Toronto L-Tower | 204.82m | 58s | Cityzen | Daniel Libeskind

[steveve]

These are of formwork on the water tank at level 60.

Steveve you must consider it an experience of a lifetime to have been in midtown during the biggest storm in the history of New York City. Not that it should evoke envy or anything like that but it is clearly historical. Sandy was a nasty girl.

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i'm guessing the water tank is to reduce sway in the building right?
and ya, aside from the fact that i was basically stranded, it was cool nonetheless, but Midtown didn't get anything compared to other hard hit areas. it appeared a lot worse on the news than it really was (save for lower manhattan)

and speaking of vacant lots, does anyone know what's happening to this lot?:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=60+har...onto+Division,+Ontario+M5J+1B7&gl=ca&t=h&z=19

it's pretty large in size and oddly right in the middle of the line of condos south of the gardiner.

 

[egotrippin]

I hear ya!

I never was a fan of single malt scotches, or a well aged medium rare porterhouse, or a vintage chateau bottled Bordeaux. These kinds of things in life were ridiculously overrated.
But when I eventually found myself in a position where I could comfortably afford these things on occasion, well,..you know...
They aint that bad!

Hah, I still can't really afford those things but I still buy and love them. Some things are worth the money, and hey you only live once! At this point I'd rather keep renting and have a killer wine and liquor collection than sacrifice my luxurious lifestyle to become a condo or home owner. That is until I strike it rich and can truly have it all.

One day... http://lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/lcbo/product/details.do?language=EN&itemNumber=209973

 

[mrezwayz]

Good to see there's still a little land left for about 12 more condos.

(Original Pic courtesy of SkyJacked)

on these triangled lands after gardiner, would be ten york by tridel and harbour plaza by menkes?? pretty much the views would be blocked should they go higher than 59 stories.

 

[milkycontent]

So clear from this picture that the Gardiner should be torn down and replaced with a "great street" on Lake Shore Blvd. This chunk of downtown could be so great, but I'm afraid it's going to be built wrong at ground level if it isn't pedestrian friendly. Right now, it is not.

 

[DarkSideDenizen]

So clear from this picture that the Gardiner should be torn down and replaced with a "great street" on Lake Shore Blvd. This chunk of downtown could be so great, but I'm afraid it's going to be built wrong at ground level if it isn't pedestrian friendly. Right now, it is not.

So, we're back once again to the old Gardiner argument... The hwy isn't going anywhere, at least not for many decades. It's a vital link to the core of the city and will remain so.

 

[mrezwayz]

So, we're back once again to the old Gardiner argument... The hwy isn't going anywhere, at least not for many decades. It's a vital link to the core of the city and will remain so.

you never know... the falling concrete and structure is getting old, it gets expensive to maintain further gardiner... it might be decided to tear down and become street with huge pedestrian friendly sidewalks. time will tell.

 

[ptbotrmpfn]

ahould have gone with that bridge they came up with a wile back with suspension and walking path and trains and highway all in one.

 

[cruzin4u]

ahould have gone with that bridge they came up with a wile back with suspension and walking path and trains and highway all in one.

Hooked on Phonics is having a special sale on their Hooked on Spelling program. Normally the price is $39.95, but they have reduced the price to $24.95. Use coupon code SAVE20 and the price drops to $19.96! ptbotrmpfn - Grab this deal here at Hooked on Phonics!

 

[milkycontent]

So, we're back once again to the old Gardiner argument... The hwy isn't going anywhere, at least not for many decades. It's a vital link to the core of the city and will remain so.

In my view, east of Exhibition Place, the Gardiner is a shortcut through the core that offers convenience to drivers from outside the city at the expense of a lively, pedestrian friendly high-rise neighbourhood between the train tracks and the lake, from Fort York to the Don River. It's not the elevated structure I object to so much as the mess of on- and off-ramps that result in very poor, sometimes dangerous, pedestrian connections for people walking to the lake from the north.

 

[hawc]

I agree that the frequent long on/off ramps are perhaps the worst thing about the gardiner downtown. Getting rid of some of those would help a little.

Also, it's nuts how much everything from Front & Spaina south to the lake has been geared towards one thing only getting vehicles on the Gardiner Westbound as easily as possible. Here we have CityPlace a community of 15,000 people right beside Spadina, yet if you want to walk down Spadina to the lake you have to run across an onramp each time. It's insane. And 'Pedestrians wait for gap' sometimes means you stand there for 5 minutes before you dash across the road. There's no other way. And coming back up the other side? Same thing dash across the Gardiner off ramp to Spadina. Pedestrians are absolutely made to feel like they shouldn't be there. Like trying to take Spadina down to the lake is the wrong thing to do. It's CRAZY!!!!!!!

Anyway, I digress...

 

[Jaguar4u]

In my view, east of Exhibition Place, the Gardiner is a shortcut through the core that offers convenience to drivers from outside the city at the expense of a lively, pedestrian friendly high-rise neighbourhood between the train tracks and the lake, from Fort York to the Don River. It's not the elevated structure I object to so much as the mess of on- and off-ramps that result in very poor, sometimes dangerous, pedestrian connections for people walking to the lake from the north.

The Gardner is a vital throughway and access to downtown, from east and west. Here to stay. The York St off ramp is coming down though and a nice park, the only one around that area, will be paid by all the developers building in the area. There will be two new PATH connections from Harbourfront to Union Station under the Gardner, but only after the new office towers are complete.

Three Condo towers, each over 70 floors have been approved by the city of Toronto today. Ten York and two by Menkes. Thankfully they are slim towers and will not obstruct the lake views too much. And just because they are approved does not mean they are starting construction anytime soon. They need to sell 75% first, and that could take a long time since so many condos are currently under construction. Three times as many condos are under construction in Toronto compared to New York. But, there are not as many office towers being built. The condo boom must slow down and allow more office towers to be completed before they can build more condos.

Toronto is Booming. But of all the new construction, current and proposed, I have not seen anything come close to L-Tower.

Thank-you Daniel Libeskind!!!!!

Thank-You John O'Keefe for believing!!!!

 

[AKS]

Three Condo towers, each over 70 floors have been approved by the city of Toronto today. Ten York and two by Menkes. Thankfully they are slim towers and will not obstruct the lake views too much. And just because they are approved does not mean they are starting construction anytime soon. They need to sell 75% first, and that could take a long time since so many condos are currently under construction. Three times as many condos are under construction in Toronto compared to New York. But, there are not as many office towers being built. The condo boom must slow down and allow more office towers to be completed before they can build more condos.

Umm, 10 York is not slim. It's wide.

 

[Jaguar4u]

Geez thanks for pointing that out. I would have never noticed how NARROW it is. The comment was a generalization of all three tall scraper condos. The Menkes ones are not as NARROW, they are more square, but small compared to older condo towers, hence the descriptive word SLIM in comparison. Ten York is very narrow from an east or west point of view. Not so bad from L-Tower. This post is after all about L-Tower, and I was replying to comments on this forum.

 

[Miscreant]

The Gardiner is essential to moving traffic through downtown east/west. But it's still an eyesore from hell and throttles the lower part of the city, and I'd pay more taxes to bury it, personally.

 

[milkycontent]

The Gardiner is essential to moving traffic through downtown east/west....

I reject this premise. Motorists would find new routes through the core to get to high volume inlets/outlets (DVP, Gardiner west of the ex). The ease of access to the city for drivers should not be a priority when building neighbourhoods. Having people wait at traffic lights to get out of downtown will not be the end of the world. That's my opinion.

There will be two new PATH connections from Harbourfront to Union Station under the Gardner, but only after the new office towers are complete.

PATH is nice but it doesn't compare to surface level public streets. PATH is operated by City of Toronto, but I don't like the weird pseudo-public/private nature of it. Nothing wrong with it per se, but I would prefer if we dedicated resources to improving the pedestrian realm at street level.

Basically, I think that emphasizing speed and convenience for people in cars, already the most convenient form of transport, over the safety and welcoming of pedestrians is a bad way to build a city. Out on the street is where all the excitement happens, where that special electricity sparks ideas and different types of people mix together. Right now, in the shadow of the Gardiner, that kind of electricity is absent. I predict that as more people move into offices and condos in this neighbourhood - including the L Tower* - and people want to get out of their office and walk around on their lunch hour, you'll hear more cries for the Gardiner to be torn down. We'll be better off if we do it sooner rather than later.

*(notice how skillfully I managed to keep this on topic?)