Toronto Wellesley on the Park | 194.15m | 60s | Lanterra | KPMB

[greenleaf]

JBM article at the G&M: Kuwabara brings tall building romance to Yonge and Wellesley

"Designed for Lanterra by Bruce Kuwabara, founding partner of KPMB Architects, in close co-operation with Page+Steele/IBI Group Architects, this attractive building takes its artistic cues, Mr. Kuwabara says, from landscape.

Not the stony, dramatic terrain of Ontario’s cottage country, it appears, but rather the mellow, rolling farmland in the province’s southern districts, and the hilly contours of the proposed park. Belts of whitened glass balcony fronts run smoothly around each level of the structure, quietly looping out at the curved corners, then tucking in, and nowhere making a sharp turn. The billowing white exterior, almost invisibly accented by shades of grey, will be subtly expressive instead of routinely right-angled."

 

[prettyflamingo]

 

[Automation Gallery]

Brisk sales and i could see them asking for 10s more here

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Brisk sales and i could see them asking for 10s more here

If getting additional height through meant a much lower price for the City to buy the green space, I'd be inclined to agree.

 

[Roundabout]

From last night:

 

[Benito]

Good to see that grass starting to grow there.

 

[devjohnson]

Smart team. Growing grass and making use of the entire space will help potential buyers visualize what will come to this land.

 

[ushahid]

by growing some grass and planting some trees they will get more buyers because without the grass and trees this land looked so dull and boring.

 

[whatever]

I wasn't sold on a park here originally (it's less than a 5 minute walk to Queen's Park from there), but now that the hoarding has been replaced with regular fencing and they've covered up the concrete with grass I can see this becoming a hugely popular spot. It's hemmed in by the city on all sides, and there's such a mix of buildings framing the space it's actually an interesting place to sit and take it all in.

It would be great if something could be worked out with Opera Place to reconfigure their driveway so that that other lawn could be tied into the space. And does anyone know what's going on with the north end of the lot? It looks like there was a development there that had been capped at grade. Is that going to be finished as part of this, or are they going to run the park over it?

 

[interchange42]

The driveway will be reconfigured so that the land can be brought into the park.

The concrete that you are seeing sticking up throughout the north end of the site relates to a parking garage that already exists below much of the site, and which will be used for much of the WotP garage. Those blocks were to be incorporated into the next, never-built phase of Opera Place (the two buildings which line Bay). They will be able to eliminate those when the permanent park goes in.

42

 

[interchange42]

Yesterday:

42

 

[Condo George]

80% Sold since day 1 launch May 18

 

[jje1000]

The driveway will be reconfigured so that the land can be brought into the park.

The concrete that you are seeing sticking up throughout the north end of the site relates to a parking garage that already exists below much of the site, and which will be used for much of the WotP garage. Those blocks were to be incorporated into the next, never-built phase of Opera Place (the two buildings which line Bay). They will be able to eliminate those when the permanent park goes in.

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So pleased that the second phase of Opera Place was never completed. See the buildings on Bay? Take those, and mirror them around the driveway- that's what the second phase was.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

So pleased that the second phase of Opera Place was never completed. See the buildings on Bay? Take those, and mirror them around the driveway- that's what the second phase was.

No actually it wasn't. The buildings were taller as the project progressed north from Grosvenor St., including along Wellesley Street. From memory, they were somewhere in the 30s range. I bought into phase 1 before it was built and had a copy of the masterplan, all lost in a locker flood 3 or 4 years ago. What we are finally getting here is obviously a huge improvement over what Goldlist would have built, so in the end it's a good thing that the masterplan didn't work out & only two buildings were built (plus The Bay Club rental building at the corner).

 

[interchange42]

Actually, as per the first post in this thread, the full length of Wellesley on this site was planned to have a 9-storey slab along it. There were one or two more point towers (but not particularly tall) planned for the south end of the project along Bredalbane.

11 Wellesley St. W.

Looks like an application has been submitted for phases 5 & 6 of the 909 & 925 Bay project. Plans include a new 9-storey Mixed-use Residential-commercial Building with 318 units.