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City-TV & OMNI-TV's H.Q. (formerly Torch, Quadrangle)

It seems they've done a lot of work on the interior. The exterior looks pretty much the same as it always has.
 
Hoarding is scheduled to partially come down on the south side on Victoria st. in about a week and a half to give access to the staff entrance at the southmost edge of the building.

I guess they're going to have to hurry up and clad that surface before reporting/admin/editing staff begins moving in in a couple of weeks.

My contact, who's part of the team involved in the logistics of the move over told me that Kevin and Dina know very well when they're moving. Just what I thought ...lol :p

It's too bad BT's view is going to be of the ass end of Dundas Square: a garage entrance and crowd control gate storage :(
 
syn said:
It seems they've done a lot of work on the interior. The exterior looks pretty much the same as it always has.
Click to expand...

The entire street level section wrapping around the building has been completely overhauled. It's the most important part I think. The Olympic Spirit Centre's street level presence was uninviting and bleak, the new street level façade is quite the opposite. It's a big improvement. Gone are the ugly mullions and in is a more transparent glass mullion free. Textured metal panels replace the bare concrete toe kicks and black glass replaces parts of the grey panelling adding interest to a once blank wall of grey.

The new framed window is great too. It defines the focus of the building towards the newsrooms of both CityTV and OMNI and the glass has been replaced with one that allows a view into the stations from passersby and from the newsroom to the city.

The big enigma right now is what the heck is going on with the Torch tower? It hasn't been touched. It's clear that they've left it out of the reno up until now (the Olympic Spirit Centre sign is still up!) because it's going to get covered.

My contact still tells me that Rogers wants to use it as a major branding opportunity that screams "ROGERS!!" rather than just OMNI or CityTV. This doesn't necessarily mean we'll see a big Rogers logo (although I'm sure it'll be somewhere), it just means the branding (i.e. colours) will be felt on the tower. They also have approved licenses for video screens facing the square from the tower.

So in all likelihood, we'll see the big red monolith shown in the renderings with each facet being a screen. It could be quite interesting and iconic. Can't wait!
 
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MetroMan said:
The entire street level section wrapping around the building has been completely overhauled. It's the most important part I think. The Olympic Spirit Centre's street level presence was uninviting and bleak, the new street level façade is quite the opposite. It's a big improvement. Gone are the ugly mullions and in is a more transparent glass mullion free. Textured metal panels replace the bare concrete toe kicks and black glass replaces parts of the grey panelling adding interest to a once blank wall of grey.

The new framed window is great too. It defines the focus of the building towards the newsrooms of both CityTV and OMNI and the glass has been replaced with one that allows a view into the stations from passersby and from the newsroom to the city.

The big enigma right now is what the heck is going on with the Torch tower? It hasn't been touched. It's clear that they've left it out of the reno up until now (the Olympic Spirit Centre sign is still up!) because it's going to get covered.

My contact still tells me that Rogers wants to use it as a major branding opportunity that screams "ROGERS!!" rather than just OMNI or CityTV. This doesn't necessarily mean we'll see a big Rogers logo (although I'm sure it'll be somewhere), it just means the branding (i.e. colours) will be felt on the tower. They also have approved licenses for video screens facing the square from the tower.

So in all likelihood, we'll see the big red monolith shown in the renderings with each facet being a screen. It could be quite interesting and iconic. Can't wait!
Click to expand...

There are definitely changes, but nothing that earth shattering. I'll reserve final judgment until it's done, but so far I'm not terribly impressed.
 
They have changed some panels from grey to black, and they have changed the configeration of windows that were already there. I too see no substantial changes or improvement.
 
Doesn't look like much changes will be taking place at all, just signs being put attached. In fact the current big sign is staying, just adding more on top.
 
khristopher said:
Doesn't look like much changes will be taking place at all, just signs being put attached. In fact the current big sign is staying, just adding more on top.
Click to expand...

I think with the slow progress it's taken just to get this far, Rogers probably couldn't wait anymore and decided to just cut some ideas short to get Citytv out of 299 Queen St W.
 
Well, looks like this will be a victim of "the cheapening". In several meetings, it was emphasized that Rogers' intention was to remove the existing torch tower and replace it with a "very visible advertising asset, iconic in nature and representative of Rogers' branding".

While they're improving the overall usage and quality of signage, they're maintaining one of the ugly parts of the building. Perhaps they'll at least change the colour of the tower from the blah grey seen all over Dundas Square to a vibrant red, or add the interior LED lighting that was originally supposed to go on the Olympic Spirit Centre's torch.

The city report confirms my suspicion that the hooks located above the new framed window would be for an LED ticker that would lead to a wrap around the base of the torch. The existing unfinished LED will be taken down.

What I'm most worried about is what is going to happen to the bare concrete. Will they at least texturize it and paint it or will it be left as is?

A lot of questions will be answered in the weeks ahead as Rogers is on a deadline to have the hoarding removed from the site to allow the first Breakfast Television to be broadcast from Y&D on Monday Aug 17.
 
And they can still renovate the exterior while the building was being used...if they wanted to.
 
The reason they decided to cut corners is because it's taken too long to for the progress that has been made and the fight between Rogers and CTV is starting looking like its going to be a all out war. So Rogers needs to get Citytv out of enemy territory fast as they can, and from my sources, CTV isn't really making Citytv feel conformable at their soon to be former home.
 
I do not understand the need to move in, with the need to cut corners on the exterior work.
 
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