Toronto Queen & Portland Loft & Condominium Residences | ?m | 9s | Tribute | Turner Fleischer

Wow... have a look at the PDF site plan. They're really doing things right with this.

Home Depot's front is going on Portland, not directly on Queen st. which will instead offer four store fronts. Richmond st. is going to have residential units and the parking lot's parking spaces will be replaced with underground parking.

There is a deliveries area on Richmond that worries me a little, but it can't be any worse than the massive surface parking that is there now.
 
Looks good and urban. This is exactly the type of urban design that we should be hoping for in this city. It's really exciting that they are going to have 4 storefronts on Queen, but does that mean that the actual Home Depot will be in the basement or upstairs?
 
The Home Depot will have the entrance on Portland with some retail on the ground floor, and probably more on the 2nd and maybe 3rd floor. There are 3 floors of retail. Until all the floorplans are released, we can only speculate.
 
EDIT: Marcus beat me to it.

The PDF is different than the image posted above. If only on the ground floor, it would be the world's smallest Home Improvement Superstore. The associated RioCan file states that the development features "3-storeys of retail space", making me believe that the bulk of the store would be upstairs with only uses such as checkouts on the ground floor.
 
Yeah, I get that impression also. Checkouts should be on the ground floor but don't underestimate the size of this enormous lot. I'm sure there's room for stock on the main level but the bulk should be upstairs.

The images posted are indeed different from the more up to date PDF. The images here show the parking ramp on Portland and the PDF shows that it's on Richmond next to the deliveries lot.
 
Community Meeting Tonight

Attended a community meeting tonight. Presentation by RioCan and Tribute Homes. The project is moving along with more architectural work and renderings showing more and more views from the streets in the hood.
The folks at the meeting were the usual type who don't understand the rules of the development game. One lady wanted to know when the neighbourhood gets to vote on what tenants get the big spaces - sheesh.

RioCan suits said February is likely the date to announce the anchor tenants and that every major retailer has talked to them, so perhaps the buzz about Home Depot and Sobey's expresss is not a done deal yet.

The condo portion of the project looks like might be alot of smaller units with the occassional 3-bedroom units. The latter should be called the "Vaughan" model in all developments.

Overall, looking better every time through the review grinder. Construction to start later summer/early fall 2008.
 
I have a feeling this one is going to work out fine; such a high-profile project in a ward with a strong activist culture and a powerful councillor won't be allowed to get too screwed up.

I wonder, too, if the era of hysterical NIMBYism in Toronto is drawing to a close, or maybe relaxing somewhat. It seems like every major new project (Symphony, 1BE, College Park 3, and now this) is going through quite rigorous review processes and community consultations, which takes a lot of the edge off. The exception so far appears to be the planned power centre for Leslieville, but I'm hopeful that one becomes enough of a citywide issue to be stopped.
 
Looks good. Was there a PDF before this that said Home Depot would have its frontage on Queen? I've not heard of Sobey's rumours either.
 
Now that I have a Sobey's by my current condo, I'm hoping for one near my new condo. How's about a Sobey's in Village By The Grange? Anyone?

Back on topic, I must agree with allabootmatt that I really doubt this development will get screwed up. In fact, I expect it to be great!
 
2007_06_22QueenPortland.jpg


https://riocan.com/property/fileGet.cfm?property_id=223&file_type=sitePlan

https://riocan.com/property/property.cfm?property_id=223

The pdf link above shows the following site plan, which is markedly different from the one in the rendering posted above:

56944.gif
 

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