Toronto 540 King West | 50.66m | 15s | Allied | Hariri Pontarini

It does not include Zoe's at all - thank God!. It is my understanding that the Pizza Pizza/Grand&Toy property is either owned or is optioned by Great Gulf. The rumours are that the property at 8/12 Brant Street (currently Jacob's Steakhouse) is the stumbling block for development. I would guess that once GG gets their hands on this property in the next few years, hello yet another condo in our hood.
 
I don't know but Morrison should be extended to King with the kind of density proposed and under construction,

I think extending Morrison to King would significantly diminish the redevelopment potential of the 560 King site without adding a great deal of benefit for the block as a whole.

I once read somewhere that Morrison was to connect King and Adelaide as only a pathway and not as a street.

From the OMB decision on 570 King St W (paragraph 2 mentions the lane from King to Morrison)

http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/e-decisions/pl060823_#0357.pdf



As far as I can tell the lane will roughly run as I've outlined in blue:



I wasn't clear on this from the discussion a few pages ago, but does this development include demolishing the building containing Zoe's?

I'm not aware of the Zoe's site as being part of the redevelopment, I only outlined on the aerial image the Genco (King) and Braund (Morrison) sites that Allied Reit recently purchased. It might seem logical for Allied to pursue the Zoe's site, but I have no knowledge of that.
 
Thanks Cabeman for posting the clarification. I had thought the lane was to run directly from King to Adelaide in a manner that lined up with Morrison.

'Tis all still a little confusing, but it looks like the back end of Cabeman's building is about to get walled in (well, eventually). It would also appear that these future buildings will be butting up against each other quite closely - with only the lane separating them.
 
My sources tell me that the owner of the Zoe's building has no intention of selling.
 
30 June 2008 update

Here's what I saw tonight--construction soon?

DSC07360.jpg
 
To everyone questioning the demolition..

Allied Properties can "get away" with tearing down the building off of King, next to the Pizza Pizza because of their reputation as Canada's largest Class I office space provider.

Emory and his team looked at every way possible to maintain the current structure, however, it is not possible in a cost-effective manner.

Allied has been recognized by the city in the way they have been able to preserve heritage spaces. For them to knock down a building, it has to be assumed that it cannot be kept for structural reasons.

On another note, I 100% agree that Allied should be considering adding condo spaces on top of this building. From my understanding, they have the air rights to build above 11 stories..adding 4-5 floors of ultra high-end residential would be a savvy move.

What are people's thoughts on this?
 
Allied has been recognized by the city in the way they have been able to preserve heritage spaces. For them to knock down a building, it has to be assumed that it cannot be kept for structural reasons.

Or, as in this case, that it hasn't been officially recognized as "heritage". (It's also much more modest--"impractically" so?--than a lot of the historical properties Allied's dealt with.)
 
On another note, I 100% agree that Allied should be considering adding condo spaces on top of this building. From my understanding, they have the air rights to build above 11 stories..adding 4-5 floors of ultra high-end residential would be a savvy move.

What are people's thoughts on this?

What's going on with the height restrictions in this area? I get FashionHouse - they're revitalizing the old Silverplate Building so as a reward they get added height approved. Now, Allied is demolishing what is there, not restoring anything historically significant or adding any public art/space (as far as I'm aware), and they can potentially go to 15-16 stories? Then Great Gulf beside them will demolish Pizza Pizza and Grand & Toy and most likely want just as high if not higher (not that I would be sad to see those two stores go). I'm a fan of this stretch of King St. being as dwarfed in height as it is. Plus, the school and school yard at the corner of Adelaide and Brant would really be cast into shade (in this scenario).
 
What's going on with the height restrictions in this area?

Yeah, it's actually quite laughable. Mode was cancelled due to conflicts over height and set-back rules because it was on Adelaide - north of where these taller buildings are going to be allowed. Even 455 Adelaide was restricted in height and built with setbacks to satisfy restrictions. All of those concessions appear to be negated by the taller buildings allowed on King.

I would not be too surprised see applications for 15 to 20 floor buildings showing up soon.
 
Oy. I am not crazy about this development. I don't want to see that brick building go...and frankly Pizza Pizza/Grand and Toy is a blight, so even though GG will get to that eventually it is heartbreaking for such a handsome old structure to get the ax while they still stand.

But I guess the good news is that, when Victory, Fashion House, and the eventual GG building are in the only remaining vacant/underused lot will be the one next to Starbucks, which can't possibly stay empty long. Then you will be able to add King between Spadina and Bathurst to the short list of completely parking-lot-free downtown strips in Toronto. We've just ticked off Bay from Front to Queen (thanks, Donald Trump!) and, most significantly, the entire length of University. Once Aura starts Yonge counts too, as far as Church.

edit: I should add the following: hurrah for the owner of Zoe's! Surely it is a sign of good character that he so values retaining my (and many, many others') access to the likes of the Zoe's Club and the turkey avocado on baguette. Those two would win any best-sandwiches-in-town context easily.
 
Hopefully some clarification will emerge as to how this building will look.

Good to hear that Zoe's will stay, and good to hear from another satisfied patron. :)
 

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