jaborandi
Active Member
Ah, I recall the look of rapture on Ms. McRae's face whenever she spoke of handsome transoms, especially Georgian ones. She would be quite transported to the happy place.
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222 Jarvis Street LEED retrofit (former Sears office building, 9s, WZMH).
- Thread starter Observer Walt
- Start date
Ah, I recall the look of rapture on Ms. McRae's face whenever she spoke of handsome transoms, especially Georgian ones. She would be quite transported to the happy place.
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
Isn't the Cobourg courthouse still in that nondescript 50s building out close to the 401?
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Indeed, jaborandi, we were so lucky, in our day, to be tutored in a wide range of aesthetic, heritage and conservation considerations by the very best.
ShonTron
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The nondescript 50s building might have a courthouse (I guess this must be the Northumberland County offices as well), but I am sure notyouagain is referring to the exquisite Victoria Hall, which still has a functioning courthouse as well as a theatre and council chambers.
Kingston has a wonderful courthouse, as does Peterborough, Woodstock, London (the original, which is now Middlesex County offices), Stratford. I also like the later Huron County Courthouse in Goderich, and the small courthouses, like the original Brampton Courthouse (which is one of very few legal county complexes that remains intact, with courthouse, registry office and county jail complete - Woodstock and Napanee being the only other examples I can think of), and Lindsay (now municipal offices).
Unfortunate losses include Hamilton's Wentworth County Courts (demolished around 1960), Belleville, Barrie, Windsor.
Woodstock has arguably the best intact collection of county-seat level civic buildings, including a town hall, a Dominion Building, a Carnegie Library (which remains in its original purpose), a jail (now municipal offices), a registry office, a courthouse. Plus the railway station and some old railside factories. Brampton has all of these as well (the town hall there moved around, but two of its former locations still stand), but I prefer Woodstock's collection.
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
That's the one I meant - I only ever appeared there - and yes, the county offices were there.
Kingston's courthouse has the distinction of being the only courthouse in Ontario other than Osgoode Hall where the Court of Appeal sits.
adma
Superstar
Well, at least it's still nondescript 50s, i.e. they've so far resisted the temptation to PoMo it or anything. It's so intact, it's practically heritage in its own right already...
unimaginative2
Senior Member
The federal courthouse in Kitchener is also completely untouched 50s.
canarob
Senior Member
Turns out the courthouse speculation was bang on. It's interesting about the top floors of the Sears at the Eaton Centre as well.
Sears strikes deal to sell Toronto head office
MARINA STRAUSS
Globe and Mail Update
September 25, 2007 at 2:07 AM EDT
Sears Canada Inc. [SCC-T] has quietly sealed a deal to sell its distinctive – and valuable – upside-down pyramid shaped head office in Toronto, a move that analysts estimate will raise tens of millions of dollars for Ed Lampert, the U.S. hedge fund manager who controls the retailer.
The head office alone, not including the land it sits on, could be worth in the range of $100-million, according to estimates based on office property values in the area.
The proposed sale – to the Ontario Realty Corp., the manager of the province's real estate portfolio – comes shortly after the retailer sold off its corporate jet earlier this year. It could be the first of other real estate sales, some observers predicted Monday.
“There are probably stores that they own that they could realize value on,” retail analyst Robert Gibson of Octagon Capital said in an interview. “That was their strategy: you do all this and you can realize a lot more money.”
Under Mr. Lampert's control, Sears Canada has been improving its profit as it slashes costs. In late 2005 it sold its lucrative credit card business.
Last month, Sears Canada put pressure on its suppliers in what some called an unprecedented “money grab.” Sears is asking vendors to pay it tens of millions of dollars to cover the money that it estimates they made from a soaring Canadian loonie over the past two or three years. The suppliers generally buy their goods overseas in U.S. dollars.
Vincent Power, a spokesman for Sears Canada, confirmed that it had an agreement to sell the head office and the surrounding property on Jarvis Street in Toronto, although he would not disclose the price. The deal has yet to close.
The 1,400 or so employees who work in the building will eventually move to the top four floors of the eight-storey Sears flagship store at the Toronto Eaton Centre. The deal gives Sears Canada the option to lease back the current head office space for as long as three years.
The Eaton Centre store has been an underperformer as consumers have stayed away from the upper floors. Mr. Power said the store will be more productive operating on four floors rather than eight.
And while about 1,200 Sears Canada employees have been let go in recent years, the shift in head office space will not lead to further staff reductions, he said.
The ORC, the would-be buyer of the Jarvis Street office, is expected to convert the building into a courthouse, although it could also use it for other government functions, a source said.
The property is unique because it also includes excess land now used as a parking lot. An ORC spokesman said it is too early to say what it will do with the property.
Sears strikes deal to sell Toronto head office
MARINA STRAUSS
Globe and Mail Update
September 25, 2007 at 2:07 AM EDT
Sears Canada Inc. [SCC-T] has quietly sealed a deal to sell its distinctive – and valuable – upside-down pyramid shaped head office in Toronto, a move that analysts estimate will raise tens of millions of dollars for Ed Lampert, the U.S. hedge fund manager who controls the retailer.
The head office alone, not including the land it sits on, could be worth in the range of $100-million, according to estimates based on office property values in the area.
The proposed sale – to the Ontario Realty Corp., the manager of the province's real estate portfolio – comes shortly after the retailer sold off its corporate jet earlier this year. It could be the first of other real estate sales, some observers predicted Monday.
“There are probably stores that they own that they could realize value on,” retail analyst Robert Gibson of Octagon Capital said in an interview. “That was their strategy: you do all this and you can realize a lot more money.”
Under Mr. Lampert's control, Sears Canada has been improving its profit as it slashes costs. In late 2005 it sold its lucrative credit card business.
Last month, Sears Canada put pressure on its suppliers in what some called an unprecedented “money grab.” Sears is asking vendors to pay it tens of millions of dollars to cover the money that it estimates they made from a soaring Canadian loonie over the past two or three years. The suppliers generally buy their goods overseas in U.S. dollars.
Vincent Power, a spokesman for Sears Canada, confirmed that it had an agreement to sell the head office and the surrounding property on Jarvis Street in Toronto, although he would not disclose the price. The deal has yet to close.
The 1,400 or so employees who work in the building will eventually move to the top four floors of the eight-storey Sears flagship store at the Toronto Eaton Centre. The deal gives Sears Canada the option to lease back the current head office space for as long as three years.
The Eaton Centre store has been an underperformer as consumers have stayed away from the upper floors. Mr. Power said the store will be more productive operating on four floors rather than eight.
And while about 1,200 Sears Canada employees have been let go in recent years, the shift in head office space will not lead to further staff reductions, he said.
The ORC, the would-be buyer of the Jarvis Street office, is expected to convert the building into a courthouse, although it could also use it for other government functions, a source said.
The property is unique because it also includes excess land now used as a parking lot. An ORC spokesman said it is too early to say what it will do with the property.
Ahab
New Member
I hope the ORC won't sell the parking lot. It would be a real shame if they sold it to a developer and there was another condo tower here. I'm not against a tower at this intersection though. In fact, that strip mall at the SW corner needs to be torn down for such a purpose. I would say the same for the Ho Lee Chow at the SE corner too. It's amazing the amount of development potential along Dundas from Yonge to Jarvis that just hasn't been taken advantage of. . . Anyway, that's getting off topic.
The parking lot associated with this building definitely needs to go though. It should be replaced by some sort of public space - a square of some sort that would enhance the architecture of the building, which is one of the hidden gems of the city, and make the building accessible from Dundas. I like the idea of the Gardens of Justice on University so something similar would be great. The court house will bring some much needed life to this part of town during the day, but I think there's potential for an amazing public space that would really make this area outstanding. I hope the ORC will be seeking expropriation of the buildings at the corner of Mutual and Dundas if they are going to do anything with the parking lot.
However, I'm not sure that the ORC will do anything at all given that the building doesn't appear to have underground parking and those judges aren't going to be happy if there's no place to park.
The parking lot associated with this building definitely needs to go though. It should be replaced by some sort of public space - a square of some sort that would enhance the architecture of the building, which is one of the hidden gems of the city, and make the building accessible from Dundas. I like the idea of the Gardens of Justice on University so something similar would be great. The court house will bring some much needed life to this part of town during the day, but I think there's potential for an amazing public space that would really make this area outstanding. I hope the ORC will be seeking expropriation of the buildings at the corner of Mutual and Dundas if they are going to do anything with the parking lot.
However, I'm not sure that the ORC will do anything at all given that the building doesn't appear to have underground parking and those judges aren't going to be happy if there's no place to park.
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
Clearly, I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge. Or can make a good educated guess from time to time.
Hypnotoad
Senior Member
Hopefully the courthouse option is a mid-to-short term solution. The land could be much better utilized as a mixed-use site for Ryerson, private development and other insitutional capacities. Improving this location could go a long way to strengthening the revitalization of Dundas, east of Yonge.
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
How is a courthouse worse than an academic building for Ryerson? Presumably if Ryerson had a use for it, they would have bought it.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
What's wrong with a court house? That seems pretty institutional to me, and this city is in desperate need of more consolidated court house space. Unfortunately, while a mixed-use project like that would be nice, it would require demolishing this building, and that would be a shame.
ShonTron
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Considering the architecture of 1970s-present courthouses in Ontario, like the hulking London Courthouse or the newish Peel Courthouse, the Sears Building kind of fits.
Yeah, I don't mind a courthouse here at all. I just wonder if Mutual Street Deli will be able to survive the transition - it's full of Sears employees.
Yeah, I don't mind a courthouse here at all. I just wonder if Mutual Street Deli will be able to survive the transition - it's full of Sears employees.
Well, soon if will be full of stenographers. (Do they still have stenographers in court?)
I'd like to see the parking lot go underground with a park and public square on top, simple as that. As a court this imposing building will need both a softening touch on the exterior, yet still carry the message that this is an august institution where justice is meted out to the citizens of this fair democracy - stuff like that.
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I'd like to see the parking lot go underground with a park and public square on top, simple as that. As a court this imposing building will need both a softening touch on the exterior, yet still carry the message that this is an august institution where justice is meted out to the citizens of this fair democracy - stuff like that.
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