Toronto St Regis Toronto Hotel and Residences | 281.93m | 58s | JFC Capital | Zeidler

Chicago has managed to hide a number of its garages within the artificially raised streets mostly to the south of the Chicago River, and while they have some above-ground garages like Toronto, or like most North American cities, the garages don't mark Chicago the way they do low-lying Miami where they are everywhere. Musters: I'm pretty sure you're joking about us needing more above ground garages, but if you're not, then a quick trip to Miami would disabuse you of that notion. Yeeeuchhhhh!

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Isn't it true that in Chicago the parking garages of buildings are built above ground? If so, just increase the height of Toronto buildings by the depth of the underground parking and voila your super-talls? Personally I'd rather keep the parking underground and maintain the street-level vitality.
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Having just returned from Detroit I've noticed that some newer above-ground parking garages have made an attempt to make themselves look modern, with varying degrees of success. The parking garage next to the newly-reopened Westin Book Cadillac has a parking garage with a ramp (with parking spots on it) that quickly rises from the street to the second floor, freeing the ground floor for some (as of now, empty) retail units.

Here's another example of a nicely-hidden parking garage in suburban Royal Oak. Two levels of parking sandwiched between street retail and residential units, but you can't really tell from the street.

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That just looks like the glass has been knocked out of those two floors, which isn't all that odd in the Detroit area. (I can't imagine why they could not have gone down a couple more floors below ground in Royal Oak.) The way to do above ground parking garages is the way they've done it at Clear Spirit in the Distillery District. (Sorry no photo immediately handy. Anyone?)

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I actually don't like the way they did it at Clear Spirit. The glass is different than what was used on the rest of the complex. You can easily make out that its parking. I prefer what they did in the office to condo conversion on the southwest corner of King and Victoria where its not so obvious.
 
I don't mind that the glass is different, as I don't think the parking function needs to be hidden on the exterior. I do think the gaping black holes of that Royal Oak project are creepy however. Ed - for King/Victoria, that's the Metropolitan, right? I agree that was done well there.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Luxury hotel and resort developer Donald Trump sued Deutsche Bank and several other banks on Monday, demanding $3 billion in damages, claiming they broke agreements in the construction and financing of Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.

The unfinished 92-story complex that would be the second-tallest building in the United States behind Chicago's Sears Tower was due for completion in mid-2009.


Trump has been trying to extend a $640 million construction credit from a group of lenders led by Deutsche Bank, The Wall Street Journal reported last Friday.


They include a unit of Merrill Lynch & Co, Union Labor Life Insurance Co, real-estate investment trust iStar Financial Inc, and a division of Highland Capital Management LP.


All were identified among more than two dozen defendants in Trump's lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court in the New York City borough of Queens.


Deutsche Bank spokesman John Gallagher declined to comment on the lawsuit.


"We have filed a lawsuit that clearly outlines the bad conduct of Deutsche Bank in connection with Trump Tower in Chicago and we believe the court will clearly vindicate our position," said Trump's lawyer, Steven Schlesinger.


"The fact that the bank group are acting in a dysfunctional manner in connection with big loans is a sign of the times," the lawyer said.


(Reporting by Grant McCool, editing by Matthew Lewis)
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Cross your fingers this doesn't happen here.
 
To be honest, Toronto hasn't done a bad urbanistic job in recent decades in above-ground municipal parking, either--take Charles/Hayden or the one in Kensington as proof...
 
3Dementia said:
^^^ looks like the MODS will have to move all their own "parking" posts... at least I mentioned the "Trump" word in this thread. ;-)
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Aw heck, I've figured the parking garage talk is germane here: Trump's parking is going to be above ground mostly. I'm wondering how they'll handle it. We've seen the renders, but who really knows 'til it's done.

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parking garages can definitely be done right. the one specific that always pops into my head was is Strasbourg france which had nice wood panels covering the front.

and there's always something like this which can bring a lot of color and vibrancy to the surrounding area. this is located in santa monica.
leedgarage1.jpg


leedgarage2.jpg
 
I'd really like to see a picture of the above in the daylight though ... Without the lights I doubt it would look very good. This example is slightly different in the sense that it is a parking garage on it's own not integrated into another building, hence it merits different criteria to consider it successful or not I think.
 
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