Light
Active Member
Do you know if USD875MM included land acquisition? Land's cheaper in Toronto.
Very excited about these two towers; will definitely raise Toronto's profile on the international architecture landscape.
Toronto Forma | 308m | 84s | Great Gulf | Gehry Partners
- Thread starter golodhendil
- Start date
Do you know if USD875MM included land acquisition? Land's cheaper in Toronto.
Very excited about these two towers; will definitely raise Toronto's profile on the international architecture landscape.
alklay
Senior Member
I am the last one on this board to start talk like this and I usually shake my head at those who spread rumours based on their own wild imaginations, but I just do not understand the delay in launching this project. Yes, plans have to be drawn up, approvals obtained and this is both a big and unique project, but I have observed other projects on this site for years, and I have never seen a delay like this, without it meaning something bad.
There has been a constant drip of publicity for this project, but with no launch date ever announced, it appears to be just for the sake of stringing us all along. It has been years since this project was approved: I would have thought they would have soon launched the project and finalised the details while the sales were proceeding - like every other project. Even if they did not want to proceed in that manner, I have yet to hear anything to account for years of delay in even launching sales.
I hope I am wrong and I am sure there will be many posts pointing out that this is a "unique" project, etc. But it does not take three years to draw up plans good enough to sell some units.
There has been a constant drip of publicity for this project, but with no launch date ever announced, it appears to be just for the sake of stringing us all along. It has been years since this project was approved: I would have thought they would have soon launched the project and finalised the details while the sales were proceeding - like every other project. Even if they did not want to proceed in that manner, I have yet to hear anything to account for years of delay in even launching sales.
I hope I am wrong and I am sure there will be many posts pointing out that this is a "unique" project, etc. But it does not take three years to draw up plans good enough to sell some units.
It has never occurred to me that they would change the name of this for marketing purposes. You might think that Mirvish and Gehry are difficult names to say, but they are both very marketable in this city, with one of them being highly marketable world-wide.
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maestro
Senior Member
Mirvish is a household name but, does that make it marketable for selling condos?
freshcutgrass
Senior Member
The 1 acre site (parking lot) was purchased in 2003 for $87.75 million. It probably is included in the overall cost, but even factoring that in, it can be offset comparing Mirvish-Gehry by factoring in inflation. Another difference is that MG will have much bigger excavation costs, as it will be 5 floors down and 666 spaces compared to 8 Spruce's 175 spaces.
freshcutgrass
Senior Member
I am not really surprised sales hasn't started. Nailing down costs will be incredibly crucial in this project. 8 Spruce was about 8 years total timeline and had big cost overruns. 8 Spruce is a rental, so they could absorb that by adjusting their rental prices upon completion. Can't do that here, as these are condos with pre-construction pricing.
It certainly does as part of the moniker Mirvish+Gehry. The building is not just called Mirvish.
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Considering how well TIFF helped sell the Cinema Tower I can't see how Mirvish wouldn't be a plus. And throw in the location vis-a-vis the two Mirvish King Street theatres and you have another big plus.
maestro
Senior Member
Of course. I'm sure John+Gehry would do just as well. His name adds something but, it's probably negligible in selling 1600 units (?)
TIFF is just a little more recognizable than Mirvish. Daniels also incredible experience and connections to sell just about anything. I'm sure the design, height and name of architect will garner attention and probably produce a sizable percentage of sales. It's the other, much larger amount, that will be difficult. (and then there's financing each of the massive builds) Let's face it Projectcore Inc. sounds awesome but, it's all Mirvish and few real estate transactions he has made over the years. He's not going to get the best people on the job no matter who he hires to do it. He needs partners in every aspect of real estate development to pull it off and there's no indication he has produced any yet.
ADRM
Senior Member
Keep in mind that there are costs and resources associated with every step of the various marketing and sales endeavours I think you've referred to"stringing us along." Developers aren't often in the habit of wasting money, so the fact that they are going to that effort, I would suggest, is better news than complete radio silence.
The fact is that this is a big, complicated project for many reasons, in terms of planning, engineering, design, and cost, to name a few. I really don't find it surprising we are where we are and don't take it as indicative of much other than reality.
They do need partners because of the size and scale of this project, but if you don't think that Mirvish has been able to attract some top notch people to work directly on this, well… huh? You don't put up a Gehry with amateurs.
Meanwhile, I simply disagree with you regarding the marketability of the name Mirvish in this town. (Meanwhile, the towers are at King and Duncan, not John, and both the names John (sorry to John D, Jon E, John O, John P, John S, John SII, John W) and even Duncan (sorry to Duncan C, Duncan H, Duncan McA, etc.) are too generic to make a name like Duncan+Gehry as interesting as Mirvish+Gehry. No idea what you've got against the marketing name Mr. Dan.
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WislaHD
Superstar
Anyone think that the number of bycicle spaces is a little on the low-end?
There is a 1:1 ratio for bycicle space to residential units here. My feelings are that especially for downtown, there will be more than 1 bycicle per unit.
There is a 1:1 ratio for bycicle space to residential units here. My feelings are that especially for downtown, there will be more than 1 bycicle per unit.
I agree that that fairly newly established requirement will be found to be inadequate soon! (What makes me even crazier is that as you get away from downtown, the required number of bike spaces drops. It should be the same number across the city, and probably 2 per unit.)
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maestro
Senior Member
You misread. I have nothing against the name. I simply don't find Mirvish as marketable in selling condos as some here suggest. Of course you don't hire an amateur building engineer with a Gehry design First, I wasn't talking at all about the engineering and construction . Second, nothing has been built as of yet either. Third, I was referencing John as in John Doe.
Fourth, none of that was clear. Time for a smiley: 
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