Epic news! The heights seem appropriate, and should fill in the skyline gap quite well from the lake perspective. Hopefully this also includes the parking lot (formerly Ritz sales centre) at the corner of Front/Simcoe. A 54 storey office tower should be around 210 m/710 ft range, something like Bay-Adelaide.


http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread.php/17751-156-Front-Street-West-(New-Residential-65s-new-Office-54s)
Breaking news from Toronto's planning applications page:

OPA / Rezoning 11 243742 STE 20 OZ Ward 20
- Tor & E.York Jul 22, 2011 --- --- --- ---
Rezoning application to demolish existing heritage building (RETAIN EXISTING HERITAGE FACADE ON SOUTH AND EAST SIDE) and construct 2 new towers with one common podium - RESIDENTIAL TOWER - 65 stories - 620 residential units - 6 levels below grade parking - 356 residential parking spaces - 160 BICYCLE PARKING SPACES - OFFICE BUILDING 54 stories - 6 levels below grade parking - 360 office parking spaces - 11 retail spaces - 37 residential visitor parking spaces


This is the building containing Canyon Creek and Joe Badali's. (between University and Simcoe, north side)

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/3228/frontstreet.jpg

ooo dis sho am good

Crikey! This boom just is not slowing down!! :shocked:

Maybe I was right about this being the new normal for Toronto. You get to a point where it can no longer be considered a cyclical peak, but a new equilibrium. :dunno:

A mock up done by a UT member to show the scale. This is not the design or massing.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x11/CanadianNational/154air.jpg

There was a newspaper article about "The Manhattanization of Toronto" a few years back, and it appears to be coming true...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1981037/
The ‘Manhattanization’ of downtown Toronto

You can just feel the energy here

One of the best things that has happened in Toronto of late has been the surge of office construction downtown. After more than a decade of stagnation in the wake of the 1990s recession, developers have returned to the downtown core all in a rush.

Three big new towers – Telus House, the Bay Adelaide Centre and RBC Centre – led the renaissance. At least three more big projects are rumoured to be in the works. Developers have made space for thousands more workers by renovating older buildings to create inviting “brick-and-beam” offices on the edges of the central business district. In all, says one developer, 4½- million square feet of downtown space has come to market in the past 36 months.

Michael Emory, president of Allied Properties, says that the era when office developers fled to the suburbs in search of cheaper land and lower taxes is ending. Why? Because the smart, younger people that companies most want to attract and keep like to work in the central city, where they can enjoy the bright lights and avoid long commutes. “What the current generation seems to want is the opportunity to live, work and play in the inner city,” says Mr. Emory.

With thickets of new condominiums going up, and offices now coming hot on their heels, Toronto’s downtown is undergoing a kind of Manhattanization, its downtown becoming busier and livelier by the month. It is vital for the city to sustain that momentum, and a new report from the Canadian Urban Institute suggests how.

The report points out that despite all the new building in the past few years, the downtown core still has only about 20 per cent of the office capacity in greater Toronto. Because of the flight of businesses to the suburbs over the past three decades, 905 municipalities now have 66-million square feet of office space, more than Calgary and Edmonton combined. Around 325,000 people work in car-dependent suburban offices. The institute calls that “the single largest contributor to congestion on GTA highways.”

To encourage developers to build more space downtown, the institute recommends lowering the gap between commercial and residential real estate taxes. The city actually began that process five years ago – an underappreciated move by former mayor David Miller – and the institute wants it speeded up.

It also wants to see the city protect potential office sites downtown. Many of these are being snapped up by condo and hotel developers for projects such as the Shangri-La on University and the Trump tower on Bay. Over the past decade, it says, “the number of sites available for office development in the core has shrunk dramatically, in contrast to the 905 where approval time frames are quicker and where sites are available in abundance…”

The institute urges governments to cook up a plan to promote the core as an international financial centre. Though plans call for creating 40,000 new jobs in the sector, “there is no accompanying plan for where these jobs are to be housed.”

The report doesn’t propose to reverse history and move all suburban office jobs back to the core, but it does want to make suburban office clusters work better. To that end, it wants governments to retool their transit plans to deliver more trains to where people actually work. At present, it notes, 108-million square feet of office space is beyond the range of mass transit.

None of these useful thoughts should overshadow the good news of Toronto’s office comeback. Combined with the condo boom, the gentrification of downtown neighbourhoods and the flourishing of arts and culture, it is a remarkable story of urban revival. Planning consultant Barry Lyon has worked downtown for 30 years, “and I have never seen the confluence of positive influences that we’re seeing now. You can just feel the energy here.”

"The institute urges governments to cook up a plan to promote the core as an international financial centre."

:lol: That'll be the day when the Federal Government agrees to promote Toronto as anything more special than any other hamlet, town or city in the country!
That would be "Torontocentric", and therefore the kiss of death, politically, regardless of how much sense it would make. Anything we ever achieve we will have
to do it by ourselves.

Great article, but the link is only for Globe subscribers. The article I was thinking of was older, and from the National Post. I think it was in their Saturday
"Toronto" supplement.

Size is perfect. Anything taller or shorter and it wouldn't fit in well with Ritz, Simcoe and RBC.

just north of this is shangri with these added its gonna add some nice tall density on the west core, looking from west WOW things are gonna look awesome

Preliminary height information from LeftCoaster on SSP, project still years away though.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5357985#post5357985

Residential tower is shorter. Office is 234.3m condo will be 221.9m. This is all likely to change however as this project is still in its infancy.

I'll post the renderings when I can, but for the most part they are massings and not incredibly detailed. They do show the shape of the buildings though.

I kind of like those two older buildings. Especially the loose moose one.... oh well. Might just be another one of those half ass facade-ism jobs.

Wow! Great news!

ehh, typical. lazy developers split it into 2 towers instead of stacking them on top of each other.

Such great news. What an exciting time to live in TO.

ehh, typical. lazy developers split it into 2 towers instead of stacking them on top of each other.

I severely doubt they'd get approval for a 456 metre tower.

Something to detract from the ugly CN Tower would be a good thing!

Such great news. What an exciting time to live in TO.

When are you going to move here?

I severely doubt they'd get approval for a 456 metre tower.

That being said though, stacking them up and creating park space would be logical.

Have official heights even been released? I thought these were in the ballpark of anywhere from 200 to 250 m.

From above:

"Residential tower is shorter. Office is 234.3m condo will be 221.9m. This is all likely to change however as this project is still in its infancy."

Massing model for this development:


Here's a better idea of what is coming:

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/4010/22444155.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/696/22444155.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

wow hope these go through they are huge and with ritz and rbc near gonna give a nice mountain around there

Looks like they will hit the street well. I like it.

This immediately became the proposal I'm most thrilled about.

http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/cgi-bin/top10.pl?rm=show_top10_project&id=d3c97e0cdf8626366fd74b921c8aa70aed0f24d0&projectid=9141527&region=ontario

CONDOMINIUM Proj: 9141527-2
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON CONTEMPLATED
156 Front St W, M5J
$200,000,000 est
Note: Owner has submitted applications for Official Plan Amendment as well as rezoning. There are no schedules at this time for design, tender, or construction. Further update late fall 2011.
Project: proposed construction of a 65-storey condominium and a 54-storey office tower. The condominium tower will contain 620 units and have six levels of underground parking totaling 356 parking spaces and 160 bicycle parking spaces. The office tower will contain eleven retail spaces and an undetermined number of office units. There will also be 6 levels of underground parking totaling 360 spaces. Scope of work is preliminary and subject to change.
Scope: 1,659,052 square feet; 65 storeys; 6 storeys below grade; 2 structures; 620 units; parking for 764 cars
Development: New
Category: Apartment bldgs; Commercial offices; Retail, wholesale services
Owner Complete information is available to subscribers. Click HERE to find out how to subscribe.
First report Wed Aug 03, 2011.
This report Thu Sep 22, 2011.

This immediately became the proposal I'm most thrilled about.

Despite having only a simple model, I'm inclined to agree (well...maybe second most after 45 Bay).


"The institute urges governments to cook up a plan to promote the core as an international financial centre."

:lol: That'll be the day when the Federal Government agrees to promote Toronto as anything more special than any other hamlet, town or city in the country!

Though now that Toronto is becoming more of a battle ground for all 3 main parties and an always large source of seats in parliament, perhaps they'll be forced to pay more attention to these types of things? (rather than the previous scenario of Conservatives neglecting us because we won't vote for them, and Liberals neglecting us because we'll vote for them anyway)

I'm especially happy about the office tower portion. Nice to see another one going up downtown, as we don't want every project to be a condo.

Wow! I can't wait to see some renders of this project. I will miss Badallies (sp?) Italian restaurant however.

Condos are great but we do need more office towers, especially around Bloor & Yonge. I wish we had more cultural, entertainment, amusement and tourist attractions going up too. You can never have too much fun.

I'm especially happy about the office tower portion. Nice to see another one going up downtown, as we don't want every project to be a condo.

Mate, took the words right outta my mouth. I come from a city with about 3 dozen condo towers over 90m u/c or expected to start by the end of the year with very few commercial developments. Toronto is a city i must check out, hit the bars, waterfront, cn tower, catch an nhl game at the dome and of course meet some hot canadian chicks Lol

^ are you a rare Australian hockey fan?

^ are you a rare Australian hockey fan?

Don't know a thing about ice hockey to be honest. So how do you think a fit, young 23 yo with an aussie accent do in Toronto? What really impresses me about this city is the non-stop condo boom on a scale i have never seen before. I think i'm gonna have to start a thread about the possibility of coming to Ontario as not to detract from the purpose of this thread which is this magnificent development. Flip of the coin toss between this one and ice as my favourite.

^^ Welcome to the group, and feel free to make a thread in the main section about your potential move here!

If built as shown in that model, they will fill in the gap between Ritz/RBC and the CBD very well. :)

I'm going to miss Joe Badali's too but definitely short term pain for long term gain. Maybe they can relocate north into the Entertainment Distict or to the St. Lawrence/Esplanade area.

Oddly, my former high school VP was also named Joe Badali. Pretty sure it's a different person though. lol

Maybe we'll be seeing Joe Badali's in the podium?

Hopefully, great restaurant though rarely busy for it's size. Most fools just go to East Side Mario's across the street.

Don't know a thing about ice hockey to be honest. So how do you think a fit, young 23 yo with an aussie accent do in Toronto? What really impresses me about this city is the non-stop condo boom on a scale i have never seen before. I think i'm gonna have to start a thread about the possibility of coming to Ontario as not to detract from the purpose of this thread which is this magnificent development. Flip of the coin toss between this one and ice as my favourite.

dude, you'll be slaying pussy left and right. aussies and irishmen have their work cut out for them. enjoy.

with projects like this i cant wait to see the skyline in about 6 years. and from now who knows what else is to come

Wow, Toronto is really booming, I've been following your forums for a while (since I plan to immigrate) and most proposals had been around the 150m Mark or smaller but recently theres just so many 200m+ on the rise or being proposed. I can't imagine how it's going to look by 2015 (year I plan to apply for visa) NY is going to have a North American rival!

EDIT - sorry for the fairly off topic post! :D

^^ Not at all, Matthew! Always nice to hear of an enthusiastic potential new Torontonian! :cheers:

Anytime I hear of an office proposal it goes to the top of my list of most anticipated builds. I can't wait to see some detailed renders of this project. It looks like the developer is looking to have it blend in with Ritz and RBC.

Imagine the view from Metro Plaza, or whatever it is it's called now (David Something place?). Anyways, Ritz, RBC, Theatre Park, Festival and now these to gems surrounding you. Love it.