Toronto : Highrise and Urban Development News

caltrane74 · #1 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 2:57 PM**

Great Article from the Toronto Star on Toronto's Condo...

posted from Urbanation's Twitter Feed.

http://t.co/lYjGTFEF

caltrane74 · #2 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 3:04 PM**

Notice in the article, City of Toronto population of 2.7 million, within striking distance of Chicago.

suburbanite · #3 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 3:36 PM**

According to the 2010 census, there are 2,695,000 people in Chicago. They still kill us in metro population though.

caltrane74 · #4 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 3:59 PM**

Next Up Los Angeles, 3.9 Million people.

caltrane74 · #5 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 4:40 PM**

Article from Christopher Hume on how condo's are changing urban lifestyles and the new Urban Pioneers.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/...-settlers?bn=1

caltrane74 · #6 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 6:08 PM**

High Life Living on St. Clair

http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/12...p-at-st-clair/

Travis007 · #7 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 6:09 PM**

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2259633/

Developer, Nestlé at odds over west end industrial land

ASHER GREENBERG
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Dec. 04, 2011 6:12PM EST

Quote:

Castlepoint Realty is proposing to build a mixed-use residential development next to the chocolate factory on Sterling Road – 45 new townhomes with live-work spaces, new office towers complete with urban agriculture rooftops, a public square, and revitalization of the heritage Tower Automotive building.

Quote:

But Nestlé is not on board. In a letter to Toronto’s planning office, it expressed concerns over the introduction of residential units so close to its plant. Residents, however, generally support the bid by the developer to revitalize the desolate stretch of land.

Quote:

The site in dispute was home to Alcan – originally Northern Aluminum Co. – for more than 80 years. When it was constructed in 1919, the 10-storey building was among the tallest in Canada, and one of the first with an elevator. The city declared it a heritage site in 2005 shortly before then owner, Tower Automotive, went into bankruptcy.

Quote:

Castlepoint purchased the plot in 2007 and partnered with Rio Tinto Alcan to clean up the property. The environmental remediation was “a great favour to the community,” said local business owner Heather Braaten. When plans for the construction of movie studios on the land fell through, the developers instead proposed a mixed-use site.

Quote:

The trouble is Nestlé is concerned the factory that operates 24/7, with its noises, trucking, and smells, could become a source of friction with the new residents, said Sarah Phipps, the city planner handling this project. The “thoughtless juxtaposition of industrial and residential uses inevitably leads to complaints by the residential occupants,” Nestlé told the city, “in such a scenario, it is always the industrial user who suffers to a greater or lesser degree.”

Quote:

Mr. O’Keefe said that Castlepoint has made an effort to hear the community’s concerns, hosting five or six meetings before submitting the application. At the recent meeting, Castlepoint chief executive officer Alfred Romano unexpectedly committed 10 per cent of the new residential units to social housing.

Quote:

Castlepoint is negotiating this month with Artscape, a non-profit developer that subsidizes residential and work spaces for artists. The company has contributed below-market lofts to the re-development of the Distillery District, Liberty Village, and West Queen West, among other sites. Typically, Artscape mediates between private developers, artists and the wider community “to find a win-win-win scenario,” said CEO Tim Jones. Mr. Jones would not comment specifically on 158 Sterling, citing concerns over creating expectations too early in the negotiation process.

dennis1 · #8 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 6:27 PM**

Toronto is the largest city on the Great Lakes for now. This is a time of great growth and progress.

Travis007 · #9 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 6:54 PM**

I'm looking forward to how this works out. Has great potential to be the next Liberty Village.

Innsertnamehere · #10 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 8:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dennis1

Toronto is the largest city on the Great Lakes for now. This is a time of great growth and progress.

uhh.. chicago is bigger!

caltrane74 · #11 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 8:17 PM**

But the city of toronto is potentially bigger though.

Innsertnamehere · #12 Posted: **Dec 5, 2011, 8:20 PM**

how does the metro of chicago compare? does the chicago figure include the inner suburbs if chicago, like toronto;s does? and i meant by the metro poulation.

dennis1 · #13 Posted: **Dec 6, 2011, 3:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

how does the metro of chicago compare? does the chicago figure include the inner suburbs if chicago, like toronto;s does? and i meant by the metro poulation.

Chicago Metro is bigger by 3 million

Chicago proper is around 100k smaller.

dennis1 · #14 Posted: **Dec 6, 2011, 3:16 AM**

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2261195/

Quote:

The site of the deadly Sunrise Propane explosion is up for sale – and neighbours are worried about who the next tenant will be.

In August of 2008 the property, located at 62 Murray Rd., was rocked by an enormous explosion, which killed an employee and forced thousands from their homes.

A report by the Ontario Fire Marshal in 2010 concluded the blast was an accident, and occurred after propane leaked while being transferred between trucks.

More related to this story
•Sunrise Propane was told to stop liquid gas transfers two years before fatal blast
•Sunrise Propane blast linked to gas hose leak and mechanical failure: report
•More charges laid in propane explosion

Located just south of the Downsview Airport, the 2.8-acre plot is listed for $2.2-million. The online real estate listing describes the site as “vacant industrial land” with “good highway access” and “great yard space.”

Residents of the north Toronto neighbourhood will meet Tuesday night to discuss the sale. The meeting, organized by the Ancaster Ratepayers Association, will take place at St. Norbert’s Church at 7:30 p.m.

Jeff Green, who lives two blocks from the site, witnessed the explosion. The blast left him with a concussion and forced his family from their home for a month, he said.

caltrane74 · #15 Posted: **Dec 6, 2011, 4:07 AM**

Why Ancaster ratepayers? A little bit of a distance from Downsview.

ue · #16 Posted: **Dec 6, 2011, 4:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dennis1

Chicago Metro is bigger by 3 million

Chicago proper is around 100k smaller.

You still haven't answered whether or not Chicago proper does or does not include inner suburbs like Toronto does (Etobicoke, Scarborough, etc.). Stuff like this makes city propers not something worthy of comparison. It isn't fair to say Calgary is larger than Vancouver, because Calgary proper includes 98% of the metro, while in Vancouver, there are many greatly sized suburban municipalities like Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Delta, etc. Metro to metro is the fairest point of comparison and therefore, Chicago is still bigger than Toronto. Joliet is just as much Chicago as Wicker Park. Quit thumping your chests, already.

dennis1 · #17 Posted: **Dec 6, 2011, 4:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ue

You still haven't answered whether or not Chicago proper does or does not include inner suburbs like Toronto does (Etobicoke, Scarborough, etc.). Stuff like this makes city propers not something worthy of comparison. It isn't fair to say Calgary is larger than Vancouver, because Calgary proper includes 98% of the metro, while in Vancouver, there are many greatly sized suburban municipalities like Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Delta, etc. Metro to metro is the fairest point of comparison and therefore, Chicago is still bigger than Toronto. Joliet is just as much Chicago as Wicker Park. Quit thumping your chests, already.

Sorry man.

And no Chicago does not unless you consider Norridge and those place near the airport.

Vertigo3000 · #18 Posted: **Dec 6, 2011, 4:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ue

You still haven't answered whether or not Chicago proper does or does not include inner suburbs like Toronto does (Etobicoke, Scarborough, etc.). Stuff like this makes city propers not something worthy of comparison. It isn't fair to say Calgary is larger than Vancouver, because Calgary proper includes 98% of the metro, while in Vancouver, there are many greatly sized suburban municipalities like Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Delta, etc. Metro to metro is the fairest point of comparison and therefore, Chicago is still bigger than Toronto. Joliet is just as much Chicago as Wicker Park. Quit thumping your chests, already.

They aren't inner suburbs anymore, they amalgamated years ago

Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, East york and York are proper Toronto

suburbanite · #19 Posted: **Dec 6, 2011, 4:24 AM**

Well the 2.7 million Toronto figure obviously doesn't include suburbs like Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan and others. I assume it is a similar description to Chicago's. Metro population includes the suburbs, and that's where Chicago beats Toronto.

dennis1 · #20 Posted: **Dec 6, 2011, 7:07 AM**

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/...-city-settlers

Quote:

We don’t think of condo dwellers as pioneers, but that’s what they are, some of them, anyway.

Moving into the urban wilderness, clearing the land and cleaning the soil, they have opened up the city in ways that would never have occurred to their forefathers.

More remarkable, they have accomplished all this in living units so small that breakfast in bed is a necessity, not a Sunday morning luxury. In a world of suburban sprawl, monster homes and walk-in closets, the 301-square-foot box-in-the-sky represents a new way of life, and beyond that, a repudiation of sorts, certainly a renunciation of all that’s familiar. Outside megacities such as Tokyo with its capsule architecture, this miniaturization of real estate is just starting. In a city like ours, obsessed with the price of housing, this is the new frontier.