Toronto Bisha Hotel and Residences | 146.91m | 44s | Lifetime | Wallman Architects

I would be one of them. He has an incredible knack for it I think.

That's my preference at least.

He always seems to create a perfect balance between classy and chic.

Although I definitely see the Vegas influence in some of his spaces. Spice Route would be the most obvious example as it's clearly based on the Tao concept.

Classy and chic to some I assume...

We all have our preferences, but to me, his style reminds me of an expensive porno set, or a high end strip club. Gaudy and lacking any sort of contextual cohesion.. Just lots of expensive furniture and stone.. everywhere.
 
Then again, once again, those might wind up morphing into desirable "retro" qualities a few decades hence. Sort of like those "dated" 60s apartment lobbies are now so shagadelic...

Maybe that's it. "Shagadelic", 2010 style.
 
Then again, once again, those might wind up morphing into desirable "retro" qualities a few decades hence. Sort of like those "dated" 60s apartment lobbies are now so shagadelic...

Maybe that's it. "Shagadelic", 2010 style.

Very true, I love 60s retro apartments.. Maybe with time, this look will be accepted - or it could just end up like other similar movements from the 80s (which this belongs to) and make people throw up, even after 30 years.

Looking back at the interior lobby designs, it just reminds me somewhere a rapper would live, or shoot his videos.. Basically where people with no taste, and lots of money congregate... Kinda like his clubs!
 
Very true, I love 60s retro apartments.. Maybe with time, this look will be accepted - or it could just end up like other similar movements from the 80s (which this belongs to) and make people throw up, even after 30 years.

Looking back at the interior lobby designs, it just reminds me somewhere a rapper would live, or shoot his videos.. Basically where people with no taste, and lots of money congregate... Kinda like his clubs!

Except that...I suspect that you're even selling the potential draw of 80s "American Psycho" chic short.

And remember that I'm coming to this from the long away around, i.e. invoking the shagadelic 60s apartment lobby as what was perceived as *its* era's version of no-taste/lotsa-money. Like, Uno Prii was once considered the pits--and even to this day, you see his buildings manhandled (backed by "it's dated" alibis, natch) through insensitive balcony rail replacement, etc.

On the whole, I can see the overwrought "American Psycho" 80s acquiring more retro-cachet (however irony-based) than, say, the "Ralph Lauren" 80s. Sometimes, so-called "datedness" can be its own best saviour, in a way that self-conscious middlebrow "timelessness" cannot...
 
On the whole, I can see the overwrought "American Psycho" 80s acquiring more retro-cachet (however irony-based) than, say, the "Ralph Lauren" 80s. Sometimes, so-called "datedness" can be its own best saviour, in a way that self-conscious middlebrow "timelessness" cannot...

I'm all for datedness as an attractive quality - I trust it more than "timelessness", which seems to largely be a synonym for "thoughtlessness" or "blankness" or "hazy signifier for upper class taste." And these interiors may get the reassuring sheen of camp in about 30 years (as American Psycho interiors are accumulating). But they also seem too airless, too limp, too boring to achieve a campy allure. Some of the pieces look they were bought at Pier 1 or some middle-market home furnishings store? Not that this excludes them from camp, but there's a grain of hysteria that is lacking that would really push the decor into tacky-but-interesting territory for me. The painting has a bit of it, but it needs to be more strident, more confident, more something. It feels like hip-hop interiors done cheaply and conservatively. I'd prefer a more rococo hip-hop decor sensibility myself.
 
Site
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Im a bit confused...looking at that areal view, is that the future site of Bisha :confused: cause i thought there was also a proposal for a large condo development at that corner of King st.
 
Bisha will be built where its sales office is. Meanwhile, an application has been made to build a 40 storey tower on the site of the former M5V sales office at King & Blue Jays Way. The thread for that project is here.

42
 
Anything new on this? I was speaking to a cpl of brokers recently who say they think this project is not doing well. They heard 50% sold which probably means 25%. All those shared facilities and potential impact on condo fees withe hotel would scare me as a potential buyer.
 
Funny,
I thought this was the best selling project in the core at launch from what I had heard before.
I have no other comments.
What would scare me is that while Bisha may well make it as a 5 star hotel resort, it is a new name to the scene and that would worry me alot more than buying with an established 5 star brand.
 
What would scare me is that while Bisha may well make it as a 5 star hotel resort, it is a new name to the scene and that would worry me alot more than buying with an established 5 star brand.

Yeah, but then again you would be paying a lot more buying in to an established 5 star brand..hey at the end of the day you could be driving a porsche instead of a volkswagen.:)
 
Yeah, but then again you would be paying a lot more buying in to an established 5 star brand..hey at the end of the day you could be driving a porsche instead of a volkswagen.:)

Yes, you may. And that is the risk you take and the reason you stand to make a more handsome reward. If it pans out, and Bisha is a success, you make more on your return with higher returns than on established 5 star resorts. If it goes the way of 1 King West the opposite applies. I guess it depends on whether you feel their success in entertainment transcends into the 5 star luxury hotel market.
 
This thread was way in the back, looks like end of the year for start-up...some updated info from DCN......http://dcnonl.com/cgi-bin/top10.pl?...15cdcd4ff378&projectid=9115762&region=ontario

CONDOMINIUM, HOTEL BUILDING, RETAIL
Proj: 9115762-5
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON
NEGOTIATED/WORKING DRAWINGS

Bisha hotel & Residences, 56 Blue Jays Way, south of Queen St, M5V
$60,000,000 est
Start: January, 2012 Complete: June, 2013

Note:
Working drawings are underway. City council approvals for site plan and rezoning are in place. Owner anticipates starting site servicing by the end of 2011. Further update fall 2011.
www.bisha.com

Project:
cast-in-place concrete structural frame, fuel fired heating system, proposed construction of a mixed-use, hotel and condominium building. The project will be building on the site of the Diesel Playhouse Theatre at 56 Blue Jays Way, and will incorporate the original structure. Amenities will feature a 24-hour café, two restaurants, and a rooftop swimming pool.

Scope:
200,000 square feet; 42 storeys; 350 units
 

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