

One point to correct from an earlier post:

Lanterra was at the meeting, although they were not introduced. A lawyer working on Lanterra's behalf did come to the front to answer one question.

Did I miss anything? Hmm…

42
From interchange42 at UT

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthr...58s-x2)/page49
     
     
  #7  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2011, 6:24 PM
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thanks for posting!
     
     
  #8  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2011, 7:14 PM
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The first three renderings of the public art looks great! But I somehow doubt Gucci will be a tenant. More like a Starbucks or possibly a Puma concept store.
Pretty reasonable considering the above ground parking.
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  #9  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2011, 7:16 PM
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Thanks for the update. Y'know, I may be alone, but I like these. Homogeneous? Yes, but stately, and contrary to the tastes of most I like wraparound balconies in most cases, including here.
I hope they are approved.
     
     
  #10  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2011, 8:00 PM
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Oh, they will be approved. The only question is how many floors will the city try to chop before the developers go to the OMB and try to get them back and then some.
     
     
  #11  
Old Posted Nov 11, 2011, 10:24 PM
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Right, that's how it usually goes.
     
     
  #12  
Old Posted Nov 12, 2011, 3:29 AM
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i dunno. that model thing makes it look better, and surprisingly, doesn't look all that out of place with it's surrounding buildings. the podium massing isn't bad at all if you ask me, and seeing that it's filled with retail, it'll be cool to see along yonge. such towers with such crazy heights for this part of yonge is crazy,.
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  #13  
Old Posted Nov 12, 2011, 4:39 AM
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  #14  
Old Posted Nov 12, 2011, 5:07 PM
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Hello all,

I was also at the meeting the other night but have been way too busy and tired to report the details of the meeting. Most of the meeting content has already been discussed and mentioned but I did take notes of the events throughout the night. I stayed until 9 pm, but there was ongoing discussions as I left. I was told that Kristin Wong-Tam would address the crowd at the end of the meeting, but I had to leave so not sure if that happened. I also have photos but they're the same as Interchange's so I won't repeat them.

Here are my highlighted points from the meeting (Sorry if some facts have already been known or stated):

Application summary: 2 x 58 storeys on a 7 storey podium. 960 units, retail at grade, 5 levels of parking. The site is designated as mixed use, which the proposal is so it's permitted. 192 m in height is proposed but according to former zoning standards, 18 m is allowed. The final report will be available in Jan/Feb 2012.

According to Clewes, the application has been temporarily placed on hold. There's too much pressure from this section of Yonge Street. Research and studies are ongoing to seek what is most appropriate growth for this stretch of Yonge in the future. Fractured lot ownership is the main reason why this stretch has remained low-rise. Difficult to gather up land. Subway runs diagonally through property, thus above grade parking. With retail at grade.

The renderings were meant to be very conceptual massing studies to show impact on the area. I was personally disappointed to not see any actual renderings but understandable considering the circumstances of how it is still very preliminary. Most of the NIMBY protesters were unable to understand this and took shots at the unpleasant "design". But those forumers who were upset by the elevation drawings can be assured that those are not the official plans.

Various podium ideas were presented with conceptual renderings. A modern podium is important for the evolution of Yonge Street. Vertical slices in the facade was brought up, to create a simple and effective design. Possibility of vertical green, gardens. Also possibility of play of glass, to insert colour, and possibility of public art.

The first commenter, the guy from 501yonge.ca presented a well prepared but biased speech. Interpreting the elevation drawings and massing studies to be bland and banal. Recommended 4 storeys on Yonge Street to preserve the human scale pedestrian corridor. The crowd which was pretty much heavily against the proposal of any scale breaks out in huge applause.

Other concerns included construction impact and the mess it would cause in the area. Typical rants about height and increased density, and impact on shadowing and sunlight. Also concerns on not enough city services to accommodate for these new residents. Also mention that most of the units will be investment properties, which are not family friendly. Clewes responded that initiatives will be taken by counsellors for more family sized units. And also concern for a wider sidewalks, and possible spaces for patios. Clewes responded that there will be setback of retail on Yonge to allow for planting of trees.

I would say around 95% of the auditorium was heavily and stubbornly against the proposal. Many people in the crowd ignored the fact these were massing study images and constant snarky remarks were made towards Clewes and the design. Attacks at planning guideline loopholes were targeted against the hosts but to no avail. The predictable and repetitive issue of falling glass was brought up, with Clewes responding that proper measures will be taken to ensure full safety. A couple people were upset that their views would be blocked. But a city counsellor replied that there is no legislation that protects anyone’s views. During a series of rebuttals with Clewes and the presenters, one gentleman desperately replied that all he wants on the site was a large park. That weak and naïve request was automatically ignored by the hosts. The presenters also addressed the crowd saying that because the city is looking to increase density within certain zones on the city to accommodate future sustainable growth, this part of the Yonge corridor will potentially be part of the focus.

Overall, I was impressed by Clewes’ presentation and the way he carried himself through the tough crowd. I like how initiatives will be taken to make the podium as urban interactive as possible, and confident that Clewes will deliver another quality product.
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Last edited by Travis007; Nov 12, 2011 at 9:52 PM.
     
     
  #15  
Old Posted Nov 12, 2011, 6:32 PM
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I really they follow through with the tree planting and streetscaping. The renders of the podium look promising. Not feeling the towers though.
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  #16  
Old Posted Nov 13, 2011, 6:59 PM
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I want LED on the podium!!!

Light up Yonge Street !!!
     
     
  #17  
Old Posted Nov 14, 2011, 5:30 AM
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Aren't those towers just for massing studies and are not the real towers? I would love to see some sort of point towers. Give me some sort of slanted roofline already, I'm begging for it!

I am not a fan of the green podium as that will look dull in the Winter. West Podium #1 is my favourite, especially if lit up with LEDS (good thinking cal!). Keeping things colourful and vibrant is what Yonge is about.
     
     
  #18  
Old Posted Nov 15, 2011, 2:46 AM
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In my opinion Yonge Street should be highly animated between Yonge-Dundas and Yorkville. A guilded shopping corridor connecting Toronto's two most famous shopping districts.
     
     
  #19  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2011, 8:18 PM
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PDF File from the City on the Lanterra Development

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2...file-38795.pdf
     
     
  #20  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2012, 10:27 PM
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http://twitpic.com/8knmoj

Here is a prelim rendering on 501 Yonge Street!

From urbanation!
     
     
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