Toronto Lower Don Lands Redevelopment | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

I think these are just the (currently) Keating Channel bridges so there won't be shipping. I'm not sure what they're planning for the bridges over the shipping channel.
 
evandyk said:
I think these are just the (currently) Keating Channel bridges so there won't be shipping. I'm not sure what they're planning for the bridges over the shipping channel.
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The BlogTO article is talking about a link to the Centre Island (I was referring to that), not Villiers Island.

AoD
 
smably said:
I find it hilarious that these bros from NYC think we need their help to build out the Port Lands. That's going to be some of the most desirable real estate in the city once the parks and infrastructure are in. Any developer in North America would be salivating to get a slice of the Lower Don Lands once it's in a developable state. Sidewalk had some interesting ideas but we'll be just fine without them. They're trying to rewrite history here: in reality, they always needed us way more than we needed them.
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Very well said!

I don't think it needs much convincing to those of us on this forum that Toronto will prove the author and his thesis wrong. Those residential and office space demands will lead to the rapid intensification of the Port Lands just like the West Don Lands before it. Americans really haven't yet come to grips with how much of an economic powerhouse Toronto has become. The author's precious own Hudson Yards office was developed by none-other than Toronto-based and Ontario pension backed developer Oxford Properties, and they are far from the only institutional and private capital heavily invested in this city.

The one and only thing I lament is that Sidewalk would have probably given us some better architecture than our local developers, but that is a subject of another year.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
I think the span of any bridge will have to be a lot higher than this/and or being a drawbridge to accommodate shipping - and it will have to get Ports Toronto's OK.

AoD
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Think you missed the "married to a swing bridge component" portion of my comment (cable-stayed + swing hybrids are out there)... the pic posted was just intended to feature Calatrava's renowned bridge design creds.

Maybe Wilkinson Eyre can sketch us something when they are back in town for CIBC Square 2... they did this 2,600 footer (Nescio Bridge) in Amsterdam ;).

GettyImages-135399544.jpg

ArchitecturalDigest
 
DSC said:
Interesting to be reminded that what we see now is not the finished river bottom. From Rocky

" Did you know this won't actually be the bottom of the river? This is really the foundation for the ecosystem we're going to build on top. We've got to add a layer of sand, a clay mat and geomembrane, and another layer of sand before we can put in the river finishes."
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Right on cue:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1317115355723157505
 
Everyone here is ignoring one thing about Sidewalk (despite their many problems), it offered beautiful architecture by Heatherwick & Snohetta and an innovative public realm. Knowing our cheap developers, what are the chances we can get something as awesome as their design? We'll probably just get cookie-cutter or 'decent' projects.
 
daniel_kryz said:
Everyone here is ignoring one thing about Sidewalk (despite their many problems), it offered beautiful architecture by Heatherwick & Snohetta and an innovative public realm. Knowing our cheap developers, what are the chances we can get something as awesome as their design? We'll probably just get cookie-cutter or 'decent' projects.
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It offered beautiful architecture in renderings - there was absolutely no guarantee it would have been built as is given the early stage of this entire exercise. As much as I like exemplar architecture, I am not sure if what they are enticing is worth giving them control over the Portlands.

AoD
 
daniel_kryz said:
Everyone here is ignoring one thing about Sidewalk (despite their many problems), it offered beautiful architecture by Heatherwick & Snohetta and an innovative public realm. Knowing our cheap developers, what are the chances we can get something as awesome as their design? We'll probably just get cookie-cutter or 'decent' projects.
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Heatherwick was not only not signed on to be the design architect, Sidewalk was *not itself going to build any buildings.*

Smoke and mirrors to this day.
 
West side overview...followed by east side.

Villier1.jpg


Villier2.jpg


Villier3.jpg


Sledding season is getting underway...

Villier4.jpg


iphone pano...

Villier5.jpg


Villier6.jpg


Villier7.jpg


Making several mountain ranges out of a mole hill.

Villier8.jpg


Villier9.jpg


Villier10.jpg


Villier11.jpg


Finally, for comparison, I found this pic in my archive from about ONE YEAR AGO (Oct 19, 2019).

Villiers3.jpg
 
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The former comparisons certainly looks a lot more wiggly now. And how.
 
UtakataNoAnnex said:
Making a deal with a devil, no matter how enticing it looked, will always end up as us getting burned as a city. So good riddance to that, IMO.
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I had high hopes, and was willing to give a huge benefit of the doubt to Sidewalk given their potential deep pockets and that I thought they would invest deeply given what I perceived as the need for this development to be a success to fuel their future growth. The way they handled this, I am now convinced we are better off for it having failed. There was so much potential for bait and switch, and the argument that the entire Portlands were ever on the table was always bogus. They bolted in the face of legitimate questioning as soon as it was politically feasible to do so, and are trying to blame others. The whole saga is sad. We might not end up with a development in Quayside that matches the renderings presented, but clearly we never were going to.
 
Any developer with a decent credit score could hire Snøhetta/Heatherwick Studio to do something good for Quayside. I somehow envision the actual Sidewalk "Labs" filled with Google phone-carrying young zombies, the lab floor littered with discarded Libeskind-style napkins covered in felt-pen scribbles.

I'll bet Snøhetta received their hard copy briefing/directives from ABCDEF... Inc., in a spare recycling bin filled with tissues. 🤪
 
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