New proposed project by MENKES called Pears.

Lunched in September 2010.
Unit sizes range from 600 Sqft all the way to 1900 Sqft.

http://www.menkes.com/pears/

http://i55.tinypic.com/290spqb.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/2a26uq.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/ouobuw.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/2q9c0zo.jpg

Thanks for the thread. I think this may need to be moved from the highrise section.

Who names these things? :lol:

Menkes Developments
Page + Steele/IBI Group Architects


By grey on UT.

Here's a rendering posted by Adam Vaughan on flickr.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4910894394_65284044e8_b.jpg



Posted on April 21, 2010 by Ed007Toronto on UT.

Alan Menkes, President of Menkes Developments (http://www.menkes.com/), and Barbara Lawlor, President of Baker Real Estate (www.baker-re.com), launched Menkes' swank new Pears on the Avenue project yesterday evening at their new sales office located at the southwest corner of Avenue Road and Pears Avenue.

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/PearsCondo2.jpg


The sales office, impressively decked out by noted designers Munge Leung (www.mungeleung.com), includes an attractive model suite.

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/PearsCondo1.jpg


Guests are being given first crack at sales, in advance of the city's realtor community.

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/PearsCondo3.jpg


The sleek, modern, glass clad design by Page + Steele/IBI Architects (www.pagesteele.com), features stone facades for the podium's townhouses facing onto Pears Avenue. The Avenue Road frontage will include retail at ground level.

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/PearsCondo4.jpg


The 20 floor building will feature only 133 suites, priced in the $700 per square foot range. Many suites feature spacious L-shaped Living Room-Dining Room Kitchen combinations.

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/PearsCondo5.jpg

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/PearsCondo6.jpg

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/PearsCondo7.jpg

Common areas, already featured in an earlier UrbanToronto report (http://urbantoronto.ca/content.php?387-Pears-on-the-Avenue-Condominiums-Launching-Soon), include a double-height lobby with dramatic spiral staircase, a spa featuring a pool and whirlpool, a fully equipped gym, yoga space, luxurious cabanas, a party room and wet bar with adjacent catering kitchen, a landscaped and furnished outdoor terrace, a guest suite, a boardroom, and finally, a screening room: Pears on the Avenue is designed inside and out for the modern lifestyle.

Who names these things? :lol:

"Pears" is an old street in Yorkville where the project is being built.

this project does nothing for me - at least to my (novice) eye it seems quite uninspired

Pears? What the hell is that?

Pretty bland looking too. I do like the AGO inspired staircase on the other hand.

The name "Pears", you mean? It is a street name. Maybe you are referring to the project itself.

It's a rather uninspired name. It's like calling Aura 'Yonge on Gerrard'.

It doesn't break new ground aesthetically/architecturally but it's tasteful and restrained. Given the price point, it should turn well with good materials.

I actually like this side of it a lot. If that's exposed steel then it will ad some nice texture to the streetscape. the backside we'll never see.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4910894394_65284044e8_b.jpg

The steel frame is interesting; I wish they extended that part into the sky instead of the typical glass. I also wish they chopped off the slabby rear half of the building too. And the retail component has the fine urban grain of a car dealership. If this project was under 10 stories tall, I'd totally see it fitting in with the condos-above-big-box-store trend on Cambie St in Vancouver, especially with the townhouses facing the side street. Might have something to do with slope being a factor for once in a Toronto project, lol.

It will be an art gallery or furniture store.

Ive heard that this project will start Q2 2011

It's a rather uninspired name. It's like calling Aura 'Yonge on Gerrard'.

I guess I like it because I love Pears Avenue, therefore that is the connection I make. Would love to live on Pears Ave, by the way. Some beautiful Victorian houses around there.

such an innocent, dulcet name -such a rigid, mechanical design.

I really like the steel frame. Too bad there aren't more setbacks. I love the side facing Avenue Road. But the side facing (Pears av?) looks generic.
I'd lose the silly overhanging roof on the podium.

my only problem with the podium (roof) is that it does not share the same consistent architectonic of the tower's faux beam framing.

This area needs some big towers, this is a step in the right direction, design is ok imo

Has this development started?

Wish they'd loose the clunky bell lightbox style balconies on the south side. Take away that and the fat overhanging podium roof and you'd have a beautiful building.

What are you talking about? Bell Light Box has wrap around balconies like Casa.

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/4232/dsc01662y.jpg

They should be starting construction by end of this year

construction to begin by June 2011

the old building has been demolished completely, only the sales building remains

Pretty solid infill. Pears Ave has a couple more mid-rise buildings planned, looks like it will become another new dense residential back street.

they are now starting to dig the ground

The sales office was taken down this week, most of the demolition work is finished construction will start shortly (probably by late january).