Toronto eCondos | 195.67m | 58s | Bazis | Rosario Varacalli

pw20 said:
I hope you were being facetious. 125 people in one rally does not a protest make. Anyone who has had to cross that plaza to and from their way to high schoool for five years would agree with me. Yonge and Eglinton is a wind tunnel.
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Yes, but humanity has not been conquered by wind tunnels. We are able to manage them. And public space at a major intersection is clearly desirable. I used to work here and more people used the plaza before RioCan ripped all the seating out.
 
I saw architect Roy Varacalli and a couple of other guys in the middle of the Yonge Eglinton Centre square this afternoon. They were pointing towards this site. Planning the new tower I imagine.
 
cubakid said:
Shopping? I've lived in the area for the last 14 years and there is not much for me to shop for here.
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Have you ever walked north of Eglinton? There is a pretty big shopping district up there.

The reason that the square at the NW corner is mostly empty is because there is nowhere to actually sit.
 
Ed007Toronto said:
I saw architect Roy Varacalli and a couple of other guys in the middle of the Yonge Eglinton Centre square this afternoon. They were pointing towards this site. Planning the new tower I imagine.
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Yes, RV is sketching the new tower.

What a terrible way to "plan" for one of TO's most important intersections. Shared among 3 councillors, 2 "planning" departments and 2 Community Councils, we're sure to see it become a small wonder when it could have been a big one. I remember the North District "Planning" Department lying low when Karen Stintz and RioCan wanted to build over the open space (so much for Secondary Plans, eh?) and how they couldn't come up with one reason why it should remain open. What a pathetic situation. We put good planning on the back burner and allow ignorant councillors and big property owners to make a hash of it.

RioCan did everything they could to destroy the plaza as they mustered their ally Karen Stintz and applied for planning permission to close it in. This is one of the worst cases of big property owners dictating good planning. It's an indication that we need a change of culture on Council. Stintz was seen later stumping with Miller in support of Transit City. There's a culture of vote exchange on Council that is not conducive to good planning. Rob Ford didn't like what he saw over the closing of open space at YE. Let's see what he does about it now that he's mayor.
 
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wopchop said:
The reason that the square at the NW corner is mostly empty is because there is nowhere to actually sit.
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They made quite a point of making the square feel unwelcome. I used to be a student at Northern Secondary around 2002. We would all go to the "public" square at yonge and eglinton to eat whatever we got in the food court for lunch. Most times security guards asked us to leave and they occasionally even went so far as to get physical with us. It seemed if you werent wearing a tie, holding a cigarette or a cell phone - you werent allowed to use the space. The end result was the security guards telling us we were only allowed to use the space between 12 and 12:45 pm or after 7pm on weekdays. they built a public square which in the end wasnt public...let alone even being square shaped (hah)
 
Ed007Toronto said:
I saw architect Roy Varacalli and a couple of other guys in the middle of the Yonge Eglinton Centre square this afternoon. They were pointing towards this site. Planning the new tower I imagine.
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what is the latest re: the talk of 57 stories? still in the cards?
 
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/1...er-condo-clash-brewing-at-young-and-eglinton/

Peter Kuitenbrouwer: Development battle brewing at Young and Eglinton

Peter Kuitenbrouwer Oct 19, 2011 – 7:00 AM ET

A consortium of developers has a plan to build two condo towers, one of them 60-storeys high, at the corner of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, and at first glance it appears North Toronto is girding for a new epic development battle, akin to the Minto Midtown melee that felled a sitting councillor eight years ago.

...This will not end up being taller than Minto. If the developers insist on going as far as they have proposed, they are going to have a fight on their hands.”
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In the opposite corner we have Ed Sonshine, the gum-chewing, pugnacious chief executive of RioCan, one of Canada’s largest shopping mall developers, whose firm owns 50% of a parcel of land assembled on the north-east corner of Yonge and Eglinton. (Metropia, controlled by developer Howard Sokolowski, owns 25% and Bazis, the Kazakhstan-based development company, owns the other 25%.)
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In 1968, in permitting the 30-storey tower above the Pickle Barrel, on the northwest corner, the City of Toronto insisted developers leave a square out front. The city neglected to acquire the square, though; it has remained an ugly, bench-free and lifeless place. Now RioCan, which owns it, plans to replace it with a three-storey shopping plaza, an idea the city blessed last year. (RioCan also plans to add seven storeys to one tower here and five storeys to the other.)
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RioCan, Bazis and Metropia have agreed with TD Canada Trust that it will sell them its site at Yonge and Eglinton in exchange for a marquee bank in the new tower on the northeast corner. They also own the Burger King site east of Yonge and, north of the corner, the site currently housing What-A-Bagel, Town Shoes and Black’s Camera.
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“We want two storeys of retail anchored by the TD Bank and two point towers, one sitting on top of TD. I was told by my guys it’s going to be 50 or 60 storeys, with a second tower on Roehampton.”
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He adds, “Any new development should work in concert with the new underground LRT and the Eglinton subway. I intend to see my residents be part of the design process for that. I am going to be organizing a meeting in the next couple of weeks. This is all pre-application: I want to make sure the representatives of all neighbourhood groups are engaged.”
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Excellent news. It would be nicer if there is an office component but this is the right spot to build taller (even more so than the Minto site)

AoD
 
Nope, I think you overestimated my knowledge. I will be combing for city reports when the time comes, but forumers are pretty good at that in general; others have connections that might lead to additional news.

AoD
 
I wonder if, with the loss of the plaza at the northwest corner, if there will be a push for a large at-grade public space for this project, especially since RioCan is the major partner of both locations.
 
Not much room on the north east corner for a larger plaza. And would it make sense to remove a plaza on one corner just to add one to another corner?
 
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