Toronto 300 Front Street West | 156.05m | 49s | Tridel | Wallman Architects

My big problem with the City's 'skyline tapering' policy is that, when combined with the City's NPS shadowing policy, it virtually guarantees that downtown Toronto will never see an 'official' supertall.

The NPS shadowing policy means that nothing taller than FCP will ever be built in the MINT area (in fact, I understand that FCP itself would not be approved if it were proposed today). The one exception would be the new portion of downtown being built south of the tracks, but we are running out of available plots in the area zoned for unlimited height, and it's unknown (to me) whether any supertalls will be proposed in one of the few remaining undeveloped, unlimited-height, plots.

The skyline tapering policy means that nothing taller than the tallest downtown buildings will ever be built in the surrounding areas either, meaning no supertalls there as well.

It is certainly possible that a 300+ metre building might be built well away from downtown (1BE and Aura show that very tall buildings can be approved in their respective areas). I think that Toronto's best chance for an official supertall might be in the Yorkville (or possibly Yonge/Eglinton) area, not downtown.
 
I think the tapering policy applies to the classical skyline view from the lake. supertalls a little further north wouldn't affect this. I think we're gonna see a lot of taller buildings start to crawl up Yonge or Bay, like Aura.
 
I'm all for the NPS shadowing policy - the city should absolutely stick to their guns to prevent more shadowing of the square. But the tapering policy is completely pointless.

But in the city's defence, the possibility of getting a "supertall" is hardly something to base planning policy on. Supertalls are irrelevant to good planning. The idea that the lack of supertalls is somehow holding the city back is laughable.
 
I'm convinced that O&Y negotiated a sweetheart deal (50 year deal) with the city that guarantees FCP will never be topped. $$$

O&Y is dead and so should this sense of entitlement that FCP seems to have... new granite or not... move over FCP.
 
Even at 52 stories, this building looks tall. When the entire nabe is filled up with 50-something highrises, perhaps the CN Tower will sell "the residences at the CN Tower"--condos at the base of the tower?

Maybe they could build a supertall condo *around* the CN Tower. Imagine how cheap the construction would be with the concrete core already built!
 
Those are the old elevations and site plan shown on pages 15 to 19 of the final report. Page 30 shows the new site plan.

What gives?

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My big problem with the City's 'skyline tapering' policy is that, when combined with the City's NPS shadowing policy, it virtually guarantees that downtown Toronto will never see an 'official' supertall.

The NPS shadowing policy means that nothing taller than FCP will ever be built in the MINT area (in fact, I understand that FCP itself would not be approved if it were proposed today). The one exception would be the new portion of downtown being built south of the tracks, but we are running out of available plots in the area zoned for unlimited height, and it's unknown (to me) whether any supertalls will be proposed in one of the few remaining undeveloped, unlimited-height, plots.

The skyline tapering policy means that nothing taller than the tallest downtown buildings will ever be built in the surrounding areas either, meaning no supertalls there as well.

It is certainly possible that a 300+ metre building might be built well away from downtown (1BE and Aura show that very tall buildings can be approved in their respective areas). I think that Toronto's best chance for an official supertall might be in the Yorkville (or possibly Yonge/Eglinton) area, not downtown.
That fact bothers me less and less the more I realise how much more important density is than a handful of supertalls scattered throughout the city. Bay Adelaide's a great example -- rather than one 80-100 storey skinny building, we're getting two, maybe even three buildings, each of significant height.

And just because a plot of land is occupied by a short, stubby building doesn't mean it won't be redeveloped, like the Sapphire site.
 
Maybe they could build a supertall condo *around* the CN Tower. Imagine how cheap the construction would be with the concrete core already built!

not a bad idea! it would be a good reason to renovate the concrete upto the main pod. it looks pretty meh right now. i could see them making exclusive residences inbetween the three elevator shafts, on the ouside of the building. all they need is good engineering, maybe with steel beams along with some support on the outside of the building.
 
Registration for 300 Front Street Begins

Online registration for 300 Front St. is now online on the Tridel website:



I'll post a high res rendering of the building when I get the final along with some other details.
 
it will do well, as it is Tridel...
 

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