Well of course it was a blank slate - the site was empty and disused before it was revived, and there were any number of possible ways to develop it. You claim that the towers will "stand out from their context" but they're an integral part of that new context. As you indicate, new developments change context by adding to what already exists - they're not brewing spirits there any more, the old buildings are being reused in new ways, and new structures with new uses are being added.
Putting up three point towers that are similar to other aA point towers visible on the horizon, and similar to the work of other neo-Modernist architects designing condo towers around town, is about expanding what exists. Spectacle - on that highrise scale - would be more like the 'L' tower or 'Marilyn' standing out against the existing context that is being established by our local Toronto Style architects now that developer-culture Cheddingtonista-style is being pushed back to stubborn pockets in Forest Hill, The Bridle Path, and the wild and ungovernable McMansion territories in 905-land to the north of the civilised world.