Toronto 619 Yonge | 237.99m | 70s | YI Developments | Core Architects

What will happen 619-623 Yonge st? http://goo.gl/maps/XD2rZ

These are the soullest ugly buildings that shouldn't have ever existed on Yonge, or any part of downtown in the first place. Love the two buildings to their south though. If all buildings on Yonge look like those at 4-5 storeys high, I would never want them to be replaced with 40 storey towes.
 
What will happen 619-623 Yonge st? http://goo.gl/maps/XD2rZ

These are the soullest ugly buildings that shouldn't have ever existed on Yonge, or any part of downtown in the first place. Love the two buildings to their south though. If all buildings on Yonge look like those at 4-5 storeys high, I would never want them to be replaced with 40 storey towes.

Not just one but multiple 'soullest, ugly' 40 storey Toews? Terrifying - he'll be able to see everything!

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Not just one but multiple 'soullest, ugly' 40 storey Toews? Terrifying - he'll be able to see everything!

Oh no, they say he's got to go, GO GO TOEWZILLA!

7kSVO.jpg


Afraid yet?
 
No, I am not that person you were referring to.
Not everyone who holds a different view from yours has an evil agenda...

Honestly, most members here participate in the discussion because they care about the city, albeit with often quite different approaches. Please stop acting superior and trying to muffle different voices.

For me specifically, I don't have an anti-heritage agenda. I am just tired of the low rise dominance in areas within and near the core. Low rise means the city has to sprawl bigger for the same number of people, which makes providing services and infrastructure increasingly difficult and costly. My ideal Toronto will be a downtown core which is primarily highrises (15-50 stories) and a midtown including east and west areas close to downtown mostly middle rises (above 4 stories). The suburbs can be low rise but people who choose to live there need to pay for their fair share of transit costs (pay more for taking a 60 minutes subway ride than a 6 minute one).

Now we see a massive supply of highrises in the core, a trend which should be celebrate, not to frown upon. Yes there is infrastructure problem but it is futile to wait. The city will realise the need to upgrade soon enough. A denser downtown means a more efficient and vibrant downtown, isn't it what we all wanted? With more residents, we shouldn't worry about the lack of amenities. Business will follow as soon as they smell the money.

As to heritage preservation, the issue is how to define what is heritage. Are all 2 story buildings built prior to 1950 automatically classified as "heritage"? Some seem to think so. We have to look at these on a case by case basis. In most cases, replacing a few 3 story houses occupied by 15 people with a 30 story tower which will serve as home for 200 in the core is totally worth it and makes sense, even when the tower itself is mediocre.

A case in point is Bathurst St north of Queen. Being literally a downtown street, it looks like a complete suburb, lined with nothing but two story homogeneous houses all the way to Bloor and beyond (and they are not as grand as many on Jarvis, which are indisputable heritage). I think it is a huge waste of space. Maybe you think they are heritage as well but I just don't see it that way. I would rather have all midrise apartment buildings ranging from 6 to 12 stories allowing a lot more people to be able to live to close to the core rather than this boring stretch of houses serving nobody but a couple hundred privileged who happen to inherit the house from their parents.

IMO areas built before 1950 work fine. They are vibrant not solely because there's many people living there, but rather their fine-grained built form that could very much easily be wiped out with massive redevelopment. I would leave them as-is in most cases- carefully intensifying streets where necessary and redeveloping certain underutilized parcels of land. Instead, the bulk of mass intensification should occur in the Old Metro suburbs- Etobicoke, Scarborough and North York.
 
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IMO areas built before 1950 work fine. They are vibrant not solely because there's many people living there, but rather their fine-grained built form that could very much easily be wiped out with massive redevelopment. I would leave them as-is in most cases- carefully intensifying streets where necessary and redeveloping certain underutilized parcels of land. Instead, the bulk of mass intensification should occur in the Old Metro suburbs- Etobicoke, Scarborough and North York.

unfortunately people don't want to live in etobicoke, scarborough, or North York. They want to live closer to the core, if the supply is there and price is reasonable. Do you prefer living at Avenue Road/St Clair or Keele/Finch, if the price is the same?

For Toronto, the lower the percentage of people in Etobicoke, Scarborough, or North York, the better. I wish those suburbs will gradually become less and less desirable and become extinct. We need a more compact city where everyone lives closer to where they usually go, not the majority living in outter suburbs who rush to the centre at the same time everyday.
 
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What will happen 619-623 Yonge st? http://goo.gl/maps/XD2rZ

These are the soullest ugly buildings that shouldn't have ever existed on Yonge, or any part of downtown in the first place.

If you're talking about the existing buildings on site--well, I (yeah, so-called heritage-dogmatist me) can understand how they might be deemed undistinguished and dispensible. But when it comes to the statement I highlighted: sheesh, talk about overreaching (and ahistorical, to boot--and I don't mean in the "heritage" sense, either) in one's urban judgment. It's like "Hey, look at me! Me big architectural critic! Me make powerful statement on bad buildings!"

Borat-enciaga strikes again.
 
unfortunately people don't want to live in etobicoke, scarborough, or North York. They want to live closer to the core, if the supply is there and price is reasonable. Do you prefer living at Avenue Road/St Clair or Keele/Finch, if the price is the same?

For Toronto, the lower the percentage of people in Etobicoke, Scarborough, or North York, the better. I wish those suburbs will gradually become less and less desirable and become extinct. We need a more compact city where everyone lives closer to where they usually go, not the majority living in outter suburbs who rush to the centre at the same time everyday.

Why don't we redevelop parts of the suburbs and make them as desirable as downtown Toronto, instead forcing development in downtown Toronto only? We should allow the area considered as 'urban' to expand and replace the 'suburban'- and that's why there are policies (e.g. the Avenues Growth Plan) that are intended to do so.

If you're talking about the existing buildings on site--well, I (yeah, so-called heritage-dogmatist me) can understand how they might be deemed undistinguished and dispensible. But when it comes to the statement I highlighted: sheesh, talk about overreaching (and ahistorical, to boot--and I don't mean in the "heritage" sense, either) in one's urban judgment. It's like "Hey, look at me! Me big architectural critic! Me make powerful statement on bad buildings!"

Borat-enciaga strikes again.

Less rhetoric please.
 
What an atrocious attempt at podium designing. Definitely little thought went into creating potential for a vibrant streetscape. Despite their experience, Page + Steele really haven't proven to be capable of designing new buildings that can thrive in the urban environment. I'm not even going to start on the tower. Too bad the owners here did not collaborate with the owners of the 8 Gloucester development and also go with combined HP composition.
 
Toronto and East York Community Council consideration on January 22, 2013
Committee Room 1, City Hall
Preliminary Report - 625, 629 and 637 Yonge Street and 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 Isabella Street - Zoning By-law Amendment (Ward 27)

Origin
(December 5, 2012) Report from the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District

Recommendations
The City Planning Division recommends that:

1. Staff be directed to schedule a community consultation meeting for the lands at 625, 629 and 637 Yonge Street and 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 Isabella Street together with the Ward Councillor.

2. Notice for the community consultation meeting be given to landowners and residents within 120 metres of the site.

3. Notice for the public meeting under the Planning Act be given according to the regulations under the Planning Act.

Summary
This application proposes to amend the Zoning By-law to permit a mixed-use development consisting of a 40-storey building, including a 4-storey podium. There would be a total gross floor area of approximately 25,965 sq.m. with 326 residential units on the upper thirty six floors and 1,400 sq.m. of retail space and 1,630 sq.m. of office space within the podium portion.

The tower proposal as submitted is not supportable. Among other matters, staff recommend that additional lands to the south be incorporated into the proposal to permit tall building performance standards to be met. This can be achieved by acquiring additional lands or submitting a joint zoning by-law amendment application.

This report provides preliminary information on the above-noted application and seeks Community Council's directions on further processing of the application and on the community consultation process.

The next step is to conduct a community consultation meeting for the public to review the application and provide feedback. The subject site is also within the study area for the North Downtown Yonge Street Planning Framework which will be reported out in the first quarter of 2013. A Final Report on the application is targeted for the third quarter of 2013, provided that the issues raised in this report and through the review of the application are satisfactorily resolved, and that any requested information and revised application is submitted by the applicant in a timely manner.

Financial Impact
The recommendations in this report have no financial impact.

Background Information
(December 5, 2012) Report from the Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District - 625, 629 and 637 Yonge Street and 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 Isabella Street - Zoning By-law Amendment - Preliminary Report
(http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-54054.pdf
 
Finally some action on this hideous stretch of Yonge. Yes, yes, I'm an insane, right wing lunatic for wanting the "destruction" (development) of this crap retail strip some of you are calling part of our city's "heritage." It's going to be interesting for the next generation with suburbs and low end retailer structures making the transition to "heritage" as they cross the 50 year old threshold some members are using as a criteria of inclusion.
 
Well, at least he's not referring to the E.J. Lennox stretch across the street.

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Though given how DtTO think's Trump's better than Osgoode Hall and University College and Union Station, maybe even that kind of philistinism wouldn't be beneath him...
 
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