Toronto U of T: Academic Wood Tower | 77m | 14s | U of T | Patkau

This city just refuses not to suck...

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I have less of a problem with $7.95 for pastry w/top tier ingredients, or that takes some real cheffing to assemble.

We don't see what the Pear Ricotta cake looked like, but those certainly aren't pricey ingredients.

I will give my my price reference as a slice of Rahier Opera Cake. That's also $7.95 in most places. I consider that a tad stiff, but at least there's some really good work on display there.

If that's the benchmark, you're not pricing a very basic fruit-cheese cake at a penny over $5.95 a portion.

For reference, this is Rahier's Opera Cake:

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Source: https://www.pusateris.com/137900-Rahier-Opera (I note Pusteri's would like $9.49 for this piece.... for which I have two words that would get me moderated, LOL)

Traditional dessert layered with coffee caramel buttercream, chocolate ganache, and coffee-soaked almond biscuit.
 
I have less of a problem with $7.95 for pastry w/top tier ingredients, or that takes some real cheffing to assemble.

We don't see what the Pear Ricotta cake looked like, but those certainly aren't pricey ingredients.

I will give my my price reference as a slice of Rahier Opera Cake. That's also $7.95 in most places. I consider that a tad stiff, but at least there's some really good work on display there.

If that's the benchmark, you're not pricing a very basic fruit-cheese cake at a penny over $5.95 a portion.

For reference, this is Rahier's Opera Cake:

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Source: https://www.pusateris.com/137900-Rahier-Opera (I note Pusteri's would like $9.49 for this piece.... for which I have two words that would get me moderated, LOL)

Traditional dessert layered with coffee caramel buttercream, chocolate ganache, and coffee-soaked almond biscuit.
The issue with $7.95 is that 80% of the population can't justify spending that much on a pastry. We all like nice things but when a good chunk of the population budget $8 (or less) for an entire meal one has to wonder what kind of city we're building. It's great that these things are available but I would rather have a city where people don't have to shop at Dollarama for groceries and/or skip meals to avoid eviction.

I imagine most people on UT have a profession/careers. We lose touch with how the majority of people live. $8 pasty might as well be $100 pastry for them. They'll only ever experience that looking through a shop window,
 
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The issue with $7.95 is that 80% of the population can't justify spending that much on a pastry. We all like nice things but when a good chunk of the population budget $8 (or less) for an entire meal one has to wonder what kind of city we're building. It's great that these things are available but I'd rather have a city where people don't have to shop at Dollarama for groceries or skip meals to avoid eviction.

There is no disagreement that incomes from the median down are too low.

There are market adjustments (fewer temporary workers/less labour supply) as well as higher minimum wages required.

There is certainly far too much poverty in this city, and a variety of social programs are also required.

However, the people in this thread, for the most part, are financially comfortable; and that cost, for a good quality pastry, is not out of line.

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I will add, however, addressing supply management cost problems (in the context of pastry, over-priced dairy and eggs) does play some role in prices being higher than they ought to be.

I think you could probably shave $1 per portion quite safely, if not $1.50 were those inputs more reasonably priced.

Retail rents are another key factor in pricing.......but I digress.... this is the thread about the Academic Wood Tower, not the price of pastry....... I take my share of the blame for running w/the tangent, but perhaps we could now return to our regular programming.
 
The steel frames would be the cores - either or both elevators and emergency exit stairs.
This city just refuses not to suck...

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You could go to No Frills and get a full sized bundt cake for that price.

The Hive in Vancouver is similar to this one - steel cores, so thicker cross-bracing, etc. than the UBC residence, but is shorter than the UofT tower.
You can see that the lack of a stabilizing concrete core required heavier cross-bracing on the UofT tower compared to the shorter Hive building.


But BCIT Student Housing also had steel cores and wasn't as chunky.

 
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