Toronto HighPark Condominiums | ?m | 14s | Daniels | Diamond Schmitt

urbandreamer, can you keep your designs in their own thread in the Renderings section, please?
 
Travis:

re: Mexico - sexy, like! I would change the material to red brick to fit in with Toronto's vernacular better.

AoD
 
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Looks like the sales office for the project is getting ready to open. I passed by it on my way home and it's pretty far from the site. The office is located adjacent to the Runnymede Library branch (just east of Runnymede Rd/Stn). Not sure if the project got it's approval at the OMB - but really, that usually doesn't stop a launch. Curious to see what, if any, changes were made after all the meetings and consultations.

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The dataBase page has been updated with the official marketing rendering, and with new info about the project.
 
I have a bird's eye view of the project whenever construction starts.

Some seasonal views from 2012...

A wintery morning back in March when the houses still existed:

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A summer rainbow that lands almost right in the site (I think this is a sign of good luck):

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An autumn rainbow in the city. High Park Condominiums are directly south of the apartment building on the right:

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Autumn colours in High Park:

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If you've read Joe Fiorito's story in the Star today about this project, well, I've got a story too.

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July 7th

Now Under Construction

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If you've read Joe Fiorito's story in the Star today about this project, well, I've got a story too.

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The issue here is the trees?! Is the destruction of an entire block of heritage era houses lining this important thoroughfare not an issue for anyone? Not only are those old buildings part of the charm and character of that stretch of Bloor Street, they are structures that represent the history of our city. And now they are permanently deleted from the landscape - and for what purpose? So a bunch of developers can make even more money while condescendingly telling us they are improving the city with the generic structures they are building in their place? It's an absolute disgrace.

I don't think much of the article telling me how beneficent the people at Daniels Corporation are for changing the cladding and moving a few trees around.....or, for that matter, that "Bloor Street across from High Park would seem an obvious place to build a condo". No it wouldn't! Not if you have to destroy something that has value to the city in order to build it there! What kind of selective reasoning is that?

Presumably it's now only a matter of time before all of the original structures between Keele and High Park Blvd. - perhaps all the way west to Clendenan Ave, are bought up and demolished to make way for similar projects. And what was once a charming, character filled stretch of old Toronto will be gone, replaced with yet another stretch of generic blandness that could be anywhere and therefore nowhere. All brought to you by Daniels Corporation.
 
Cities evolve. Some areas don't change, but stretches along main streets, especially those served by rapid transit, are bound to change. The provincial government has mandated that Toronto intensify, so this is exactly the type of location that makes perfect sense for that.

That said, I don't like seeing lovely old homes come down either, but their owners have a choice of whether or not to sell, and to whom. These properties were assembled over a long period, longer than a decade I think, and not by Daniels. Any developer would jump at the chance to redevelop assembled land like this, Daniels were the ones that got it.

In regards to "it's now only a matter of time before all of the original structures between Keele and High Park Blvd. - perhaps all the way west to Clendenan Ave, are bought up and demolished to make way for similar projects", well, most of the rest of Bloor Street is zoned as a neighbourhood on this stretch. This site had apartment neighbourhood zoning on it. It would not be easy for anything big to be approved in the neighbourhood zones.

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Agreed! WJ Properties still owns the site (and assembled the original homes that were turned in rental apts) while Daniels is a co-developer brought in a few years ago.

I'm happy about this project because it will mostly cover up the crappy WJ Properties rental building directly to the north.

This is still very much a charming corner of Toronto...a few new condo buildings isn't going to change this. In fact, why shouldn't more people get to live there? The 1960's saw homes demolished to make way for high rise rental apts...most of them still very well kept (Minto!) and it`s a successful mixed-income neighbourhood today with vibrant retail and streetscape in Bloor West Village.
 

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