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  #2121  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2011, 8:18 PM
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Hey guys, found an interesting article in your newspaper about a levy? I was wondering if it's the development levy I think I had read about a while back, so your mayor can revitalize the downtown?

It's actually a letter (to the residents of London that read it?) from Schmuel Farhi..

http://www.lfpress.com/comment/2011/12/02/19060786.html

Quote:
I likely pay as much in property taxes as almost anyone in London — millions of dollars a year. A 1% tax increase (or levy) represents significant dollars to me and is something that should not be taken lightly.

But our city stands at a crossroads.

London must send a consistent message that we are progressive, aggressive, and fully aware of what needs to be done to move our economy forward.

We won’t be able to bring all of our civic dreams to fruition, but we need to move ahead on at least some of them to prove we are forward-thinking and not afraid to seize opportunity when it presents itself.

That is the kind of confident approach that will bring new economic opportunities here.

As I travel across Ontario, which I do frequently, I see other cities that have taken hold of this kind of initiative and been successful in improving their economic situation.

Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton and Windsor are just three of many municipalities that have recently used public funds as a catalyst to promote private investment.

I understand the concern of some Londoners about any increase in taxes, but they need to be reminded the proposed surcharge will return far more in new municipal revenues than it costs.

Most of us have been around long enough to be very suspicious of promises of automatic “economic spinoffs” for every publicly funded special event or project.

Many of them cost more than they ever pay back in money or opportunity.

But the benefits we will reap from this “1%” fund will be readily quantifiable: Property and business tax totals will climb as new business is attracted here because we primed the pump.

I think it is responsible to insist that any such levy be self-eliminating. The public deserves — and should have — a clear accounting of how the revenue it generates are used to control, even reduce, property tax levels.

Not only would that create pressure to use the money wisely, it would reward Londoners for their temporary sacrifice. And it would strengthen council’s image as responsible stewards of the public purse.

In my business dealings, I always look for the “win/win” solution, and I believe that should be our goal here, too, one best met by investing wisely now and returning the benefits to taxpayers.

As a taxpayer myself, I applaud every effort to keep rates down but we must not lose sight of the difference between holding the line on taxes and holding back economic growth.

I urge you, as strongly as I can, to support the 1% levy as a temporary measure with clearly defined goals and expectations.

Shmuel Farhi is the president of Farhi Holdings Corp. in London.

Last edited by Symz; Dec 7, 2011 at 8:32 PM.
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  #2122  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2011, 9:02 PM
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Great letter and I completely agree with him. Unfortunately, it seems like most Londoners are willing to let the city stagnate so that they can save $2.50 a month.

This city is ridiculous.
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  #2123  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2011, 10:53 PM
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If the Bell building wasn't ugly enough, and the Farhi banners around downtown weren't enough of an eyesore...

There's now a light-up Farhi sign on the Bell building.
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  #2124  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2011, 10:58 PM
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Originally Posted by manny_santos View Post
If the Bell building wasn't ugly enough, and the Farhi banners around downtown weren't enough of an eyesore...

There's now a light-up Farhi sign on the Bell building.
Ouch. Someone should get a picture so we can witness this abomination!
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  #2125  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2011, 11:41 PM
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Originally Posted by manny_santos View Post
If the Bell building wasn't ugly enough, and the Farhi banners around downtown weren't enough of an eyesore...
.
Hey I...appreciate the Bell building! Yes, it's a bit awkward and strange, but it feels "big city" to me.
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  #2126  
Old Posted Dec 10, 2011, 9:39 PM
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The new A&W at Oxford and Hyde Park is now open, but from what I can see there is no sidewalk accessing the premises from either street.

Nice job, creating another commercial anti-pedestrian development in a high-density residential area with a high school. This will be great in the winter.
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  #2127  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2011, 8:22 AM
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^yeah, this sucks. but at least it faces the street. Unlike the horrid beer Store ("Jim, can you get me a case of 24 Coors Light?"), and Four-bucks.
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  #2128  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2011, 3:18 AM
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Exclamation

There's an LFP article about the downtown office vacancy rate dropping. Found this snippet to be pretty interesting:

Quote:
In fact, Sifton has had to turn some prospective tenants away.

"Our office business is very healthy and we're seeing growth and innovation and businesses moving forward" with expansion plans, said Piper Badgley, leasing manager commercial for Sifton Properties Ltd.

In fact, business is so good at One London Place that if Sifton can find an anchor tenant, it will start to build a second tower adjacent to the existing one, she said.

"We're very optimistic about the future and we have the pylons in place for phase two," Badgley said. "It's becoming more of a reality we would move forward on that."

LFP - Office market at core of fresh hope


Never thought I'd see the day when Two London Place was being talked about. I actually like One London Place being a lone, signature tower. Not sure how I feel about it finally having a twin.

I wonder if this is just big talk, or if Sifton's actually serious about expanding.
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  #2129  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2011, 3:29 AM
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just saw this and was about to post it. I think it will look good against its bigger brother since it will be substantialy shorter (i think its only gonna be 18s or so) so not really a twin.
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  #2130  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2011, 4:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bolognium View Post
There's an LFP article about the downtown office vacancy rate dropping. Found this snippet to be pretty interesting:




LFP - Office market at core of fresh hope


Never thought I'd see the day when Two London Place was being talked about. I actually like One London Place being a lone, signature tower. Not sure how I feel about it finally having a twin.

I wonder if this is just big talk, or if Sifton's actually serious about expanding.
Wait, we have high unemployment, but there's now a shortage of office space?

Something isn't adding up.
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  #2131  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2011, 5:06 AM
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Interesting.

Just remember that the render/drawing for Two London Place is old... It may look nothing like it.

Two London Place. That has a fantastic ring to it. Building a new, modern office tower will help show that London has bounced back in a big way. With downtown revitalization, along with a large residential boom, perhaps the core is ready to breathe the sweet air of prosperity.

Either way it's great news. The amount of high quality of office space in London could use some expansion, and a nice new tower would add to our skyline and create some jobs (both building and using it).
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  #2132  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2011, 1:40 PM
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A shorter copy of One London Place would look pretty distasteful to me. That's what I like about One London Place. It is "the" tower in the city, and it doesn't have some stupid twin beside it. And besides, I'd much rather have the vacant office space in the Bell building and some of the other older buildings downtown taken up.

If they do go ahead with 2 London Place, it better be a fresh new design, and it better be integrated with the street better. As much as I like One London Place, I don't feel that it really fits with the downtown urban fabric all that well.
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  #2133  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2011, 6:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Simpseatles View Post
If they do go ahead with 2 London Place, it better be a fresh new design, and it better be integrated with the street better. As much as I like One London Place, I don't feel that it really fits with the downtown urban fabric all that well.
Major changes to the design would be difficult due to the second tower's foundation being already in place. That sets the location, size, and shape of the building footprint. Secondly, the structural design of the complex is somewhat unique: the towers feature a slipformed core surrounded by a structural steel frame that makes up most of the structure. The existing foundation will be built to accommodate that.

Cosmetic changes would be possible, but the fundamentals are likely set unless the developer wishes to pay extra for mods to the foundation/parking garage.
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  #2134  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2011, 7:58 PM
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I kind of hope it would look different too. What is with this city's obsession with twin towers?
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  #2135  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2011, 12:33 AM
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not unlike this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankers_Hall. I would hope Sifton would make some changes as well to the design. The foundation fixes the footprint of the building, but little else.
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  #2136  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2011, 5:13 PM
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Well they wouldn't be true twins based on the old render.

Twins are simply cheaper to build since they use the same design, sometimes mirrored. No additional work is needed except for some minor adjustments.

At this point, a new AAA office tower in London would be huge, regardless of it's design.
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  #2137  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2011, 2:38 AM
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The foundation fixes the footprint of the building, but little else.
There ARE other considerations. What is currently in place below grade is designed to accept a certain maximum static loading as was envisioned in 1990. The loading points are only sized so strong. Other considerations include hard servicing, which is installed from the foundation to the street, and is sized for a certain number of occupants. Any modification to the original design that ends up placing the same demands on the existing base structure as was originally envisioned can work as long as the footprint and structural loading points remain the same. Anything beyond that will cost the developer extra dollars to modify.

Quote:
Originally Posted by haljackey
At this point, a new AAA office tower in London would be huge, regardless of it's design.
Absofrickenlutely
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  #2138  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2012, 2:57 PM
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Anyone catch Joe's state of the city address? He touched on two pretty damn interesting developments.

One was a residential (maybe mixed use) complex on Wellington and South streets. And the other was a development somewhere on York Street which will apparently have a grocery store...

The details were really vague, but here are two screencaps:

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  #2139  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2012, 4:02 PM
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I read the article but did not catch the actual address, those projects must be pretty solid as he has mentioned them now on a few occasions.

I am most interested in the York St one, wonder where they are thinking. There are quite a few parking lots...maybe call the office is getting knocked down lol.
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  #2140  
Old Posted Jan 11, 2012, 5:50 PM
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I count 32 on the one on the right if this goes through this will be sweet
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