50 King Street - 43s, 53s - York Developments (Approved)

[TallerIsBetter]

I agree that the height limits are partly there as a bargaining chip. But a city should not do that to serious developers. Every project should be evaluated purely on merit and not start with some Government -Knows-Best-and-Must-Annoint-from-On-High posture. These should be a partnership, and from that perspective it's fine for the City to encourage goals like good design and getting some affordable units in the mix.

But I honestly think the real reason for the height limits is to acknowledge the disproportionate power of the NIMBY and Heritage Weenies. So the council doesn't get so many emails and calls.

I'd add the Farhi proposal is wonderful, and it and the York project will fit together perfectly and really enhance the Forks! I love the design, very much like the beautiful 515 Richmond. I don't care who builds it but I really hope that goes as planned.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Another more detail shot from the architect (Zedd)

[MolsonExport]

I wouldn't be so dismissal of those promoting heritage stock. Last time I checked, they weren't building any nice old structures from long ago. Once they are gone, they are gone for good. I'd rather have the old stock, than another banal cookie cutter condo from Drewlo with surface parking.

[905er]

I kinda like these new towers being proposed. they're busy I suppose with the grid patterns but there's something a little different about them that I can appreciate. I can't put my finger on it. ... also the height..

[sparky212]

They also don't have balconies

[User_Name]

Originally Posted by sparky212

They also don't have balconies

They are hidden behind the grid - most of the floor plate is balcony.

[DWBrown]

Just with the picture design from Feb.28/2022 shared by GreatTallNorth2. This 50 King Street development project really is a gem to see for in the near future. Just from the diagram itself. It looks like the west tower will be built on a 6 floor podium with 22 floors on top and a 2 floor architectual design split and another 14 floors on top of that, plus what looks like the mechanical roof top containment room which looks like 2 floors in height on top. That would bring just that section of the project to an approx. 46 total floors in height which could top out that part of the project in the 465 to 470 feet in total height. Now for the big one for the east tower, the base podium is at 6 floors, then it looks like 26 floors on top of that, then a 2 floor architectual design split, then another 18 floors on top of that and then a 2 floor mechanical room on topto finish it off. That could bring that tower to an approx. height range around 545-555 feet. With a building of these approx. heights would bring a real solid fit for in that area and could give some more hope for other near future projects to follow suit. Looking forward to seeing this project come to light soon.

[DWBrown]

This is going to be a real awesome looking end to the downtown core with this build and the 40 York St. at 318 ft in height, plus Farhi and his 40 storey building to go along with the Centro builds at 423 and 331 ft. in height. Plus 131 York St. going up and the 195 Dundas St at 25 floors. The city is gonna look great with all these infill projects and even more to come in the next few years. I'd really like to see more projects be built up in the higher 400-600 ft.+ building to come.

[jammer139]

Heavy equipment has started taking down the MLHU office building. Must have completed the removal of all valuable materials from the inside.

[haljackey]

There she goes

https://www.reddit.com/r/londonontar...st_demolition/

@koops65 any interest in tackling it as a drawing?

[koops65]

Sure, I'll make a drawing. I count 53 floors, and will make a guess at 170 metres for the taller tower. And I count 42 floors for the shorter tower, lets call that one 137 metres.

[koops65]

OK my drawings have been approved, here is the updated London diagram:

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=97235895

[DWBrown]

Your diagrams look great! I just wish the admins would put the proper heights on the rest of the buildings for in the London section at their correct heights so that when looking over the heights. That they would show the correct differences between them all. I have sent in request for the changes to be made, but keep being told that they use google earth to calculate building heights. There needs to be everyone involved to send in requests to have the correct heights be shown and displayed for accurate info.
For in this particular project, I've been in conversation with Carlos who is in charge with this project over the phone. That the west tower is to be built in between the 480' to 485' in height. At this moment the City engineers office has it at 483' on record for the time being. Allowing for any +/- changes in design or modifications to be made. The east tower right now is to be built in between the 550' to 555' in total height. Carlos couldn't give any further info into the matter at the time. But without giving too much away was leading more towards the higher in height as for the goal of the taller tower.

[CharlesSaticoy]

They do look great - thanks

I personally am a bit disappointed in the design of these buildings. Maybe they will do turn out better than the illustrations. Hopefully more details soon..

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by DWBrown

Your diagrams look great! I just wish the admins would put the proper heights on the rest of the buildings for in the London section at their correct heights so that when looking over the heights. That they would show the correct differences between them all. I have sent in request for the changes to be made, but keep being told that they use google earth to calculate building heights. There needs to be everyone involved to send in requests to have the correct heights be shown and displayed for accurate info.
For in this particular project, I've been in conversation with Carlos who is in charge with this project over the phone. That the west tower is to be built in between the 480' to 485' in height. At this moment the City engineers office has it at 483' on record for the time being. Allowing for any +/- changes in design or modifications to be made. The east tower right now is to be built in between the 550' to 555' in total height. Carlos couldn't give any further info into the matter at the time. But without giving too much away was leading more towards the higher in height as for the goal of the taller tower.

You can say proper and correct all you want. It's meaningless personal opinion until you provide reliable source documentation to back it up. 20 years in the database is not verification. It's an expression of the difficulties of verifying data. It can be done, locally, if you really care about official sourced data over the highest unsourced and/or unreliable Emporis data available online.

I've been editing SSP's London database for nearly 20 years and started at Emporis (then a open free database with bulletin board called skyscrapers.com) 23 years ago.

[haljackey]

Excellent work @koops65! Looks great!

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

You can say proper and correct all you want. It's meaningless personal opinion until you provide reliable source documentation to back it up. 20 years in the database is not verification. It's an expression of the difficulties of verifying data. It can be done, locally, if you really care about official sourced data over the highest unsourced and/or unreliable Emporis data available online.

Exactly - similar to [citation needed] on Wikipedia. Newer buildings should have their height officially listed/documented somewhere public these days, but finding reliable info for older buildings is difficult.

Unless you want to get a giant measuring tape and ladder, it can be very difficult to get the height of these structures listed.

[DWBrown]

I was able to get a ride into London and went to City Hall was was able to speak directly with the City Manager Lynne Livingstone and City Deputy Manager Scott Mathers with what I was looking for on building heights. The city charges $95 for each inquiry and $15 for each page of each inquiry. Well that's out of the question for spending that much money for what was shown to me on the internet that was already available for the public. Scott brought out some information on paper and cross referenced in to a web search. He did a google search and typed in "Tallest buildings in London, Ontario" then hit click. Wikipedia came up in the search and clicked on it and there was all the buildings on one publicly searched list. The listings was in meters but that is fine. Lynne and Scott went over the list and cross referenced it with what they had in hand and it was all a match for London Buildings over 60 meters in height. Now I showed them what was being listed as building heights on the Skyscaperspage.com site. They understood now what I was getting at and for what reasons why as I've been building a physical scaled model of the entire downtown of London. I also went one step further and contacted Google Canada Corporate in Kitchener and asked about their Google Earth program. Their technician informed me that Google Earth is not designed for accurate measurements and is only for entertainment purpose only. And to not use the Google Earth features for any precise measurements as for fact bases. I written in to Skyscraperspage.com with this and that one of their admins or techies has made changes to the buildings height numbers and that it needs to be looked into for accuracy and fact based and not just done by using Google Earth and clicking on the ruler feature and measured that way. Google technician did a search example and tried measuring the One London Place with the Google Earth and measured the building at over 1,100 feet in height. Well that was obviously wrong and we both laughed at that. The Google Technician said that the problem with using that ruler feature is clicking the first pinpoint area and then the top of a buildings feature is not ever going to be an accurate measurement for measuring. I highly advise anyone to go give it a try oneself and one's will find the same results as what I have found and even the Google technicians themselves have found. So it was a very simple thing to follow up on. Just go to Google Earth and zoom into downtown London, click a ruler and click the bottom of any building and then the top, then click the measurement in feet, then the measurement is there to be seen as incorrect as explained by the Google technician at the Google Canada Office in Kitchener. Once more people see this first hand and for one's who want the accurate info being displayed, the sooner the correct information will be all that will be displayed for accuracy.

[jammer139]

Over 60% of the MLHU building is now down. Should be finishing clearing the rest by the end of next week. Will be interesting to see if they backfill the basement or leave it with fencing. Would be a sign they hope to get thru the city hall committees and city council approvals quickly. Of course the local anti development NIMBY heritage nuts will likely oppose the proposed project and even appeal to OLT delaying by years the start date. York may just as well backfill the basement and cover with topsoil and plant grass seed.

[inimrepus]

I'm pretty sure there is a rule that they need to put a parking lot here for 5 or 6 years before it can be built on

[jammer139]

The old MLHU building is now down. Likely take another week or so to clear the rubble. Whether they backfill the basement or leave it is yet to be seen.


York still hasn't got their rezoning application to Planning committee as of yet. Imagine it will also go thru the gauntlet of other city hall committees as well.