Toronto 550 Wellington West and 1 Hotel | ?m | 15s | Freed | a—A

Bentley said:
Anyone have a basic idea how much more that curtain wall costs to build as opposed to the traditional glass used for the rest of the building?

It looks so good, kinda makes you wonder why more residential projects haven't used it.
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It looks better because it's the hotel portion of the building, and hotel rooms don't require balconies or washer/dryer exhaust vents, so it's basically an all-glass curtain wall like you'd see on an office tower.
 
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grey said:
It looks better because it's the hotel portion of the building, and hotel rooms don't require balconies or washer/dryer exhaust vents, so it's basically an all-glass curtain wall like you'd see on an office tower.
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You can still incorporate vents and balconies with a curtain wall. You could have lanai balconies which would certainly maintain the curtain wall. And I'm sure there are creative ways to incorporate any exhaust vents into the wall.

The Florian condo is utilizing the technology and this article mentions it's only able to do it because high end is the only place those costs can be absorbed by the consumer. The four seasons residences will incorporate it, and so will 77 Charles St W. So the quesiton sitll remains, how much more does it cost? What is the purchase cost necessary to be able to get into curtain wall designs? 600/sf, 700/sf, 800/sf? I believe the 3 projects I listed are all nearly 1000/sf and up.

http://www.thestar.com/article/280592
 
Bentley said:
You can still incorporate vents and balconies with a curtain wall. You could have lanai balconies which would certainly maintain the curtain wall. And I'm sure there are creative ways to incorporate any exhaust vents into the wall.

The Florian condo is utilizing the technology and this article mentions it's only able to do it because high end is the only place those costs can be absorbed by the consumer. The four seasons residences will incorporate it, and so will 77 Charles St W. So the quesiton sitll remains, how much more does it cost? What is the purchase cost necessary to be able to get into curtain wall designs? 600/sf, 700/sf, 800/sf? I believe the 3 projects I listed are all nearly 1000/sf and up.

http://www.thestar.com/article/280592
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I don't know, but I wish the cost wasn't so prohibitive, because the gray aluminum spandrel treatment is going to give a lot of modern condos really ugly curtainwalls. Boutique is one example.
 
condovo said:
Looks way better in photos than in life. Take a walk in the 'hood and see for yourself. The fit-and-finish of those new buildings is pretty terrible.
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Which ones?

66 Portland and 20 Stewart create an exemplary streetwall. Finishes are fine there.

550 Wellington is turning out great so far... The glass is top notch.

75 Portland is only a few stories high right now, but indications are that it'll be just as nice.

That's all of Freed's visible projects in the photo.
 
grey said:
Which ones?

66 Portland and 20 Stewart create an exemplary streetwall. Finishes are fine there.

550 Wellington is turning out great so far... The glass is top notch.

75 Portland is only a few stories high right now, but indications are that it'll be just as nice.

That's all of Freed's visible projects in the photo.
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I'm not entirely sure which building is which and I'm not only faulting the Freed buildings. 66 Portland and 20 Stewart do create a nice street-wall. Agreed. But I'm not crazy about how they're put together at closer inspection. Zed by TAS is a joke. 60 Loft by Sorbara(?) is not far behind. 'Loft' seems to be code for developers to use the meanest finishes or no finishes at all on their buildings. I think the worst offender is the building immediately to the north of the park at the lower-right of the photo by Leviev Boymelgreen. Looks decent from afar and the idea of it commendable. But, man, does it ever look awful up close. All concrete, precast, and crappy Home Depot-looking paving 'stones.' And only a few years post-completion, it's literally falling apart. You can even see the rust seeping through the precast paneling in the pic. Don't trust photos of buildings alone, folks. Go out and see the buildings up close and in person. Sorry for marking up your fine pic, Marcdn.
 
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The building you're pointing at is Fifty on the Park, a rental building that Freed had nothing to do with, but I agree that the finishes are substandard. It was completed in 2005, before the Freed buzz settled into central King West (I'm referring to the influx of million-dollar luxury condos and trendy architecture).

Also, if you were trying to point at "rust" in the pic, that's actually an advertisement on the side of the building.

http://www.tobuilt.ca/php/tobuildings_more.php?search_fd0=3185
 
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condovo said:
Looks way better in photos than in life. Take a walk in the 'hood and see for yourself. The fit-and-finish of those new buildings is pretty terrible.
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I couldn't disagree more ... I urge everyone to walk around the park you see in the picture (the park isn't in best shape) but the new buildings do a wonderful job framing it. If you're referring to that one older building that o.k. (but there are many worse buildings in this city then that).
 
I've scrolled through about 10 pages but I can't seem to find out about the park. Is it right that the park is being refurbished as part of this hotel/condo project? I hope so. This is another park that has lots of potential.
 
Tewder said:
I've scrolled through about 10 pages but I can't seem to find out about the park. Is it right that the park is being refurbished as part of this hotel/condo project? I hope so. This is another park that has lots of potential.
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When I walked by the park during the winter it looked as if some construction was going on ... minor though.
 
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