Toronto One Bloor East | 257.24m | 76s | Great Gulf | Hariri Pontarini

Yeah....starting to look like they're using the parking lot for building equipment storage lot. Can't believe the city isn't all over them for this. Unbelievable eye sore. It's really unacceptable how long they've dragged this on. Seems like it's getting too late in the season to start digging because the hole is going to be massive and winter isn't so far away. Probably start in the spring, though i'm sure they've got other prep work to do.
 
I know time is passing us by, but they will start work on this project. Weren't they just putting hoarding up last week? Are there any steel beams on site? If not, then you can't really do much. This is a big site, a huge project. The first thing is to make sure hoarding is up to protect the pedestrians. You then need to coordinate to get cement trucks rolling in when you start up the drilling. I don't see any steel beams, so that is another thing that needs to be delivered. I'm sure a lot is happening in the background to get this thing going.
 
The statements and concern about how long this is taking are getting a bit old. The closing on the site was September 2009, just under two years ago.

While some preliminary work was initiated prior to the deal closing that is a remarkably quick time period to put shovels in the ground given the complexity of bringing a project of this magnitude to market, with all to associated work that needs to be completed (i.e. contracts, the many many sub-contracts, suppliers & manufacturers, utilities, working drawings, engineering, sales & marketing, financing, permits and various planning approvals, complex coordination and the list goes on and on).

Some forumers seem to have difficulty separating the Great Gulf project with either the failed project by Bazis or the Kolter proposal. The projects have nothing to do with each other beyond allowing Bazis purchasers an opportunity to buy into the new project in advance of a broader public opening and some, but certainly not all approvals. There is an incredible amount of detailed behind the scenes work going on to bring such a large $450 million project to reality - land development especially in an urban settling is very complex and involves a lot of different individuals, companies, the municipal government, provincial government and a number of other government agencies as well as a diverse group of stakeholders often with competing interests.

Two years is a fairly aggressive time-frame to actually commence construction.
 
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Mike in TO said:
While some preliminary work was initiated prior to the deal closing that is a remarkably quick time period to put shovels in the ground given the complexity of bringing a project of this magnitude to market, with all to associated work that needs to be completed (i.e. contracts, the many many sub-contracts, suppliers & manufacturers, utilities, working drawings, engineering, sales & marketing, financing, permits and various planning approvals, complex coordination and the list goes on and on).

Two years is a fairly aggressive time-frame to actually commence construction.
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No, it's not. If this was Japan, construction would have started a year ago (and they don't employ slave labor or take safety shortcuts like some countries). Just because mediocrity has become the convention in Canada doesn't mean we should accept it. I applaud forumers who expect more ambition than that. Innovation and progress starts with questioning the status quo.
 
There is nothing going on, people are generally just impatient. (As am I on my commute, I hate waiting, and need to practice it more often.) Im not sure about Japan but lets compare development speeds to other cities on our continent that have similar processes set up that need time. WTC has taken quite a while to start as well. If you don't do your due diligence and rush in to these things, it is likely that you will fail. There are many stakeholders and many issues such as highest and best use analysis, cash flow analysis, financing set up, beauracratic procedures, contracting procedures etc.

Land ownership with no revenue stream means an end of day loss. They are paying plenty of taxes on the vacant land, so its not like they want to take their time, they are going as fast as possible whilst doing their due diligence along the way so there are no major hiccups down the road. This stuff takes a lot of planning. Hell, I only do the valuation of land and improved properties in school hypothetically so far and its very complex and time consuming, and thats only one aspect, and a small one.
 
DCN did mention that, on the day of the ground-breaking, they were still waiting for a building permit from the city..
 
Agreed. People are too impatient and it shows with their posts demanding that highrises be built faster to make them happy. Get over yourselves. .
 
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