Toronto Pinnacle One Yonge Commercial | 170.8m | 40s | Pinnacle | Hariri Pontarini

It was the first large modern office building to be built near the waterfront, at the start of Yonge St., advancing the movement towards the lake beyond industrial- so it does have some historical merit in this regard. It's not necessarily attractive but a significant building in that it is representative of an era. I much prefer streetscapes with a mix of materials and textures even if the built form of individual buildings don't appeal. However 5 Place Ville Marie was sheathed in glass quite effectively. It is however a more aesthetically interesting and prestigious building to begin with.

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Héritage Montréal
 
There are a few issues I have with this one:
  • ramp to garage/loading and vehicular entrance + exit facing a future park.
  • unlike phase 1-3, the pedestrian walkways through the site are entirely covered by the 2nd floor. Furthermore, the pathway width is reduced to allow for vehicular circulation and parking. What results, in my opinion, is less of a public realm extension and more of a hotel vehicular drop-off zone.
  • No attempts to activate the ground floor at the corner of Yonge & QQ, though to their credit they are widening the sidewalks with a colonnade. The office lobby is 1.5m above grade, so we'll be left with blank walls at that important intersection. Admittedly, this is a difficult problem to overcome.
 
North said:
There are a few issues I have with this one:
  • ramp to garage/loading and vehicular entrance + exit facing a future park.
  • unlike phase 1-3, the pedestrian walkways through the site are entirely covered by the 2nd floor. Furthermore, the pathway width is reduced to allow for vehicular circulation and parking. What results, in my opinion, is less of a public realm extension and more of a hotel vehicular drop-off zone.
  • No attempts to activate the ground floor at the corner of Yonge & QQ, though to their credit they are widening the sidewalks with a colonnade. The office lobby is 1.5m above grade, so we'll be left with blank walls at that important intersection. Admittedly, this is a difficult problem to overcome.
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And it's extremely bland and, since its designed by Hariri Pontarini, should be a lot better than this mediocrity.
 
allengeorge said:
Hmm. I’m a little surprised they’re going ahead with the office phases given Omicron and the in-flux state of the office market.

(Please note: I am not trying to turn this into a discussion about remote work.)
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Keep in mind the timelines here.

Delivery of any new commercial phase is likely 3 years out or more.

So what's happening this quarter or next is of comparatively little concern.
 
allengeorge said:
An SPA does imply that they’ll be starting construction soon, correct?
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Not necessarily.

While this is often the case, there are several proposals in Toronto currently that have had their SPA in place for quite awhile that have yet to break ground.

I can tell you new leases were signed for the existing space in 1 Yonge in 2021.

I noticed some marketed at 'up to 24 months'........ which might be a hint of something............ya never know.

But that could also simply be the residual on a sublet (I didn't look into it further)
 
allengeorge said:
Hmm. I’m a little surprised they’re going ahead with the office phases given Omicron and the in-flux state of the office market.

(Please note: I am not trying to turn this into a discussion about remote work.)
Click to expand...

I'm going to come back to this comment. As noted by Allen above, I don't want to send this thread into a tangent on the future of remote or hybrid work.

I did, however, want to insert a comment from someone that reflects what I've been seeing and saying for awhile; that the office market in Toronto is very healthy.

From CBRE:

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The evidence is clear, says Jon Ramscar, CBRE’s Toronto Downtown Managing Director: "a turnaround in Toronto’s office market is “well underway.”

“There is much more going on in the market than many would be led to believe,” Ramscar says.

www.cbre.ca

Life Finds a Way: Toronto Office Market Makes Steady Return

Confidence in the economy and rebounding employment levels, businesses have begun to return to the office en masse.
www.cbre.ca
 
A couple new renders from the docs showing revisions. They also show the revised Phase 1-3.

Seems to take some feedback into account. The Toronto Star building looks like it's getting a Foresters treatment, leaving the façade intact. Also (unless i'm mistaken) the podiums are now broken up to allow for passthrough and retail like the first phases which is great for walkability.

Towers are still rather plain though.

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