Toronto TeaHouse 501 Yonge Condominiums | 170.98m | 52s | Lanterra | a—A

Towered said:
I fear it's just a delusional dream for us urbanists. What municipal government would ever dare to change the zoning of our arterial sreets to allow this kind of development to happen? Nobody at city hall would want to incur the wrath of the nimby's living along these streets in their detached one storey bungalows with their precious backyards obscured by fences facing the sidewalks.
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The key to winning this battle is slow but deliberate creep across the landscape, altering one block at a time. As the built form begins to become common the precedents are set for avenues and arterials. As for Yonge and precedents of tall buildings, I think the basic character of the street can be celebrated in new developments - 5ive for one does this - 1 Bloor and Aura not at all...
 
Bungalows

What a lack of urban vision in 40's and 50's , when those ugly bungalows along major arterial streets , like the Lawrence Ave W. were allowed to be bilt?
As for now , I would be glad to see at least townies being constructed:cool: on such a long thoroughwares...
 
College Park said:
Absolutely we should build this way, as 8 story buildings create a human-scaled neighbourhood feel, and it is simpler to build structures like this. It seems to me that architects experiment and play with more fine grained details in smaller buildings - tall buildings get broader lines and the podiums tend to carry that cold majesty to the ground.
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Well, you cant have it both ways - if you are going to put a no-build zone around a city, you have to have greater density in the city. If you restrict both sprawl and density, you have effectively killed the city.

Pick your poison.
 
Like I predicted, this is gonna be tall! :D

from toronto.ca/developmentapplications

501 YONGE ST
OPA / Rezoning 11 187996 STE 27 OZ Ward 27
- Tor & E.York May 5, 2011 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Standard rezoning application to construct 2 new mixed use buildings on one common podium. 58 Stories, retail at grade - 960 residential units - 2 levels parking above retail spaces - with 360 parking spaces - 940 bicycle parking space
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aA what will you do here?
 
Way, way too tall for this area.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
Way, way too tall for this area.
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In what sense? It's right on the subway line in the middle of the heart of downtown and it shadows nothing of consequence. Are you worried that it will overpower the lowrise structures accross the street? Anything over 10 storeys would anyway so going beyond that height is moot.

This is how cities grow. Let's worry abut how the design meets the street.
 
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Ramako said:
In what sense? It's right on the subway line in the middle of the heart of downtown and it shadows nothing of consequence. Are you worried that it will overpower the lowrise structures accross the street? Anything over 10 storeys would anyway so going beyond that height is moot.

This is how cities grow. Let's worry abut how the design meets the street.
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+1 ... I love the contrast ... and I think Yonge is perfect for it. Having said that I think some areas should stay lowrise ... i.e. King East (St.Lawrence market area) as there is already so much character. Yonge is such a mishmash we might as well encourage it!

But I'm sure this won't fly, just a question of what it gets reduced to.
 
taal said:
+1 ... I love the contrast ... and I think Yonge is perfect for it. Having said that I think some areas should stay lowrise ... i.e. King East (St.Lawrence market area) as there is already so much character. Yonge is such a mishmash we might as well encourage it!

But I'm sure this won't fly, just a question of what it gets reduced to.
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I agree that many areas, like St. Lawrence or Queen West, should stay lowrise and generally untouched. Such areas are already built up and have a pretty consistent design vernacular throughout. They very much seem, more or less, like "finished products". Yonge Street, on the other hand, has always been a complete mish mash of flavours, styles, eras, uses, massings and height, along its entire length between Bloor and the lake (including three towers curently under construction topping 200 metres). This is just another interesting facet of that texture and it will replace perhaps the least noteworthy stretch of Yonge. As for the rows of lowrise victorians that line Yonge at various places, I agree wholeheartedly that those should never be touched, unless so as to refurbish them as is being done with FIVE condos. It's those irreplaceable buildings that give Yonge its character. This stretch, on the other hand, is horrid in every sense. There's no reason to keep it, and there's no reason not to go tall on it. My only concern is that it meets the street in a pedestrian friendly manner.
 
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