Toronto DUKE Condos | 25.91m | 7s | TAS | BDP Quadrangle

[ADRM]

A bunch from Sunday morn:

 

[MafaldaBoy]

19 December 2016:


DUKE by Jimmy Wu, on Flickr


DUKE by Jimmy Wu, on Flickr


DUKE by Jimmy Wu, on Flickr

 

[Adjei]

Beautiful

 

[AlbertC]

Whoa! Thanks for the update, this is looking very nice.

 

[innsertnamehere]

This is great. Really wish we could see way more midrise development across the city.

 

[ProjectEnd]

Until it becomes easier to propose and approve mid-rise in terms of a loosening by Planning of their demand that projects follow the Mid-Rise Guidelines to the letter (which is not how they were originally intended to be used and / or implemented), you're not going to see the explosion of mid-rise across the city that many would like. And with land values only increasing as current owners want to get their 'piece of the pie', I'd expect that new mid rise proposals will become fewer, not more.

For example, the three quotes below are taken from the 146-150 Laird Drive decision and illustrate precisely why it's so difficult and, unpalatable to propose mid-rise buildings in Toronto. Highly recommended reading for anyone questioning the importance of the OMB in the planning regime we currently have to deal with:

http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/e-decisions/pl150360-Oct-25-2016.pdf

 

[ADRM]

Until it becomes easier to propose and approve mid-rise in terms of a loosening by Planning of their demand that projects follow the Mid-Rise Guidelines to the letter (which is not how they were originally intended to be used and / or implemented), you're not going to see the explosion of mid-rise across the city that many would like. And with land values only increasing as current owners want to get their 'piece of the pie', I'd expect that new mid rise proposals will become fewer, not more.

For example, the three quotes below are taken from the 146-150 Laird Drive decision and illustrate precisely why it's so difficult and, unpalatable to propose mid-rise buildings in Toronto. Highly recommended reading for anyone questioning the importance of the OMB in the planning regime we currently have to deal with:

http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/e-decisions/pl150360-Oct-25-2016.pdf

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Bang on.

1) Long live the OMB (with some necessary reform that facilitates density as an end).
2) The other offshoot of our mid-rise guidelines is, somewhat counterintuitively, a chilling effect on better design -- if you follow the guidelines to a tee, you wind up almost by necessity with variations on a precise theme, leaving designers and developers with precious little room to break the mold.

 

[ProjectEnd]

Think, for example, of the two leading contenders in this years' poll: 383 Sorauren and Canary District. Neither follow the guidelines.

What's more, the original Mid Rise Guidelines consultant document was modified by planners who added things like the city-wide blanket 80% ROW setback and rear angular plane. These things are form-based and do not take into account the internal layout of a building which changes drastically from the excessively deep floors at the bottom to the non-functionally small ones at the top.

Interestingly for the thread we're in, a TAS employee was recently banned by Keesmaat on Twitter for politely suggesting that planners shouldn't be designing buildings...

 

[modernizt]

Even just the smallest pulling back of the glazing between retail units to delineate different storefronts would be welcome, but otherwise this one is looking pretty good. Totally flew under my radar.

 

[urbandreamer]

Proper English Ibstock Brick

Are you ready for your PDI?

 

[ProjectEnd]

Even just the smallest pulling back of the glazing between retail units to delineate different storefronts would be welcome, but otherwise this one is looking pretty good. Totally flew under my radar.

Not multiple storefronts. Only one retail unit here.

 

[ADRM]

Not multiple storefronts. Only one retail unit here.

Grocery store or not-yet-leased/announced?

 

[ProjectEnd]

Grocery store or not-yet-leased/announced?

Don't think the leasee wants it public yet. Shouldn't be long though.

 

[Tim1234]

This building looks good. Well done to everyone involved. Not easy to make good design decisions, execute properly, and make any money in the midrise development game.

 

[neuhaus]

The use of metal picket railings on many of the balconies is refreshing.
Nice to see that value engineering is not apparent here unlike most condos.