Toronto Union Park | 303.26m | 58s | Oxford Properties | Pelli Clarke Pelli

innsertnamehere said:
Very true, but I don't see any reason why this should be a problem. No major parks other than the one directly across the street (which already boxed in by highrises and experiences heavy shadowing), has no heritage issues, and the height isn't out of place. The only real problem I see with it is the potential to block the CN Tower's views, which even then is minimal and can be prevented by properly positioning the Towers on the site.
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I'm not sure how the towers could be positioned without blocking a substantial portion of the CN Tower.
 
This has to be the worst location to build our tallest towers. Soon enough, the CN Tower will be boxed in all sides, with little or nothing in the way of preserved view corridors.
 
If these could be placed northeast of the tower by some magic, fine, but as planned they will impede the view of much of the financial district. Too bad. Only from the skypod will they have no appreciable effect, but who wastes the extra dosh to go up there?
 
TheTigerMaster said:
I don't see how the CN Tower could ever be boxed in on all sides by towers.
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Well, Oxford and Mirvish will block much of the tower from the north, Southcore has pretty much obstructed views from the east, to the west, CityPlace. I guess its still largely unobstructed from the south; north of the Gardiner.

Strange Advance said:
If these could be placed northeast of the tower by some magic, fine, but as planned they will impede the view of much of the financial district. Too bad. Only from the skypod will they have no appreciable effect, but who wastes the extra dosh to go up there?
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Agreed. I wish these could be placed on the block bounded by Simcoe, Front, York, and Station St. I'd prefer to see lowrise where the convention centre sits.
 
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I have mixed feelings about this proposal. On the one hand I think it is too close to the CN Tower to build two Supertalls. They would crowd the CN Tower and I think it should be allowed to stand on its own being the icon that it is (just as New York has not allowed the Empire State Building to be boxed in). On the other hand in terms of design these are the most exciting office towers proposed for Toronto (at least since TD Centre). They remind me of Fosters proposal for the World Trade Center in New York which in my opinion was the best of any of the designs submitted. New York made a big mistake when they passed up Fosters design because his Tower would have been as iconic as the Towers it was meant to replace.

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Fosters and Partners
 
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That doesn’t mean he won’t take risks. Oxford was the first developer to publicly unveil plans for a potential $3-billion casino complex in the heart of Toronto, before the city had decided if it even wanted a casino.

But he won’t press his agenda at any cost. As the casino debate heated up in the early months of this year, some of the players went to great lengths to lobby local politicians and influence public opinion. Not Oxford.

“I would say I’m very proud of the way we conducted ourselves,” Mr. Hutcheson says. “We went out and said, ‘If the city wants one, we’re here with a catcher’s mitt.’… We never weighed in on whether they should or shouldn’t, and all the way we never said anything I regret.”

Oxford’s proposal would have seen the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which the company bought in 2011, turned into “Oxford Place” in one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in North America. It would have included retail, office and residential space, and a revamped convention centre. But city council ultimately decided against allowing a casino.

Oxford has shelved its plans to redevelop the site for the time being. “But we’re okay,” Mr. Hutcheson says. “The main thing I really cared about is I just wanted to make sure we conducted ourselves professionally; it was a sensitive issue.”

In some ways, Mr. Hutcheson was destined to run a real estate company. His first development project came at age 25, in his hometown of Huntsville, deep in the heart of Ontario’s cottage country. He built a courthouse that his family still owns and leases to the province.
 
ushahid said:
this is not the whole article just few paragraphs.
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Thanks for posting that Ushahid. So it looks like this proposal is on the shelf for now. I think it will take a major shift at city hall, i.e. voting out all the anti-casino crowd - before this proposal gets revived - if ever.
 
Agreed. Not exactly sure what "shelved" means here...maybe put off for a year...but, I wouldn't think that it means "cancelled". At a real estate conference this past spring, reps from Oxford said that redevelopment plans were going ahead without the casino. There is a lot to work out here with funky engineering and many approval authorities. So this will take time. I'm sure we will hear something next year.
 
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