Toronto proposals recently have been rather slow, at least compared to earlier this year. (there seemed to be a new proposal every 2 days) hopefully this will be made up for with the rumoured 100 floor tower.
I think this is pretty normal. I think most proposals get drawn up during the beginning of the year, in preparation for an autumn start. This autumn is supposed to pretty hot with a lot of projects starting sales. It's a bit unrealistic to expect proposals at that pace all year long. Especially with such a high saturation of mid-level condos on the market and in the pipe-line. Our supply and demand system (although boosted heavily by investors) can only handle so much.
Published On Mon Sep 26 2011
Paul Moloney
Urban Affairs Reporter
Quote:
The city’s housing company has given up plans to build a 322-unit affordable housing building in the Railways Lands condominium development west of the Rogers Centre.
....
It was to be home to a 43-storey affordable housing building, but — citing a lack of funding — the Toronto Community Housing Corp. has turned back the site to the city, and the city is now pondering what to do.
Quote:
A member of council’s affordable housing committee said he fears Mayor Rob Ford’s administration wants to sell the site to shore up the city’s finances.
Councillor Joe Mihevc’s first reaction was negative. “They want to monetize it; you can smell that a mile away,” he said. But later in the day, after researching the issue, he concluded the project would cost $40 million and eat up almost half of the $108 million recently allocated for affordable housing in Toronto by the province and the federal government.
Quote:
Two schools, a community centre and daycare are also to be built on the site, now a hole in the ground, and construction must begin to utilize $38.5 million already raised from development charges to build the facilities, Vaughan said.
“We don’t have sufficient provincial or federal funding to build public housing on site. We’re going to sell to a private developer,” he said. “I would rather put the money from that back into public housing somewhere else, but my guess is they’ll use it to balance the budget.”
Quote:
The city is seeking a partner to build the entire development, but it’s unclear what proportion of the units, if any, would be affordable.
City real estate director Joe Casali said the land may be sold if a market condominium ends up as the housing type. Another possibility is a system of mixed ownership involving the city, school boards and a private developer.
Toronto’s condo boom is not slowing down anytime soon as the latest statistics show the city is building more high rises than anywhere else in North America.
The September 2011 data from German research company Emporis — the world’s largest source of information on multi-storey buildings — is included in a presentation to be discussed by the city’s economic development committee on Friday.
There are currently 132 highrise buildings under construction in Toronto, according to the figures. Mexico City ranks a distant second with 88 and New York City is in third with 86. The field drops off dramatically after that: fourth-ranking Chicago is building 17 highrises, while Miami rounds out the top five with 16.
Emporis defines a highrise building as between 35 and 100 metres high, or 12 to 40 floors. Buildings taller than that are considered skyscrapers.
Really shows how impressive and dynamic our construction boom is, and well it ranks among the world. Another good quote from the article, describing how this boom will keeps things interesting for a years to come.
Quote:
There are more than 39,000 condo units under construction in the region, according to Myers — “and 88 per cent of those are already sold.”
A further 118 buildings are in pre-construction, he said, and three-quarters of those are sold. “We’re just continually getting larger and larger and larger.”
Personally, Toronto is still leader in the urbanization in Canada. Maybe Calgary offers new opportunities for developers. Thousand of new condos have been built in the city over the last couple of years, and this activity does not seem to be on the decline. Do you hear about the River City 2 in Toronto? Each apartment will have environmentally sustainably engineered hardwood floors and nine-foot-high concrete ceilings, but the space of each of them varies from 452 square feet to 1100 square feet. Interestingly, the average price for a square foot in the building is $550, which is actually pretty low for a condo in the area. Magic project!
The plot thickens as Toronto city council seeks to unload theatres
JOHN LORINC
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Oct. 09, 2011 6:35PM EDT
Quote:
Scarborough councillor Gary Crawford and a task force of four advisers from the cultural sector launched an effort last week to figure out what to do with the Sony Centre, the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts and the St. Lawrence Centre. It’s part of council’s cost-cutting plan in the face of the budget shortfall.
Quote:
The task force’s findings will feed into separate efforts by city officials to determine whether there’s any interest from the private or not-for-profit sectors in taking over the theatres, as council directed last week. “The question is, should we be in the theatre business?” Mr. Crawford said. “We’re going to have to answer that.”
Quote:
The subplot in all this high-minded consultation is what the city should do about the $3.5-million in subsidies that underwrite the three theatres’ operating budgets. Only one of the three – the St. Lawrence Centre – supports local not-for-profit theatre.
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Sony Centre for the Performing Arts (formerly O’Keefe Centre)
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Quote:
Toronto Centre for the Arts (formerly The Ford Centre)
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Quote:
St. Lawrence Centre (Bluma Appel and Jane Mallet theatres)
Currently home to Canadian Stage and the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, the St. Lawrence is considered to be the most likely of the three to be a candidate for redevelopment, with the potential for additional density on land behind the building. But that stretch of Front Street is subject to detailed urban design and planning rules. Still, Mr. Dan observed, the land is potentially worth millions of dollars, but the buyer and the city must figure out what to do for the tenant companies during redevelopment.
Potential Bridge Connection: In conjunction with the Park options as outlined above, Build Toronto has met with staff from the Waterfront
Secretariat, Parks, Transportation and Technical Services to examine options for the possible inclusion of the pedestrian bridge. Build Toronto
has identified that the redevelopment will generate Section 37 funds which could be used to offset a portion of the costs associated with the bridge
project. It is our understanding that staff from Technical Services will be reporting to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee with a further report that would address the preliminary funding, design and timing issues associated with the possible bridge in the November 2011 Cycle so
that Council can review the bridge options in the context of the redevelopment of the Ordnance Lands. Beyond this stage Build Toronto
would continue to engage City officials in this process.
and
Technical Services and the Waterfront Secretariat have been consulted on the expected`timing of a report to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee on lower cost alternatives to the previously tendered design of the Fort York Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge. They have advised that the report is scheduled for the November 3, 2011 agenda of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.
A derelict area beneath a series of overpasses in the West Don Lands is going to be transformed into an urban jewel. Waterfront Toronto unveiled plans for Underpass Park, the most extensive park to ever be built under an overpass in Canada, and the first in Toronto.
Located within the West Don Lands - home to the 2015 Pan American Games Athletes' Village - Underpass Park will cover a total of 1.05 hectares (2.5 acres) under and around the Eastern Avenue and Richmond/Adelaide overpasses, between Cherry Street and Bayview Avenue.
Underpass Park looks great. Will be a critical part in integrating the West Don Lands with the rest of the city, and making it pedestrian friendly/accessible.
The city just unveiled its masterplan for the future of the Sainte-Foy district, a very important undertaking, stretching from the bridges all the way to Laval University. This vision was long overdue and I am very pleased with what the city has envisionned. This part of town was basically created following the implementation of three buildings/institutions: the modern Laval University campus, the CHUL hospital and finally, one of the first big shopping mall in Canada, Place Laurier. Construction in this district has been very strong during the last decade but unfortunately, it didn't follow any guidelines. Hence, it is now very patchwork-like and honestly, not easy on the eyes.
The district was divided in four different sectors to reflect the different realities of each one: residential vs commercial vs educational vs sport infrastructure...
The document released yesterday is pretty massive so I tried to squease out the most interesting stuff.
This picture represents the planned long track speed skating arena. The outdoor Gaetan Boucher rink currently stands there.
The towers presented in the following pictures are actually in the planning stage. The lands have already been bought by the two most serious developpers in the City: Cominar and SSQ.
Whoa. IF this thing goes through like it says it will in these renders, it will be a lot more difficult for me to poke fun at Quebec City. Gros Village no more...
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