Toronto Pinnacle One Yonge | 345.5m | 105s | Pinnacle | Hariri Pontarini

[Midtown Urbanist]

That's sad. But at the very least I would hope they would prioritize, and this project seems like it would be a very high priority for the City to control as much as possible.

Yes, this is a little troubling. This is perhaps one of the more important sites the Planning Department will have to work with in their careers...

 

[salsa]

Because the City has developed a plan for the area, and there are others living nearby, and those with businesses in the area, and everyone affected gets to voice their concerns…

but mostly because Pinnacle appealed to the OMB based on the City's failure to make a decision within the period required by law. Now that the OMB hearing date is set, the City and Pinnacle are working towards an agreement so that by the time of the hearing, the OMB will merely ratify their agreement. At least that's the plan, assuming the details are all ironed out by then.

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Will the city miss out on s37 money because the OMB is involved?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Presentation from yesterday:

http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/uploads/documents/lyp_ccm_presentation___june_23_2015_1.pdf (lower Yonge Precinct)

http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/uploads/documents/1_yonge_presentation_june_23_2015_1.pdf (1 Yonge)

Enjoy!

Interesting to see a community centre component on the Toronto Star lands by QQ. Nice move.

AoD

 

[Tuscani01]

I like that a community centre will become part of this development. Definitely an asset for the community.

I do wish that the roads around the park could be eliminated though. (Site next door in the precinct plan) It would be nice to have a park that fronts onto buildings on 3 sides. There's really no need to extend Harbour Street directly through the site.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I do wish that the roads around the park could be eliminated though. (Site next door in the precinct plan) It would be nice to have a park that fronts onto buildings on 3 sides. There's really no need to extend Harbour Street directly through the site.

I disagree - I think extending Harbour St. helps to break down the blocks a bit more and creates visual continuity. Minor roads surrounding the park isn't that big a deal IMHO, it can be a very cozy space if designed appropriately (think Market St).

AoD

 

[Tuscani01]

I disagree - I think extending Harbour St. helps to break down the blocks a bit more and creates visual continuity. Minor roads surrounding the park isn't that big a deal IMHO, it can be a very cozy space if designed appropriately (think Market St).

AoD

The block will still be broken without a street through the park. I just like the feel of parks that front onto buildings a lot more than parks that are surrounded by streets. It makes it feel much more cozy and helps animate the park at times when there is no programming in the space. It would instantly become a unique space in the city. It's not a deal breaker for me, just something I think would have improved the space.

While Market street does look good, you still feel like you should not be on the street, and the division between road and sidewalk is pretty obvious. It doesn't feel cozy at all.

I do like that they have combined the two parks here though, and went for one large public space and several smaller POPS' throughout the community. With the extension of Sugar Beach further to the East, it seemed like the concentration of parks on that part of the site was overkill. This definitely spreads it out a bit more.

 

[DSC]

I like that a community centre will become part of this development. Definitely an asset for the community.

I do wish that the roads around the park could be eliminated though. (Site next door in the precinct plan) It would be nice to have a park that fronts onto buildings on 3 sides. There's really no need to extend Harbour Street directly through the site.

Extending Harbour Street is really the main point of the Lower Yonge Precinct plan - as noted elsewhere, this will create better sized blocks and there is no way to extend it UNLESS one cuts through the Star site.

 

[Tuscani01]

Yes, I know, but what is the reason for extending Harbour? Do we have to accommodate cars in every single neighbourhood in this city? A block doesn't have to be delineated by infrastructure for cars. It can be a pedestrian only space, and still serve to divide the space into blocks.

It's not even like Harbour is going to serve much more of a purpose than to run to Jarvis Street, where it ends and then becomes a park through the Daniels site. There's an opportunity to continue this pedestrian space along the entire Harbour Street corridor.

We have a chance to build a pedestrian only corridor here, and we are settling for just another roadway? This can easily be extended right through the site:

- Daniels Corp

 

[maestro]

Roads aren't simply for cars . There are plenty of neighbourhoods that are considered failures by not providing adequate road infrastructure. At the same time, it's not ideal when roads dominate over the pedestrian experience either. A balance is usually the best solution. Anti or pro sentiments rarely lead to something better.

 

[interchange42]

One of the reasons that Harbour Street is planned to be extended is so that the big scoopy turn at Yonge can be eliminated. Extending Harbour gives cars going east on it a number of places to make a left turn to get up to Lake Shore.

I wouldn't be against a park that was partly sided by roads and partly by buildings. I wonder if it is absolutely necessary to have both north-south roads go all the way through to Queens Quay?

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[Tuscani01]

Im not being anti-road or anti-car. There's more than enough East-West access for vehicles in this area, with an 8 lane Lakeshore, the Gardiner, and Queens Quay. There will also be plenty of North-South roadways built on this site. All I'm saying is it would be nice to take some of the public realm from the area East of Jarvis and continue it through this site. From the renderings of the Daniel's project, it does look like something better.

The Well and 400 Front Street in the west end of downtown is a perfect example of what this area can become.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

a Height Map from the presentation.

 

[Armour]

I thought the tallest tower was repositioned to stand at the northeast corner of this block? That's how it is shown in the city model above.

It's fairly common from what I've gathered. The Planning Department is so underfunded and understaffed they can't keep up with every single development in the city.

And Tory made cuts to the planning department, no? What a brilliant idea.

 

[innsertnamehere]

the city purposely missed their chance, the didn't do this accidentally. They wanted a secondary plan done for the area to get this development approved under, so didn't respond to the development application. They knew that by the time the OMB hearing rolled around they could negotiate a better development from the developers. I'm sure the developer went in to this process with good faith as well, but appealed to the OMB as a safety measure.

 

[Edward Skira]

The Toronto Star building is lost here all of sudden.