Q Tower

Developer: Lifetime Developments, Diamond Corp
Architect: Wallman Architects
  
Address: 200 Queens Quay W, Toronto
Category: Residential (Affordable Rental, Condo), Commercial (Retail), Public Space / Park
Status: Pre-ConstructionCompletion: TBD
Height: 648 ft / 197.40 mStoreys: 59 storeys
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Toronto Q Tower | 197.4m | 59s | Lifetime | Wallman

DonValleyRainbow

DonValleyRainbow

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With the removal of the Lower Simcoe Ramp, lots of speculation has been going on as to potential re-development of the existing parking garage at the southeast corner of Harbour at Lower Simcoe, known municipally as 200 Queens Quay West (which is weird).

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(photo courtesy of @MetroMan )

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(City of Toronto)

The area is zoned under a former City of Toronto bylaw, so I'm unsure what implications that has, I always have difficulty looking that info up. Given other developments in the area, though, there's lots of speculation about a potential tower (I assume condo residential was implied, but I wouldn't rule out commercial).
  • Harbour Plaza Residences (237/228m)
  • Ten York Street Condos (224m)
  • Ïce Condominiums (234/202m)
  • Maple Leaf Square (181/171m)
  • Sun Life Financial Tower (173m)
  • 16 York (158m)
  • RBC WaterPark Place III (140m)
  • Infinity Condos (108m)
I made up a very liberal development envelope in MS Paint given my understanding of the Tall Building Guidelines, and using the ruler on Google Maps; tower in red, podium in green. Open to comments/corrections/redos.
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Oh great! So it's not owned by the condos surrounding it after all. It's too valuable where it is to remain a rotting parking garage for much longer.

If we're not going to take down the Gardiner, then we must tightly urbanize the spaces around it.
 
I have already talked to Urban Design at City Planning about this site, and they consider there to be too little separation between it and the WaterClub condos to the south for there to be a tower there.

I'm not convinced. I think that one tower positioned in the gap between the two westerly WaterClub building with a V-shaped floor plate that widens as it moves away from WaterClub could work. The rest is likely podium material, up to about the height of the WaterClub podium.

The parking garage does do huge business, meanwhile, so depending upon how much revenue a developer might want to give up from it, they might want to replace it in sections. I believe the floor layout would allow for the eastern third to come down, for example, while the ramping would allow the western two-thirds to still work normally.

In any case, the garage is ugly, and will be more obviously ugly when the Gardiner off-ramp comes down.

42
 
Yes please- the backside of the parking garage was one of the worst things impacting the streetscape around that area.

Also lots of opportunity to do something about the wide dead space facing Ten York.

Though there's not really room for a tower, there's lots of opportunity to possibly reclad the parking garage or at least add some retail at the base(if possible)/make the base attractive.
 
not sure why there isn't room for a tower. Looks like you could easily get your 25m with enough space for another tower. There is about 55m from the northern part of the Waterpark Place condos to the northern property line.
 
interchange42 said:
I have already talked to Urban Design at City Planning about this site, and they consider there to be too little separation between it and the WaterClub condos to the south for there to be a tower there.

I'm not convinced. I think that one tower positioned in the gap between the two westerly WaterClub building with a V-shaped floor plate that widens as it moves away from WaterClub could work. The rest is likely podium material, up to about the height of the WaterClub podium.
Click to expand...

jje1000 said:
Though there's not really room for a tower
Click to expand...

Again, see my rough envelope, based upon my understanding of Tall Building Guidelines. That is just an outline, though, of where a tower could be placed within. The area of the entire polygon is ~2,600 m², and a tower can only have a floor plate of 750 m² max. Taking away two 750 m² floor plate from the east and west sides of the envelope, and then two polygons for a 20m separation distance [((20*25)*2)=1000], that eats up almost your entire tower footprint; you're only going to fit two towers here max unless you scale back those towers and get creative. But two at least, and that also buys you height given your density limits. I'm sure a proposal could play off of the setup of the Waterclub towers.

interchange42 said:
The parking garage does do huge business, meanwhile, so depending upon how much revenue a developer might want to give up from it, they might want to replace it
Click to expand...

Certainly worth an analysis. After all, there is a partnership with Billy Bishop to have parking there. But couldn't they propose a development that replaces the parking anyway?
 
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