Toronto Artists' Alley | 121.91m | 39s | Lanterra | Hariri Pontarini

[interchange42]

Unfortunately, it looks like the design has changed, for the worse. The office tower looks much clunkier and less graceful with the removal of the rounded corners and alteration to the metal, vertical fins.

There is no office tower, both towers and the slab are residential. There is retail on the ground floor of all buildings, and the south tower has four storeys of office in the podium.

Agreed that this has been value engineered to a point where much of the thrill is gone.

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This post is courtesy of The Cheapening™, coming to a development near you.

 

[The Rover]

There is no office tower, both towers and the slab are residential. There is retail on the ground floor of all buildings, and the south tower has four storeys of office in the podium.

Agreed that this has been value engineered to a point where much of the thrill is gone.

42

This post is courtesy of The Cheapening™, coming to a development near you.

My mistake re the office tower comment. Thanks for the correction.

This is a big disappointment, nonetheless. Along with The Well (whose residential towers have also lost their flair [I realize that the architect changed, there]), this was my most anticipated project that is about to get underway. Much of that excitement is now gone. It just goes to show that we shouldn’t get our hopes up until a project’s design is finalized and ready to be built.

 

[Amare]

Props to Lanterra for always new finding ways to water down a project. If this isn't the final rendering, things will only get worse mark my words.

 

[ShonTron]

All the trees have been removed, and interior demolition is well underway. It took a long time for that to get going. Structural demolition should start soon.

 

[isaidso]

Why do they even bother making renderings and why do we bother looking at them? If they're fabulous there's no way that they're going to build it.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Why do they even bother making renderings and why do we bother looking at them? If they're fabulous there's no way that they're going to build it.

My take is the developers have good intentions, but after most proposals sit around for 3-5 years @ City Planning economics change and they just want to get it done either way

 

[bilked]

Demo well underway

 

[PMT]

 

[Automation Gallery]

Finally a breath of fresh air in such a derelict pocket of downtown

 

[stjames2queenwest]

I am not sure that we have the same understanding of derelict, but yes a nice bit of freshness.

 

[ushahid]

^I think he is talking about the public realm that this project is bringing to the area. tbh that area around the current parking looks boring.

 

[Automation Gallery]

^I think he is talking about the public realm that this project is bringing to the area. tbh that area around the parking looks boring.

Yup now you're talking, nice design, retail, foot traffic, etc....whats there not to like

 

[agoraflaneur]

I used to work in a building on University. This will be a massive breath of fresh air injected into the area. Not only is it currently 'boring' and a little run down, but Simcoe is also disjointed and not planned to be a primary street. A number of the buildings treat it more like a service street. The area south of the US consulate is nice - Canada Life is a gem - but the parking garage and the lot this proposal is on make it feel unresolved. Unfortunately, the police station plays a large role and that won't change. And, frankly, St. Patrick doesn't feel that much better.

But, this project should help to tie things together and make it feel more coherent while injecting some nice architecture and what looks like a good public realm into the area. To my eye, it's one of the better projects either proposed or underway in the city (though to be fair, there are a number of great projects on the books right now - I believe the most since I moved here in 2008). Exciting.

 

[Koops65]

 

[ProjectEnd]