Toronto Liberty Place | ?m | 32s | CanAlfa | IBI Group

luxome ... here's the answers to your questions ~

Solaris said:
here's the Liberty Village masterplan again, and Liberty Place is located at Block 7 on this plan:

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Solaris said:
  • block 5 is Liberty on the Park condo
  • block 6 is The Tower @ King West condo as you have noted
  • block 7 is the recently announced Liberty Place condo
  • block 8 is the CanAlfa sales office, which occupies an old factory building which should be here to stay, perhaps it would be converted to commercial uses in the future but I'm not certain, I do wonder if it has a heritage designation on it
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some info on Liberty Place:

  • 29 storeys
  • 17 suites per typical floor
  • 3 two-level lofts on each even # floor (between 6-23) located at southwest portion of building
  • typical studio, 1B, 1B+D, 2B, 2B+D suites range from 395 sq.ft. to 870 sq.ft.
  • signature 2B+D suite @ 1,260 sq.ft. occupying western 'tip' of building on floors 24-29

seems like an interesting shaped building ~ :cool:

Building Floorplate:
LibertyPlace_floorplate.jpg
 
It's not like the city planners didn't envision a flatiron here; they included a really solid rendering of one in the Liberty Village masterplan document. How the developers were able to build such a liberal interpretation of desired built form and massing described in the masterplan really needs to be scrutinized. The City seems to have no ability to provide incentives or force developers to actually adhere to the density/aesthetics of the plan. On the surface, it seems like nothing in the masterplan really matters as long as the developers fulfil the quantative aspects, like density requirements and distance from the sidewalk. If the design guidelines are so loose, why bother to include proposed neighbourhood renderings at all? Why not just a plain street layout map and a data table filled with raw statistics? Is this stuff included to appease the existing residents of the ward so that they don't come to variance meetings and vote down development proposals?

The East Bayfront and Donlands projects we've seen so far are fantastic and actually reflect the spirit of the masterplan. So, what changes have taken place between Liberty Village and the West Donlands? Have certain City departments been given more power? Is the masterplan more comprehensive? Was it because bids from several developers were considered instead of a single developer? What guarantee do we have that the majority of that neighbourhood and future neighbourhoods won't turn out like Liberty Village?
 
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Apples and Oranges. West Donlands/East Bayfront is publicly owned land. Waterfront Toronto in charge of the land is co-developer. The city wields a helluva lot of power here.

The towers being built in Liberty Village aren't by any means architecturally inferior to the subsitutes used in the masterplan documents. The flatiron was generic Kirkor,etc. despite the curtainwall, cone shaped nose.
 
Somehow the placeholders in the masterplan didn't evoke 1980s Markham/Richmond Hill quite like what Monarch and CanAlfa have built, despite numberous references to DUMBO, SoMa, and Rotterdam. The finished product seems to completely miss the point, but maybe it's too soon to judge it?

Taking a close look at the actual plan, the built form so far actually doesn't look so far off from the document. Maybe it's a combination of the low quality of materials and the large unbuilt windswept swaths of land, but it feels a long, vehicle-oriented way off from this:

libertytoronto.jpg
 
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Amen, Grey. It's Markham-on-Gardiner down here.

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I think that as LV gets built up, you'll see it resemble the above pic and the master plan much more accurately. If anything, it's the fact that at least 3 different developers (Monarch, CanAlfa, and Plazacorp) are in one area that contributes to the confusion. When developing the master plan, it's one person's or group's idea so all the building are coherent with each other. The view above is looking east on east liberty and once Liberty Place, Liberty on the Park and King West Condo's are built, it will look much more dense. I do think that a general poor use of building materials is a problem however. It still needs another 5-7 years to be able to judge it properly. It also needs some retail on the western end to anchor it.
 
this neighbourhood better be good! lol.

i think all we need here is more media attention in this neighbourhood to shape the way public sees this neighbourhood...
 
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I walked around this neighbourhood today. It is bleak, the architecture is appalling! I will say the black brick condo under construction (bliss?) is a huge step in the right direction though--but why does it need the silly hat? I think this flat iron building is a step backward. Something like Lamb's Flat Iron would've been better.
 
The orginal design for the neighborhood didn't dictate the quality of materials or the particular design.

I'm not sure why you all think it's far off base from the pictures posted above (I'm not saying it's good or bad), there's a lot of land left to be developed and I think it'll turn out to be pretty close to the picture above (again, not saying that's good or bad).
 
does anyone know if the current sales office will ever be built over as a condo tower? or will it remain like this for a long time because it's a heritage building? cuz i'm thinking about getting a unit facing north...hoping i'll get a clear view since all floors are 9ft ceiling as oppose to some 8ft in The Tower...

thoughts?

btw, does anyone know how long Brazen Head, Metro and TD Bank has been in Liberty Village?

also, is there parking by permit on the street? having a dilemma on whether i should get a parking or not.
 
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urbandreamer said:
I walked around this neighbourhood today. It is bleak, the architecture is appalling! I will say the black brick condo under construction (bliss?) is a huge step in the right direction though--but why does it need the silly hat? I think this flat iron building is a step backward. Something like Lamb's Flat Iron would've been better.
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The masterplan "suggestion" flatiron rendering (generic Kirkor design?) was very similar to Lamb's flatiron lofts.

Businesses there seem to be struggling, too. Marc Thuet's restaurant/cafe is gone, the cafe in the West Elm building is gone, the Scavolini kitchen showroom is gone, the Liberty Market building (the best part of Liberty Village so far imo) isn't exactly overflowing with leasing agreements, and Mildred's Temple Kitchen is actively encouraging bathroom sex to draw customers.

It sucks being a pioneer retailer. Business owners in the Distillery District had a rough time in the beginning, too (although bad management arguably had a hand in that).
 
luxome said:
does anyone know if the current sales office will ever be built over as a condo tower? or will it remain like this for a long time because it's a heritage building? cuz i'm thinking about getting a unit facing north...hoping i'll get a clear view since all floors are 9ft ceiling as oppose to some 8ft in The Tower...

thoughts?

btw, does anyone know how long Brazen Head, Metro and TD Bank has been in Liberty Village?

also, is there parking by permit on the street? having a dilemma on whether i should get a parking or not.
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I believe that the sales centre will be saved, but it will become a condo tower on top. Brazen Head has been open for almost 3 years and does a HUGE business. Metro and TD almost 4.

It is true that being a pioneer is difficult, but any business setting up here needs to be able to lose money for at least 3+ years. After that, it's clear sailing and raking in the dough. Within a year, an additional 900 condos will be occupied followed by another 1500-2000 in 4 years time. In a 5-7 years I'd hazard to say that they'll be at least 4000 more condos and no more room for expansion, so if you're in, you're solid.

urbandreamer said:
I walked around this neighbourhood today. It is bleak, the architecture is appalling! I will say the black brick condo under construction (bliss?) is a huge step in the right direction though--but why does it need the silly hat?.
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The black brick building is Liberty Towers, Bliss will be much lighter in colour and is currently rising to the east. While I'm biased, I definitely prefer this building over the others on offer. It would have been even better if black spandrels had been used (as modeled/rendered) instead of the gray. If you don't like the hat, wait'll you see the art deco touch they're supposed to put on the southern end! haha
 
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oh simuls, always love your input. made me feel so much better about my decisions. Do you think 20th floor and up will have a clear East View (perhaps, forever)? and 25th floor and up with a clear North View?
 
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