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Pretty tower. Shame about the street level. So much more could be done with the facade that doesn't require elaborate forms or expensive new materials. Take the upper podium's black vertical bands, for instance. Why not extend them to street level in varied lengths, like the lights of Aura's...

Opening the clock tower to the street looks promising so far. Impinging on that by saving the two-storey abominations out front would be a huge mistake. Sure hope this isn't the case.

Aqua is gorgeous from afar with its slick glazing and undulating balconies. But walking by its squat, lifeless podium feels like walking past the Sheraton Centre. 1B probably won't be as visually striking as Aqua, but its rockstar podium is shaping up to be both more engaging and more urban...

East side is all cleared. Hope things start to pick up soon - I'm excited to see the podium take shape.

Exactly. Far better to gauge how this will turn out by Concert's portfolio than anything else. Personally, this leaves me excited about the podium and nervous about the window wall.

Agreed, especially in light like the above. Why spend so much glazing this beauty, just to skimp out on the littlest, most conspicuous bit? The rest of the glass is ace! They spared relative pennies and ended up with an ugly crown right out of the gate. Screams cheap, no matter how sexy the...

Interesting. I haven't seen that sketch before, and I think you're right - the Hue's facade actually looks quite sensitively integrated. Glad to see it!

Too bad. The green building could look great fixed up, and would help Hue's from looking too lonely in front of whatever giant is to rise behind it. Heritage facades often seem forced or tacked-on when they lose their context.

And, more importantly, it'll help block views of Cinema Tower from the west ;)

Agreed. The whole thing is seeming more and more like a neomodern incarnation of the TD Centre, complete with contemporary approaches to heritage.

My guess is that the thread title is a bit out of date. The renders look like James goes only as far east as 450 Richmond, at most, leaving a tight but developable lot between it and the Morgan. This plus the huge blank wall that is the eastern face of James suggests to me that we should...

When I look at that photo, I see Mean Girls. Picasso, Tableau and QRC saying to their ugly neighbours: you can't sit with us!

I also appreciate the grungy flair of some of our older, rougher building stock. But there's no denying that many, if not most of them are rotting from the inside out. Unless we start forcing landlords to properly maintain heritage buildings both aesthetically and structurally, they'll...

Is there any reason to expect that here?

My mistake, you're right. Here's a before shot for comparison. I'm still impressed by the improvement :)

Haha. Wait... You seriously don't see revitalization? You must have somehow missed the new dedicated streetcar lanes, bike trail, decorative granite pavers, hardwoods in silva cells... What else were you expecting, a yellow-brick road? You're either trolling, or have no memory of how ugly QQ...

But really, how often do developers choose to allocate funds off-site? (I'm sincerely asking.) Doesn't minimal municipal oversight + self-interest in locating public art in the immediate vicinity of one's development = little incentive for developers to pool funds for art external to their...

Wow, what an improvement! The Queen facade especially. And with Phase I's attention to detail, it's easy to be optimistic about the execution. I hope this gives some momentum to redevelopment of the parking lot on the north side of Queen. Anyone know what's going on there?

A gorgeous timber building, lush trees, moderately shiny condos in the back. Are we sure this isn't Vancouver?

But buyers don't care. It's all $$/square foot here. No broader vision for the city or design expectations, save for heritage preservation. If you've got $$, property and zoning, you can build wtf you want. And make false promises about whatever you want, too, apparently.