Toronto Dundas Square Gardens | 156.05m | 50s | Gupta | IBI Group

And yet that very scenario amounts to a dreadfully lame sameness - a stalemate situation involving a tight clutch of sterile offshore chains offering a limited range of goods predicated on mass-market predictability, momentary trendiness and bankability. Yuck. Where's the personality in that? Sounds like a terribly bland numbers game. Are cities really built on such cold calculations alone?
 
Apparently the hotel closed January 1, 2016. This is the first night the roof signage isn't lit up, though.

What does concern me is loss of 2 1/2 and 3-star mid-market hotel rooms downtown. The Best Western Primrose (now private student housing), the Hilton Garden, probably the 1590-room Chelsea, even the Marriott Courtyard on Yonge. They're attractive to tourists, families, school and sports groups.

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ShonTron said:
Apparently the hotel closed January 1, 2016. This is the first night the roof signage isn't lit up, though.

What does concern me is loss of 2 1/2 and 3-star mid-market hotel rooms downtown. The Best Western Primrose (now private student housing), the Hilton Garden, probably the 1590-room Chelsea, even the Marriott Courtyard on Yonge. They're attractive to tourists, families, school and sports groups.

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Also the Grand Hotel, had suites good for families and extended stays. Toronto is lacking hotel rooms in general. Why does a city this size have so few hotels ?? I guess our tourist and convention numbers aren't as high as the big American cities like Chicago, Boston, Philly NYC...etc.
 
I'm surprised they would tear down a hotel like this to build a condo when there's so many small, plain buildings and parking lots around.
 
Worse than plain, I consider that one of the most distinctly ugly buildings in the city. Can't wait to see its embodied energy disembodied.

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definitely in agreement that this is no loss, but the renders for the new tower aren't the nicest either. Hope it turns out better than depicted. Maybe a bit more contrast in the exterior finishes.

question, does anyone know what is planned for this below grade? Are they excavating? Will they build off of what is existing? I believe this currently has underground parking levels.
 
I can't imagine that they would use the existing foundation and garage: this is such a large redevelopment, and so much time has passed since the existing was built that there must be different needs below ground level. The new building will have a 5-storey garage.

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Transportfan said:
You know what I mean. That's the overwhelming tendency.
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So is your question really something like "Why aren't the owners of the relatively easy to redevelop nearby surface parking lots redeveloping them, when those who own already developed lots like this one are taking the extra trouble to demolish existing buildings for their grand schemes?"

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