that goes against liberal thinking...so there are laws against it?

basic economics...


No need to sign a deal with a group of people who wish to buy at a certain price.

The developer is the dominate person, they can do whatever they wish as they face such a high demand.

Just 90 people trying to earn a few bucks waiting in line. That's not a very big crowd.

I wonder why didn't the agencies strike a deal with the developer beforehand?

Not a very big crowd? You do realize the 90 people were camped out on the street for an entire week, don't you? It is not just a case of 90 people grabbing a Starbucks and wandering over to the sales office on opening day. :lol:

I'm disappointed. Thought it would surpass the CN Tower in height.

Me too..I'm crushed. I thought it was going to be much higher than the Burj Dubai :(


(I guess I should put in a "Joke" emoticon or fifteen people will be correcting me. ;) )



:)

278m is great why would anyone ever complain? And as for real super talls... as long as we have the demand developers and builders will come. Just need to earn it don't think Toronto is too far off from several 300-400m buildings. Just haven't had the vision and risk takers so far to make it a reality.

I'd say $25,000 is closer to average,

Even that price I find somewhat crazy

278m is great why would anyone ever complain? And as for real super talls... as long as we have the demand developers and builders will come. Just need to earn it don't think Toronto is too far off from several 300-400m buildings. Just haven't had the vision and risk takers so far to make it a reality.

no it's just my point is there's no better corner for a supertall. aw well im over it.;)

Well that corner currently has 2 gross out buildings..and a building which needs to be redeveloped...

so a supertall could still come into the picture at a point down the road.

Which building you think needs to be redeveloped? HBC?

Which building you think needs to be redeveloped? HBC?

The building on the southwest corner.

Well that corner currently has 2 gross out buildings..and a building which needs to be redeveloped...
.

Here they are. Won't be groups of conservationists protesting the demolition of these eyesores.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/1a7709a5.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/bcf82c01.jpg

and now we are all curious as to what will happen on the other side of the street?

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/cb94ee6a.jpg

Very true. The only thing that might be remembered fondly by some is the pedestrian only retail behind these buildings. This retail 'alleyway' isn't a great example of a pedestrian only strip, but Toronto doesn't have anything like that.

There are many areas just off Yonge that would make fantastic pedestrian only retail strips. That alley parallel to, and to the west of Yonge, and north of Wellesley. Another is that tiny roadway leading up to the side entrance of the Delta on the west side of Yonge south of Gerrard. Both of these would make fantastic little pedestrian malls if they were redeveloped.

An amazing opportunity presently exists to allow spill over retail from Yonge into pedestrian only areas. I doubt this will ever come to be though. Rather than developing alleys, they'll probably simply be built on top of. We'll probably end up with the standard grid everywhere. Dundas Square is a nice departure from this, but more would be nice.

The building on the southwest corner.

I agree; that corner is next. Man, I can't wait to see what they'll do there!

^^Hope they don't demolish the old beauty though!

It's not a bad looking building, but certainly not substantial or grand. It might be better to simply move it somewhere else than trying to incorporate it into a new tower.

For $25M penthouse, buyer didn't have to stand in line
CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR
Nov 17, 2007 04:30 AM
Gail Swainson
Real Estate Reporter

A Hong Kong businessman is Canada's newest King of the Castle – and he didn't even have to stand in line to buy his $25 million penthouse suite.

The unidentified buyer set a new benchmark for the country's priciest slice of downtown residential real estate this week when he bought the 7,500-square-foot suite at One Bloor East.

Toronto's newest fashionable address was the site of real estate mayhem when more than 100 brokers lined up, or hired others to stand in line for them, in the cold for more than a week for a chance to buy suites scheduled to open in 2011.

The building's 592 units were such a hot commodity that shoving matches broke out between irate brokers wanting to be first through the sales room door.

Architect Roy Varacalli says the penthouse takes up the entire 80th floor of the $450 million skyscraper, giving its owner an "absolutely spectacular" 360-degree view of the city.

If the buyer closes the deal within the prescribed 10 days, he'll trump Toronto billionaire Alex Shnaider, who revealed in August he plans to keep what he thought was Canada's priciest condo – valued at $20 million – in the Trump International Hotel & Tower he's helping finance.

But Shnaider said at the time his mansion-in-the-sky could be as big as 14,000 square feet, dwarfing the One Bloor East penthouse.

Varacalli said the One Bloor East buyer was sold when he heard the unit will have a 12-foot-by-20-foot indoor infinity or "vanishing edge" pool. The pool's infinity edge runs right up to a floor-to-ceiling plate glass wall at one side of the building.

"If you open your eyes underwater, you get a view of the city," Varacalli added.

"The buyer got wind of it and he wanted it."

When the building opens, slated for 2011, the sky-high suite will be loaded with high-end features including an elevator that opens right into the penthouse foyer and a private outdoor garden.

It is also to have five outdoor terraces, with in-floor radiant heat to melt snow.


The kitchen is the last word in ultra luxury, with a Cambrian stone top island, six-burner in-line gas stove, champagne pantry, steam ovens, under-counter crispers and a walk-in wine cellar. For party time, there is a separate caterer's kitchen.

The suite has three bedrooms, a library, music room, family room, nanny's quarters, floors made of wood, marble and limestone and 12-foot ceilings. It even has a cold room for fur storage.

And no close quarters at the bathroom sink here: the suite sports his-and-hers ensuite master baths.

Hers has a steam shower with heated floors and walls, a fireplace, wine fridge, lounge area and Agape soaker tub from Italy, made of stone and Corian, that fronts a solid glass wall.

"It's placed in front of a window so you can sit in it and look down on the rest of us plebs," Varacalli laughed. "It's pure opulence."

It will be One Bloor East's biggest, but not its only, penthouse.

The top three floors are set aside for top-of-the-heap suites. The two penthouses on the 79th floor have been the subject of $9.5 million offers.

Down on the 78th floor, three penthouses are still on offer for a mere $5.5 million to $6.5 million.

Interiors will be by Andrea Kantelberg, Toronto's top eco-designer, and feature sustainable green materials throughout.


The exterior, which has distinctive "wings" at the top, is designed with a unique sliding balcony-door system that reflects light and changes the appearance of the building depending on how the owners position them.

"What is interesting is that this puts the residents in charge of the design," Varacalli said.

Trump Tower currently claims to have the tallest condo spire on the drawing board, at 281.88 metres spread over 57 storeys. One Bloor East is to have the same number of stories in a slightly smaller package at 276 metres.

Aura, another condo project that was launched yesterday, is forecast to reach 243 metresVaracalli does nothing to tone down the edifice complex when he notes the Trump Tower gets some height from "that silly antenna on top."

He then jokes he'll extend the wings at his tower so it hits 282 metres.

One Bloor East's developer, Bazis International of Kazakhstan, has held back about 100 of the building's apartment suites for sale next weekend.

Apartments start at 585 square feet. The first three storeys are to feature retail space, with floors above that to include common areas and hotel rooms.


When the lineups started two weeks ago, suites were listed on a billboard at prices from $300,000 to $2 million.

By the time the sales office officially opened Wednesday, a new sign showed prices had inflated to $500,000 to $8 million.

The $25 million super suite was not among those put on offer to the queuing public.


While the price may seem crazy to many, Toronto isn't world class when it comes to superluxury condos.

Four 20,000-square-foot units at One Hyde Park in London, England, are rumoured to be up for grabs at $160 million each. There is talk that one has already sold.

Forbes.com reports that financier Martin Zweig owns the most expensive condo in the U.S., a $70 million penthouse perched atop New York City's landmark Pierre Hotel, overlooking Central Park.

"If you open your eyes underwater, you get a view of the city," Varacalli added.


And the city gets a view of you.

They will look like ants swimming way up there on the 80th floor!!

According to UT, Bazis is submitting 1Bloor East to a design review à-la-Aura. Hope its not too late.

soooo cooool

Great picture posted by 3Dementia over at UrbanToronto, showing the massive size of 1 Bloor E, compared to 2 other projects nearby, the Uptown, and Crystal Blue (that's Uptown in the centre, which is no slouch itself at 48 storeys)...1 Bloor E is going to be a monster...

http://www.upside-down.ca/sdphotos/3towers.jpg

For $25M penthouse, buyer didn't have to stand in line
CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR
Nov 17, 2007 04:30 AM
Gail Swainson
Real Estate Reporter

A Hong Kong businessman is Canada's newest King of the Castle – and he didn't even have to stand in line to buy his $25 million penthouse suite.

The unidentified buyer set a new benchmark for the country's priciest slice of downtown residential real estate this week when he bought the 7,500-square-foot suite at One Bloor East.

Toronto's newest fashionable address was the site of real estate mayhem when more than 100 brokers lined up, or hired others to stand in line for them, in the cold for more than a week for a chance to buy suites scheduled to open in 2011.

The building's 592 units were such a hot commodity that shoving matches broke out between irate brokers wanting to be first through the sales room door.

Architect Roy Varacalli says the penthouse takes up the entire 80th floor of the $450 million skyscraper, giving its owner an "absolutely spectacular" 360-degree view of the city.

If the buyer closes the deal within the prescribed 10 days, he'll trump Toronto billionaire Alex Shnaider, who revealed in August he plans to keep what he thought was Canada's priciest condo – valued at $20 million – in the Trump International Hotel & Tower he's helping finance.

But Shnaider said at the time his mansion-in-the-sky could be as big as 14,000 square feet, dwarfing the One Bloor East penthouse.

Varacalli said the One Bloor East buyer was sold when he heard the unit will have a 12-foot-by-20-foot indoor infinity or "vanishing edge" pool. The pool's infinity edge runs right up to a floor-to-ceiling plate glass wall at one side of the building.

"If you open your eyes underwater, you get a view of the city," Varacalli added.

"The buyer got wind of it and he wanted it."

When the building opens, slated for 2011, the sky-high suite will be loaded with high-end features including an elevator that opens right into the penthouse foyer and a private outdoor garden.

It is also to have five outdoor terraces, with in-floor radiant heat to melt snow.


The kitchen is the last word in ultra luxury, with a Cambrian stone top island, six-burner in-line gas stove, champagne pantry, steam ovens, under-counter crispers and a walk-in wine cellar. For party time, there is a separate caterer's kitchen.

The suite has three bedrooms, a library, music room, family room, nanny's quarters, floors made of wood, marble and limestone and 12-foot ceilings. It even has a cold room for fur storage.

And no close quarters at the bathroom sink here: the suite sports his-and-hers ensuite master baths.

Hers has a steam shower with heated floors and walls, a fireplace, wine fridge, lounge area and Agape soaker tub from Italy, made of stone and Corian, that fronts a solid glass wall.

"It's placed in front of a window so you can sit in it and look down on the rest of us plebs," Varacalli laughed. "It's pure opulence."

It will be One Bloor East's biggest, but not its only, penthouse.

The top three floors are set aside for top-of-the-heap suites. The two penthouses on the 79th floor have been the subject of $9.5 million offers.

Down on the 78th floor, three penthouses are still on offer for a mere $5.5 million to $6.5 million.

Interiors will be by Andrea Kantelberg, Toronto's top eco-designer, and feature sustainable green materials throughout.


The exterior, which has distinctive "wings" at the top, is designed with a unique sliding balcony-door system that reflects light and changes the appearance of the building depending on how the owners position them.

"What is interesting is that this puts the residents in charge of the design," Varacalli said.

Trump Tower currently claims to have the tallest condo spire on the drawing board, at 281.88 metres spread over 57 storeys. One Bloor East is to have the same number of stories in a slightly smaller package at 276 metres.

Aura, another condo project that was launched yesterday, is forecast to reach 243 metresVaracalli does nothing to tone down the edifice complex when he notes the Trump Tower gets some height from "that silly antenna on top."

He then jokes he'll extend the wings at his tower so it hits 282 metres.

One Bloor East's developer, Bazis International of Kazakhstan, has held back about 100 of the building's apartment suites for sale next weekend.

Apartments start at 585 square feet. The first three storeys are to feature retail space, with floors above that to include common areas and hotel rooms.


When the lineups started two weeks ago, suites were listed on a billboard at prices from $300,000 to $2 million.

By the time the sales office officially opened Wednesday, a new sign showed prices had inflated to $500,000 to $8 million.

The $25 million super suite was not among those put on offer to the queuing public.


While the price may seem crazy to many, Toronto isn't world class when it comes to superluxury condos.

Four 20,000-square-foot units at One Hyde Park in London, England, are rumoured to be up for grabs at $160 million each. There is talk that one has already sold.

Forbes.com reports that financier Martin Zweig owns the most expensive condo in the U.S., a $70 million penthouse perched atop New York City's landmark Pierre Hotel, overlooking Central Park.

Wow 25 million's the highest amount anyone has paid for a condo in the country!!

Why did you have to quote the whole article?! We can all read the article above.

I thought there were more posts for a sec^^:nuts:

Well you can have just quoted the title article of the article then.

Interesting article from current in the Toronto forums.

Article from the Toronto Star

http://multimedia.thestar.com/images/a5/0d/fee8583c48fe9d8c27459b4472b6.jpeg
ANDREW WALLACE/TORONTO STAR

A worker removes a sign to unveil an increase in price for new condos that went up for sale at One Bloor East last month. Almost 90 people took turns camping in a sidewalk lineup outside the sales office.



Condomania hits new heights

Dec 29, 2007 04:30 AM
Gail Swainson
Real Estate Reporter

Final details of Canada's priciest condo are still being firmed up with a buyer from Hong Kong. But it's safe to say that architect Roy Varacalli is working overtime to ensure that all the unnamed businessman's wishes come true in a $25million penthouse suite at One Bloor East.

In the year of the condo – people camped out on the sidewalks to buy them, sales eclipsed those of regular houses for the first time and prices kept soaring – One Bloor garnered most of the attention.

The 7,500-square-foot suite at the building will take up the entire 80th floor and features a 360-degree bird's-eye view of the city. Renderings, which fit the mould of what some in the industry call "real estate pornography," show the so-called infinity edge indoor pool that has a glass wall overlooking Toronto's downtown on one end.

The suite also features five outdoor terraces with heated floors, three bedrooms, library, music room, two kitchens, a walk-in wine cellar, cold storage closet for furs and his-and-hers ensuite master baths. Hers has a steam shower with heated floors, fireplace, wine fridge and imported Italian soaker tub fronting a solid glass wall.

Varacalli also says a few metres will be added to the building's distinctive rooftop "wings," to ensure that it's the tallest residential building in the city at 282 metres high.

That would trump the spired Trump tower, which – despite being cut from 70 to 57 storeys this year – claims to be Toronto's tallest planned residential building at 281.88 metres. The $25 million price tag also trumps the reported $20-million tab for the penthouse at the Trump tower, a record set earlier in the year.

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/288614

The east and west perspectives of 1 Bloor East, Uptown, and Blu are the first good representations I've seen of the as yet unbuilt cluster juxtaposed with one another. How will they compare to the existing Manulife Centre which is currently the tallest in this area? I imagine it is slightly taller than Uptown?

^ Uptown @ approximately 158 metres is a bit shorter than the top of Manulife.

I added the Uptown elevation (with Crystal Blu peeking out fro behind) to this other UT scale drawing of 1 Bloor East.

http://www.upside-down.ca/sdphotos/scale2.jpg

^^Will the retail frontage really be that huge. Is this to scale? Nice to hear it'll be officially taller than Stump Tower Toronto.

:) " Great structure, Toronto! "

Actually I screwed up the scale... 1 Bloor East should be a bit shorter like this:


http://www.upside-down.ca/sdphotos/scale2a.jpg

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks. Seems like the Uptown will get boxed in to a fair extent, especially when the southwest corner of Bloor-Yonge gets developed.

wow :uh: incredible tower :applause:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/1_Bloor_Night_Rendering.jpg

May 2008
http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/7070/futuresiteofoneblooreaspx9.jpg

:applause:

Nice! Saw that rendering on 1 Bloor's wikipedia page. :cheers:

It's not a bad looking building, but certainly not substantial or grand. It might be better to simply move it somewhere else than trying to incorporate it into a new tower.

Why not use it as retail frontage farther west on Bloor?

^^ Possibly, but then again, it could be moved any where. It will be interesting to see what happens in this spot. I can't see it remaining as is for much longer. Having said that, I'd rather that the north east corner gets redeveloped first. A massive overhaul to open up the concourse, Bay store, and subway to the street is much more pressing. The facade of the tower and the Bay is a complete failure as a street wall.

Adding to the substantial deficiencies, the structure and scale of the subway here is vastly inadequate to handle the traffic it gets. The bottleneck will only get worse once 1 Bloor East is opened.

Precisely, although they would have to get rid of the Bay's overabundunce of concrete first. After this is solved incorporating this old facade in the building would be ideal!
I wonder if any celebrities will buy here? Ellen Degenres bought a condo at L Tower in the financial district.

^^Stripping the Bay of its concrete would be the first step. Building a glass curtain so people can see into the store would draw more traffic in and beautify this stretch of Bloor. A giant atrium opening right down to the subway station and platforms would work well too.

The northeast corner is one of the most problematic development mistakes in the city. 1 Bloor East is the other extreme. It is exactly what was needed here.

They really have to build this tower. It really fits in Toronto and I like it :)

over at urbantoronto, someone is saying that demolition is to begin this week......:cheers:

^^ I'm almost giddy with anticipation. This is one of Toronto's most important developments in recent memory. It's scale, location, quality, and level of sophistication will transform the city. It's been over 20 years since Toronto got a tower that signified so much.

I wonder how deep they will have to dig? That would probably take over a year.

the digging will definitely not take a year, maybe the whole foundations ;)

Yonge and Bloor Changes Forever as Bazis Starts Work on 1 Bloor

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 22, 2008) -

ATTENTION: Real Estate, News, Retail, Business, Photo and Assignment Editors

Mark 2 p.m. on May 29, 2008, on your calendars. That is the day and time the face of Toronto changes forever.

It is when Bazis International starts demolition on the existing buildings on the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets to make way for its new 1 Bloor condominium tower, five-star hotel and shopping development.

Bazis' partners Michael Gold and Roy Varacalli as well as Toronto councilor Kyle Rae will mount a tracked excavator with a huge set of steel teeth and take a bite out of the existing building on the southeast corner of Bloor and Yonge Streets.

Involved is almost an entire city block from Bloor south to Hayden and east to the existing office tower on Bloor East.

To celebrate a significant moment in the city's history, Bazis is erecting a huge plasma screen 10 feet tall by 6 feet wide by the corner. It will show a video retrospective of the past 100 years at Yonge and Bloor.

As the black and white photos, gathered from archived collections, dissolve one into the other, a century of Toronto's busiest street corner will unfold. Horse drawn trolley cars will give way to Model T Fords. The corner was the site of the city's first traffic light.

Now it will become the home to the tallest residential structure in Canada.

"It will be a celebration of the spirit of Toronto," says Mr. Gold. "The past as prelude to the future."


WHEN: May 29 at 2 p.m.
WHERE: Southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets
WHAT: Start of demolition to make way for 1 Bloor


from www.marketwire.com

Very impressive video posted by urban 2.0 in the Toronto forum!

Varacalli also says a few metres will be added to the building's distinctive rooftop "wings," to ensure that it's the tallest residential building in the city at 282 metres high.


Demolition begins FRIDAY.

vh3l__mC07w

... never saw video before - looks really cool - esp. 3d flyby - my god - it's going to be a major landmark building.

That is one slick video...

great!!

great!!

Did demolition start yesterday?

Yes!

i was at a bar right across the street from the site last night... they have blocked off that ally that everyone uses to get to the subway, but as far as i could tell ... no demolition has been done yet

Can a mod plz change the title to 282m, U/C? Thanks

Wow, this is an exciting moment for Toronto!!

I wonder what that blue stripe is actually made of? Looks so intense.

I doubt it will turn out like that once finished. it's just a rendering ...

ive changed thread title.
good to see this one start.
cheers

Indeed. Exciting times in this city. This one will top out after Trump, so it will be interesting to see which will be the taller tower.

Meanwhile the official construction of Trump Tower began November 12, 2007 however, its thread (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=462662&page=9) status is still "Approved". Having just two floors below grade, Trump will be above ground very quickly.

1 Bloor's building mass will be decidedly taller. Trump's rooftop is at about 750 ft. (229m) The 280 m figure is for the very tip of that ridiculous spire.

Gay Towers:

1 Bloor will be taller and certainly more visible than Trump (which will be hidden between all the other towers.

Base
http://www.newcityskyline.com/CAM09_HOTEL_Smaller.jpg

wonderful, so toronto will get 2 new 280m+ towers in the next years :cheers:

How can a tower that is not even approved be considered under construction?

Approval is pretty much a given and should be finalized within the next few months. No one can predict what will follow and whether some NIMBY(s) won't appeal that decision further delaying construction a minimum of six more months

Gay Towers:
Was this a typo or intentional?
1 Bloor will be taller and certainly more visible than Trump (which will be hidden between all the other towers.
That's essentially what I wrote, so I don't understand the redirect.

Ooops, a typo. But no issue either way, I hope.

any render with the rest of Toronto skyline?

here's a rooftop pic of the 1 Bloor E site, posted by ProjectEnd over at urbantoronto.ca, showing that demolition has just begun..

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2013/2554457543_aa15da3475_b.jpg

demolition proceeding at the 1 Bloor E site..pics by tomms at urbantoronto.ca....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3163/2621575892_8c60f4c5ab_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/2620753769_304f0dced3_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2620755171_9e5178a20f_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/2621577348_27fd5d7f9d_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2620754135_d313e3b773_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/2621577160_1e142c8daa_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/2620755489_175cc2ff71_o.jpg

I walked by Yonge and Bloor this morning and am terribly excited for the blighted southeast corner to start its transformation.

Any news regarding the management of the hotel in this development? What about the retail?

so it's not under construction yet ... great ...

so it's not under construction yet ... great ...

some recent pics by dt_toronto_geek, posted at the urbantoronto.ca forum, showing slow but steady progress on the demolition...(subway line and station are directly underneath)..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee140/laserboy_TO/PICT1781.jpg

efforts are being made to save a window on the brick building centre right (not for facade, it will be carted away)...

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee140/laserboy_TO/PICT1779.jpg

and here's an old pic showing the same buildings, many years ago...note the mansard roof on the building to the left, which is still there today, but has been covered for years with aluminum panels...

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee140/laserboy_TO/f1257_s1057_it0053.jpg

soon to be gone...

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee140/laserboy_TO/PICT1805.jpg

It's a miracle this row of crap survived as long as it did. Perhaps, it is good that it took this long because the level of sophistication we're seeing in today's towers is light years better than what went up across the street 30 years ago.

What's the status on the Bloor streetscaping program ?

Thanks.

Currently the eastern portion is being worked on while the western will begin early next year. The whole should be finished by late 2009.

I just hope Holt's is rebuffed in its attempt to buy part of the sidewalk in front of their store and turn it into valet parking like high end grocery,Pusateri, did around the corner.

:eek2: When do you think it will be finished?

^^The archaeological venture will progress well into 2011. They've yet to dust the aluminum panals because re-upolstering a vintage chesterfield has gone way over schedule. They're still proposing an auction house set to open next July.

Currently the eastern portion is being worked on while the western will begin early next year. The whole should be finished by late 2009.

Sounds good! Can't wait to see the finished product.

There are some renderings available here:

www.bloor-yorkville.com

At their offices (where I used to work a year ago) there are very detailed renderings and samples of stones that will be used. I must say it'll be gorgeous once complete.

update, demolition of the site is in 2 phases - phase 1 is now complete, with phase 2, an area just south of the main site, due to commence shortly...photo by drum118 at urbantoronto.ca....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/2813431408_4547e91b32_b.jpg

Some developments of the past month.

latest city update as posted at UT....

"an overall height of 290.5 meters"....= 953.08399 Feet

81 floors plus the fins....

Approval recommended....

shoring rig onsite at 1 Bloor....this is the post-apocalypse Mad Max model X39....

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/7923/pixy014nl0.jpg

good news from the Toronto Star:

Massive tower moving ahead at Yonge-Bloor

Oct 08, 2008 04:30 AM

Donovan Vincent

The architect behind an 81-storey building at Yonge and Bloor vows the current economic slowdown won't jeopardize the project.

Architect Roy Varacalli said construction is expected to start in November and the project will take about 40 months to complete.

The tower project took another step toward final approval from the city yesterday, getting the green light from Toronto and East York community council. It's set to include condo and hotel units as well as retail and office space, and now heads to city council for a final decision at the end of the month.

Kazakhstan developer Bazis International is building the $450 million structure on the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor.

Varacalli acknowledged there are rumours the current economic downturn could stall or scuttle the project, but he insists there are no roadblocks in sight.

"Other projects are faltering, so people are questioning ours. But sales are there and we're moving forward," he said.

About 70 of the planned 612 condo units remain unsold, he said.

So it's 290.5 metres now?

hasn't been an SSC update for a long time on this project....here's what has happened...

- demolition of previous buildings complete...

- financing was originally through Lehman Bros., which fell through, then the developer announced that new financing had been secured through European lenders.

- rumour mill has it that Sofitel has signed to be the hotel component of the project.

- condos apparently 85% percent sold.

- still awaiting construction permit from the City of Toronto (for nearly 1 year now)

- some discussion that permit will not be issued until a separate project on Bloor St. has completed - due to a loss of one traffic lane requirement for this project's construction....this separate Bloor St. project is supposed to be finished this month, but probably won't be...

- more rumours that behind the scenes some progress is ongoing - a report that the developer recently paid the city $1 million for rights to a minor laneway...

- in the meantime, nothing has happened...here's a recent pic of the site by Danin Toronto at urbantoronto.ca....

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk122/d_sojat/Picture004.jpg

Causing much anguish for local Toronto skyscraper fans.....:ohno:

Rumours that a number of VERY upscale international retail outlets are duking it out for the podium space.

Nice curves ! Nice facade !

is this project still moving forward?

No one knows. The developer's keeping mum. Sales were ample to go ahead already last summer, but financing is tied in with bankrupt Lehman Brothers. We should have a definitive answer as to whether it's a go or not within 8 weeks.

thanks for the update :)

i hope construction picks up soon :)

No one knows. The developer's keeping mum. Sales were ample to go ahead already last summer, but financing is tied in with bankrupt Lehman Brothers. We should have a definitive answer as to whether it's a go or not within 8 weeks.

It would be a shame if this would not be built with 85% of the condo's sold, Sofitel has signed to be the hotel component and the base occupied with a retailer. :ohno:

It would be a shame if this would not be built with 85% of the condo's sold, Sofitel has signed to be the hotel component and the base occupied with a retailer. :ohno:
Agree totally, but if Bazis doesn't sort out its financing the tower's not going to happen. At least, that's my understanding.

This is more encouraging.

NATIONAL POST

Work on One Bloor to continue after loan deal
Posted: August 18, 2009, 10:27 PM by Barry Hertz
Neighbourhoods, Real estate
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/bazistower.jpg

By Giuseppe Valiante, National Post

The creditors of Bazis International, the developer of One Bloor, have decided to drop their receivership demands after the developer reached a deal with a third party to make full payments on a $46-million loan it received to build the tallest residential building in the country at the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets.

“A well-established Toronto developer has entered into a binding agreement with Bazis International for the One Bloor property,” read the statement by the development company. The full payment is to be made by mid-September. A source close to the deal said the 80-storey building will continue as planned. In July, Bazis International blamed the poor economy for it not being able to make payments on the $46-million dollar loan it received.

The building was scheduled to include more than 592 units, a luxury hotel with 126 suites and three floors for office and other commercial spaces. When plans for the building were announced, people camped out for days hoping to buy units in the elite real estate.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/08/18/work-on-canada-s-tallest-condo-to-continue-after-loan-deal.aspx

A reminder from the 1 Bloor East site:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/TorontoWest/1Bloor-rendering3.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/TorontoWest/1Bloor-rendering2.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/TorontoWest/1Bloor-rendering.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/TorontoWest/1Bloor-pool.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/TorontoWest/1Bloor-interior.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/TorontoWest/1Bloor-entrance.jpg

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w132/TorontoWest/1Bloor-commonarea.jpg

CTV and National Post report that this is now going ahead. The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star say it's not.

:weird:

How is this not a supertall? I've seen buildings in that forum which are under 80 stories.

^^ It mostly comes down to floor heights. Trump is 282 metres as well, but only 60 floors.

Potentially great news!!

I hope they start construction soon, but the design is not that good, they could have made something better for Canada's tallest residential tower. I prefer aura's design. talking of aura, is it cancelled?

not many press releases coming from Aura lately...although the sales office recently told someone at urbantoronto that construction would start before the end of ther year..

I think all developers are having a longer wait to get financing these days, even if they are substantially sold out...

Aura, btw, is being developed by the Montreal company Canderel...

This is more encouraging.

NATIONAL POST

Work on One Bloor to continue after loan deal
Posted: August 18, 2009, 10:27 PM by Barry Hertz
Neighbourhoods, Real estate
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/bazistower.jpg



http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/08/18/work-on-canada-s-tallest-condo-to-continue-after-loan-deal.aspx

This is absolutely gorgeous. :cheers:^^^^^^^^

not many press releases coming from Aura lately...although the sales office recently told someone at urbantoronto that construction would start before the end of ther year..

I think all developers are having a longer wait to get financing these days, even if they are substantially sold out...

Aura, btw, is being developed by the Montreal company Canderel...

Ok thx :)

nice ,i like it too

It is indeed a beautiful design and truly something that needs to be add up to Toronto's already exciting skyline. I love the so called " boxy" like existing buildings and super talls, but the city of Toronto really can use some new blood and additions as long as they are not that too mis-shaped or odd-looking. This one looks really like a building, a super tall, sexy, beautiful, awesome, jawdropping skyscraper that has to be built. Does anybody know if it is already under construction or not?

Looks like the tower is officially dead.


‘Mixed-use' condo to replace 1 Bloor project

One of Toronto's largest home builders will start fresh and develop a new mixed-use condominium at the site of the 1 Bloor luxury condo project after buying the property from its cash-strapped developer.

Great Gulf Homes confirmed Thursday it will take ownership of the site from Kazakhstan-based Bazis International Inc. in mid-September, writing a new chapter in a cautionary tale of marketing hype, frenzied sales and the crush of the global credit crisis.

Toronto's real estate world buzzed with word of the sale, as realtors fielded calls from anxious buyers concerned about deposits and the future of the project – once envisioned as Canada's tallest residential building – at the corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets.

"An affiliate of Great Gulf Homes has entered into an agreement to purchase the property and it will be closing mid-September," said Bruce Freeman, executive vice-president of Great Gulf. "We are presently developing plans for a mixed-use project."

He declined to elaborate, saying more details would be released after the deal closes, but The Globe has confirmed the purchase is strictly for the land and does not involve the previous owner's obligations, contracts or design.

In a terse statement, Bazis said all buyer deposits are protected in an escrow account, as required under Ontario's Condominium Act. A spokeswoman said neither she nor Michael Gold, the developer's Canadian president, could comment further because of a confidentiality agreement.

Buyers lined up for days in 2007 when units in the planned 80-storey, $450-million skyscraper first went on the block. About 500 purchasers signed deals ranging from $400,000 to several million. The average buyer has $80,000 to $120,000 invested.

Anna Cass of Royal LePage Your Community Realty was one of 1 Bloor's top sellers, and bought a unit for herself. To guarantee herself a piece of the project, she rented hotel rooms, dressed in disguise and hired students to camp out in the days before it went on sale.

Ms. Cass said people still want the prestigious corner location. She urged Great Gulf to "be fair" and consider 1 Bloor buyers first for its new project.

"If Great Gulf is smart ... they will offer all the agents and their buyers first crack and first discount, at a very good rate," she said.

Great Gulf has been involved in about 10 major condominium projects in the Greater Toronto Area in recent years.

Garth Juriansz of Re/Max Realtron Realty, who also bought for himself at 1 Bloor and sold several units to clients, said he'd take his buyers elsewhere if Great Gulf starts anew with "inflated" prices.

"It will be a significant mistake to throw all the people out and start again," he said.

1 Bloor's problems began last fall amid the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and credit crunch, when Bazis' partner in the land purchase, Lehman Brothers, went bankrupt. Mr. Gold sought new financing partners. In December 2008, he stopped making payments on a multimillion-dollar loan.

Local lenders bought the loan, then tried to place the project in receivership.

Last month, Mr. Gold agreed to sell the property as part of a court-approved plan to keep it out of receivership.

Gerry Miller, a real estate lawyer and partner at Gardiner Miller Arnold, said it's uncommon in Toronto for a condo project that has been fully conceptualized and well sold to falter suddenly. However, he said he would have steered his own clients away from 1 Bloor. "It was too expensive and unlikely viable ... it was just too big, too grand," he said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/mixed-use-condo-to-replace-1-bloor-project/article1259295/


Now, let's build something with a little more flavour.

Good grief! what an emotional roller-coaster.

This corner must be cursed.

Can you people relax, if you actually read the article and not only the ignorant title by its author, you would realize that Great Wolf bought the land and WILL build a tower there.
The design however will most likely be changed.

I will miss the giant electric razor.

I feel the project will go ahead but will be scaled down to make it more viable and more certain (easier to manage).

Can you people relax, if you actually read the article and not only the ignorant title by its author, you would realize that Great Wolf bought the land and WILL build a tower there.
The design however will most likely be changed.

lol. a changed design still means the tower we're talking about here is dead.
I doubt the replacement will be similarly tall or elegant.

I feel the project will go ahead but will be scaled down to make it more viable and more certain (easier to manage).

:lol: always nice to get feelings off of your chest. it is really up to great gulf now...they probably have the green light to go as high as the old 1 bloor...we shall see if they use all that height.

someone should change the title, under construction is misleading...

someone should change the title, under construction is misleading...

I'm guessing Proposal is more appropriate. And a mod should take out the number of floors and the height is now unknown.

Wow first the Trump tower gets scaled down 10 floors and now this? Come on Toronto, get some much needed height! :bash:

Wow first the Trump tower gets scaled down 10 floors and now this? Come on Toronto, get some much needed height! :bash:

We've still got Aura, although I don't want to jinx it.

We've still got Aura, although I don't want to jinx it.

Besides AURA, L Tower and ICE are both over 200 metres, and then there's that Signature tower at City Place. This is far from being a disaster. Toronto continues to grow by 100,000 people a year and the economy is rebounding nicely. A year from now, a lot of these development hiccups will be a distant memory.

Good grief....one major condo project changes paths and you would think the city had crumbled! Relax, folks. Something very nice will be coming to 1 Bloor. The recession barely slowed the city, and I think we will be hearing some exciting things soon.

Tall enough for me anyway, as long it reaches out up to 55 floors and can be an eye cathcher. Toronto needs to keep up with cities such as Toronto and perhaps there will be soon another project answering to those amongst us who like the so called "great razor" look or what it might be look like. It is a Skyscraper, it is Tall and it is BETTER THAN A LOWRISE or nothing at all, huh? ... The Taller, the better indeed

Toronto needs to keep up with cities such as Toronto

I'd imagine that Toronto is doing a fair job of this.

hahahaha, I see it now Skybean, sorry for the "typo". I was thinking of Chicago but kept typing in Toronto. LOL

^^Too bad. I thought you were being cleverly tongue-in-cheek.

What an awsome tower!

Amazing looking building!

^^Too bad. I thought you were being cleverly tongue-in-cheek.

So was I. :|

New website for the new building:

www.numberonebloor.com

I see 2x Threads on Trumpt Tower and believe 2x Threads about I bloor east as well?!

( let's buy a condo together!? = will be an investement anyway

Ay tis will be a great one.Too bad of the scaling down.Still Im excited.

What happens to the previous buyers? Would they have priority to get these units or those contracts are out the window for good?

no...i hope not. speculators only inflate prices...i don't think anyone but the speculators want toronto to become another vancouver...even though it looks more and more like it is inevitable, sadly. i hope great gulf does a better job of selling the units to people that need living space as opposed to profit.

A curve is good.

Posted by jw03 from urbantoronto.ca :

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/9397/photoeoy.jpg

Boy, they're keeping this one hush-hush. Hope it'll be worth the subterfuge.

Boy, they're keeping this one hush-hush. Hope it'll be worth the subterfuge.

What is a subterfuge GT?

I know what Sub means but terfuge?

It means deception and has French/Latin roots. Subter = beneath, fugere = flee

It means deception and has French/Latin roots. Subter = beneath, fugere = flee

Ahhhh de Souterrain etc.

Thanks a lot "yousaidso" !!!

I hope this project impresses. This needs to be a gem to counteract what is on the north side of this intersection ;)

^^ I liked 1 Bloor East a lot, and was surprised how many people came out against it when the project fell through. At 282 m, it wasn't too short for this important intersection, while the design seemed likely to age well. We may end up with a design as good or better, but a lot of people are not going to be happy regardless because of the lower stated height.

I'm still hoping for one big tower, rather than 1 or 2 small skinnier ones. Buildings with the monumentality of FCP create an important anchor. Toronto needs a big anchor at this end of the downtown core. A 250 m tower at Yonge and Bloor won't accomplish that. To do it properly, an anchor tower really should be in the 300-350 m range, not including spires or antenna.

Ahhhh de Souterrain etc.

Thanks a lot "yousaidso" !!!

Sometimes I wonder if everyone gets my nic. I'm sure some think it's a jumble of letters randomly put together.

^^ I liked 1 Bloor East a lot, and was surprised how many people came out against it when the project fell through. At 282 m, it wasn't too short for this important intersection, while the design seemed likely to age well. We may end up with a design as good or better, but a lot of people are not going to be happy regardless because of the lower stated height.

I'm still hoping for one big tower, rather than 1 or 2 small skinnier ones. Buildings with the monumentality of FCP create an important anchor. Toronto needs a big anchor at this end of the downtown core. A 250 m tower at Yonge and Bloor won't accomplish that. To do it properly, an anchor tower really should be in the 300-350 m range, not including spires or antenna.
Agreed, but what has leaked out so far indicates we're going to be disappointed with the height.

Agreed, but what has leaked out so far indicates we're going to be disappointed with the height.

Yes, I read those too. I've resigned myself to waiting for a proper anchor building on some other lot in that area. The southwest corner looks good! :colgate:

1 Bloor is going to be 65 storeys, so that's fairly tall for the area.

Any ideas how to change all this? I'm thinking of changing the title to 1 Bloor East | 65 fl | App. And then move it to the proposed skyscrapers section. Any input?

put it as approved or prep...either one works.

They don't even have a sales centre built or a tower design. It couldn't possibly be labeled as approved or undergoing prep. It does seem to have a new name though: 'One Bloor'

Change the name, and list it as a proposal. 67 floors is what they're saying.

Still no news of the project?

any rendering?

1 Bloor East will rise again, this time to 67 storeys
Toronto — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Published on Wednesday, Feb. 03, 2010 12:19AM EST

A curvy 65-storey condominium could be coming to 1 Bloor East, site of a much-hyped hotel-condo project that fell apart when a Kazakhstan-based developer lost financing.

The new plan envisions a tower with 687 units atop a two-storey, 104,000-square-foot retail podium, according to a site plan application submitted to the city's planning department Friday. It also includes four floors of amenities for residents – possibly including a spa – on top of the stores.

The luxury hotel envisioned by the site's former owner, Bazis International Inc., is no longer part of the plan.

Toronto firm Hariri Pontarini is designing the proposed tower at the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor streets, but the architects have yet to formally unveil drawings.

Great Gulf Group, which bought the site last summer, aims to start pre-selling condos at 1 Bloor East in the spring.

“We'll be going to sale within the next 60 days,” said Bruce Freeman, vice-president of the development company.

The fate of the vacant lot at one of the city's most-important intersections was uncertain after Bazis International's partner in the land deal, Lehman Brothers, went bankrupt.

Bazis sold the property to Great Gulf to keep it out of receivership.

Buyers and real-estate agents camped out for days in 2007 when the original condo was meant to rise to 80 storeys, which at the time would have made it Canada's tallest residential building. Prices ranged from $400,000 to $1-million. Bazis returned deposits to those buyers last fall.

New rendering:

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/2010-OneBloorRendering.jpg

www.numberonebloor.com



We need a title change too. It should read Number One Bloor | 65 fl

I think it is just gorgeous!

http://i48.tinypic.com/2ih9sac.jpg

I think it is just gorgeous!
It is very appealing, but height junkie that I am, I find it, based on this drawing, not tall enough.:bleep: But we were warned of this, so it comes as no surprise.

I'll need to see the other 3 sides, the base, and the crown before weighing in. My endorsement at this point in time is being dampened; I'm still stuck on the old design. I'll have to get over it. :?

^yeah, I'm interested if this design feature is mirrored on the east side and how the box shaped massing and feature translate to the narrow north and south sides

WELL! This is quite the pleasant surprise! I think I prefer this MUCH more than the previous design!

Are we sure this is the final design ??

it is nice, but it is not toronto.

it is nice, but it is not toronto.

I'm not sure what that means...

hate to say it but it looks oddly familiar...
i don't like it at all

I kind've like the design. The curving balconies element is slightly similar to the spectacular Aqua in Chicago, but much more conservative and toned down. Personally, I'd prefer something more grand and imposing for this intersection, rather than something chic and understated (and still fairly conventional) like this, but I'd still gave the design 6.5/10.

And as far as height is concerned, I won't be happy with anything below 250m.

I kind've like the design. The curving balconies element is slightly similar to the spectacular Aqua in Chicago, but much more conservative and toned down. Personally, I'd prefer something more grand and imposing for this intersection, rather than something chic and understated (and still fairly conventional) like this, but I'd still gave the design 6.5/10.

And as far as height is concerned, I won't be happy with anything below 250m.

I've heard it will be around 220 metres. Don't quote me on that though.

It's still too early to judge for me though. The people over at UrbanToronto are destroying this building based on one rendering. They have no idea what the podium or the roof feature looks like, so I'm waiting to see more angles. The most important thing about this building is how it meets the street, if it does that successfully than the building will be great.

I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt until more accurate renders come out.

Anything around 230m will be fine for this building. As for street presense, it should be strictly condo. Probably a dark tinted glass on the first couple of floors where the lobby and the amenities are. They are probably still working on the street level design so people should give their suggestion.

Okay, here's the new developer (Great Gulf)'s proposal... something very different for Toronto:

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6979/numberonebloor3.jpg

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7203/numberonebloor.jpg

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/OnebloorRend6-Mar10.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2744/4459346191_6efcfe4c1a_o.jpg

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/1707/numberonebloor2.jpg

SOURCE: UrbanToronto.ca / The Toronto Star

Nice! :)

The pink one is dizzy. :lol:

Some of those are from Romania - not even Greece, if that's you are thinking of.

dear... :)

wow... looks really great. I like the " hanging" gardens idea. Actually hope to see more of these platforms covered with tree's and green spaces on top more often and around town.

A view of the model at the VIP gala opening.

http://i39.tinypic.com/2lpfnd.jpg
http://tweetphoto.com/15621991

Thanks to interchange42 on UT for the amazingly comprehensive and informative pics and info.

Okay: lots of photos. To see larger versions, please visit my Flickr set, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/interchange42/sets/72157623692934598/) and play the slideshow, or click on the ALL SIZES button above the individual pics.

First, the overall model from various angles.

Here's something to look for, even though you will not see it: the building behind the balconies is not a rectangle. Each side of the building is angled two ways, with one angle running parallel to the street it fronts, while another portion angles out gently towards the street. The angling brings the building out toward the corner points of the balconies. If one were to pull those corner points out further, the building would look like a pinwheel from above... have I described that clearly?


from the west:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4463330334_0b9965cdf6.jpg


from the northwest:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2714/4463330468_ee7bf38daa.jpg


from the north:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2763/4462553879_10b2d2d6a0.jpg


from the northeast:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/4462553961_a67759ab77.jpg


from the east:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4462554059_39f8129280.jpg


and from the southeast:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/4462554163_ab8d21aa9c.jpg


Next, a look at the roofline, and a good time to talk about materials. The building will be clad in curtainwall, with the balconies edged with fritted glass, presumably producing an effect not entirely unlike KPMB's Festival Tower. Above the 65th floor the sculptural articulation of the balconies below will continue to the roof with the fritted glass, alternating with the clear glass of the curtainwall: this building will end up with a lantern style mechanical room up top.


from the northeast:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4462554661_59b26b3a99.jpg


from the northwest:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4463331450_b4e987a451.jpg


from the southwest:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4463331476_0c9543e926.jpg


from the southeast:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2717/4463331582_3801886dbc.jpg


Now for the podium and street level details of the model.


from the northeast, across Bloor Street:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2759/4463331312_845b512edd.jpg


from the north, as if from 2 Bloor East:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4462554343_486bd62560.jpg


from the northwest, as if from 2 Bloor West:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4463331032_2b02dbca78.jpg


looking down Yonge Street: (with a large indent at the corner with Bloor: could this be the Apple store's entrance some day?)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4463331218_7a374e5330.jpg


the Yonge Street facade: retail on floors 1 and 2, residential terraces on 3, 4, 5, and 6.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4462555309_212a50f90a.jpg


the podium from the southwest: vehicular access will be from a slightly widened Hayden Street.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4462555421_e576d62b20.jpg


spa level on the 7th floor from the southwest: the podium roof will hold 4 feet of soil for the trees and plants to grow in

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4463331794_f6f081f8d2.jpg


spa level from the south: indoor and outdoor pools, a view to the spa atrium

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2666/4462554971_af1b61762e.jpg


spa level from the east: the swim-in/swin-out pool

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4463331880_5e25939984.jpg


level 6: lower spa level, plus residences in the south end of the podium

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2657/4463332204_8731abdf18.jpg


level 7: outdoor spa level

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2791/4462555673_8d0f562240.jpg


Finally, the design team assembles by the model:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4462555771_83af20b53a.jpg

David Gerofsky, President and COO of developer Great Gulf, Anna Simone of interior design firm Cecconi Simone Inc., Janet Rosenberg of landscape architect Janet Rosenberg + Associates, David Pontarini of architectural firm Hariri Pontarini Architects.


Further details regarding the design:

Commercial space will be approximately 100,000 square feet, with 35,000 sq ft of that at street level, 45,000 sq ft of that on the level above, and 25,000 sq ft on the concourse (read: basement) level. A pedestrian mall connection will run through the ground floor commercial space from Yonge Street straight into the TTC connection in the Xerox building. One Bloor will not connect under Bloor Street to the Hudson's Bay Centre.

Ways to highlight the building's curves with light are night are being considered: LEDs may be used to trace the curves.

Suites are grouped in 4 sections:
The Podium: these suites do not appear to be on sale in the intial phase.
Silver: floors 8 through 38: 12 units per floor
Gold: floors 39 through 59: 10 units per floor
Platinum: floors 60 through 65: 6 units per floor
Those distinctions also have to do with level of finishing and features.

Sales are open first, and as of now, to buyers who purchased in the former Bazis project on this site. There is no firm date as yet to when the units will be on sale to the general public.

And now the question you've all been waiting for: the developer was asked at the launch if the building might increase in height before all is said and done. The answer: yes, it might, if the demand is there.

So for all of you screaming for 80 stories at Bloor and Yonge: if you want that, go out and buy a unit here. If you don't buy a unit here, don't whine incessantly about there only being 65 floors in the plan for this tower.

Questions?

42

I feel that the east facade (which will be partially hidden by the small office tower next door) is nicer than the west facade facing down onto Yonge Street. Woops :lol:

I just prefer the way the east side resolves into the crown more smoothly and elegantly.

Still pretty happy with this design though :)

Meh, it's okay, but it looks suspiciouly like Aqua Tower in Chicago.

This is going to fill in the corner nicely!

More high-quality images and info courtesy of UT.

http://urbantoronto.ca/content.php?320-One-Bloor-East-Launches


The 65 storey condominium and retail complex was designed by David Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini architects. Anna Simone of Cecconi Simone Inc. is handling interior design work. Landscape architect Janet Rosenberg of Janet Rosenberg + Associates is handling the design of the podium's outdoor amenities.

http://i40.tinypic.com/29n9q4p.jpg


The building's dramatic exterior features large balconies which run in sweeping curves up the tower. The fritted glass balconies give way to expose floor-to-ceiling curtainwall windows in a flowing band on each side.

http://i39.tinypic.com/jizywo.jpg


At night, the luminescent nature of the building's integrated roof-top mechanical penthouse becomes evident as lights glow through clear and fritted glass walls, marking One Bloor's spot at the centre of the city's uptown skyline.

http://i39.tinypic.com/98hbtu.jpg


The ground, second, and concourse levels of the podium will feature 100,000 square feet of retail space fronting Bloor and Yonge Streets. A retail lined interior pedestrian walkway will link Yonge Street to the TTC subway entrance in 33 Bloor Street East at ground level.

http://i40.tinypic.com/281bvwz.jpg


The podium will feature residential units with large terraces on levels 3 through 6. Some of level 6 and all of level 7 will be given over to a spa recreation club for the residents of One Bloor.

http://i41.tinypic.com/mragly.jpg


Janet Rosenberg's Seventh Floor Outdoor Setting

http://i40.tinypic.com/ouobx3.jpg


Residential suites in the building will feature 9-foot (approximate) ceilings. Gourmet kitchens and luxurious bathrooms will be finished to high standards and feature Cecconi Simone designed cabinetry. Some of the features pictured below are options to be selected by the buyer.

Kitchen View

http://i43.tinypic.com/2vlwrcw.jpg


Bathroom View

http://i43.tinypic.com/1z7z3s.jpg


http://urbantoronto.ca/content.php?320-One-Bloor-East-Launches

Don't say this often, but I love this design. I also like the interior, especially the bathrooms. Adore the layout, the curves, the angles and the progressive nature of the podium. This beats the Bazis proposals by a country mile and if I may say, for those of you living in Toronto, you are lucky to be living there at this moment in time. Toronto is really branching out in a good way architecturally.

From http://torontovibe.ning.com/

http://i42.tinypic.com/sy5a3a.jpg

The podium will feature residential units with large terraces on levels 3 through 6. Some of level 6 and all of level 7 will be given over to a spa recreation club for the residents of One Bloor.

http://i41.tinypic.com/mragly.jpg


Those units should be quite fabulous due the size of those terraces.

Shouldn't this one say Approved, not Prep?

I'll change it. It's whatever you guys tell me to do.

Not sure if the the old design is better than this...but still good!

Looks like a height increase is imminent here. 5-7 more floors are being sought which would put the new height close to 240 m. 70-72 floors? :okay:

No updates on this one for a long time apparently. Good news though, a construction trailer showed up last week.

By Jasonzed, on urbantoronto.ca, 11-6-10.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii108/jasonzedd/Mississauga4/20101106054.jpg

Well, X condo got registered today, which means that the road is now open for Great Gulf Homes to soon start constructing X2 also because X2 is for 95% sold out right now, so who knows, one of these days, they will start digging here too. :)

Let's hope so :D

This looks so cool, I can't wait to see it!

EDIT: in real life of course

It's officially quoted as being 70 floors and 238 meters.
However, it'll probably (thankfully) push a tad higher as the project is still in sales.

70 floors now, sweet!

Great. Cannot wait to see this baby go up.

Posted by androiduk from urbantoronto.ca. *


Application: Partial Permit Status: Not Started

Location: 1 BLOOR ST E
TORONTO ON M4W 1A9

Ward 27: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 10 299436 FND 00 PP Accepted Date: Nov 30, 2010

Project: Mixed Use/Res w Non Res Partial Permit - Foundation

Description: Part Permit - Permit to construct new mixed use building - containing commercial residential - 2 floors commercial (with p1 level commercial concourse) 67 Residential storeies - 732 residential units - 6 levels below grade parking. - 531 parking spaces - 52 Visitor and 479 residential



* No one seems to be sure if it's going to be 68, 69, or 70 floors. The p1 level confuses things.

By casaguy.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z133/markus919/2010/DSCN6222.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z133/markus919/2010/DSCN6223.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z133/markus919/2010/DSCN6224.jpg

Prep!

I seen this in Chicago. It not as wavy as Aqua and they toned down the base. I really like it

This was posted a few weeks ago on urbantoronoto.ca, gives some good details of the timeline.

"and from today's Daily Commercial News..."

"CONDOMINIUM APARTMENT, RETAIL Proj: 1320817-18
Toronto, Metro Toronto Reg ON NEGOTIATED/WORKING DRAWINGS
One Bloor Condos, 1 Bloor St E, M4W 1A9
$50,000,000 est

Start: August, 2011 Complete: June, 2013

Note: Sales and marketing are underway. Working drawings are ongoing. Working drawings will be completed sequentially with construction Spring/Summer, 2011. Const Mgr is seeking building permits for excavation, foundations and shoring. Excavation of the six-storey underground parking structure will proceed beginning Spring, 2011. Structural construction is anticipated late Summer, 2011. Sub trade tenders will be issued sequentially to an invited list. Further update June, 2011.
Fluent Engineering is the LEED Consultant for this project. www.onebloor.com

Project: concrete foundation, cast-in-place concrete structural frame, curtainwall exterior, fuel fired heating system, proposed environmentally friendly construction of a 65-storey condominium building, with 690 units and 100,000 sq ft of retail space on the first and second floors. Also included will be 27,000 sq ft of amenity space for residents on the sixth and seventh floors. The sixth floor will feature a spa with treatment rooms and steam suites, and will have an outdoor terrace and bar. The seventh floor will house two pools, a fitness room and 19,000 sq ft of outdoor space. The project will be certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
Scope: 600,000 square feet; 65 storeys; 6 storeys below grade; 690 units; parking for 500 cars; 4 acres

Development: New
Category: Apartment bldgs; Retail, wholesale services"

and I am going to live in this magnificent building! ... yeahhhhhhhh!!!!

this is the building, I am going to choose to live in and buy a beautiful condo at. That for SURE! this is my hood and I want to be close to TB! :)

and by then, who knows, I might be even working for that luxuary Spa in the same building! ;)

Daily Commercial News is wrong, as usual. One Bloor actually is 70 storeys tall, not 65.

Is something the matter?

I assume they're still waiting on a permit?

I assume they're still waiting on a permit?

April?

I assume they're still waiting on a permit?

Rumor over at UT is that Number One Bloor is getting an additional 200 units putting it over the 1000ft mark. This might be what we're waiting on?

Hmmm... I like that rumour!

I'm only luke-warm on the design, so not sure I'd want it as the city's first official supertall, but I'll take it. It isn't as if the opportunity comes along everyday.

TORONTO | Number One Bloor | 70 fl | 238 m | Prep

The girl at the sales office said today that the dig begins "Early Spring"

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/WINTER%202008/Winter%20Part%20Two%202009/Late%20Summer%20Early%20Fall%202009/2010%20Summer%20Part%20Deux/Winter%202011/IMGP9701iMar1411.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/WINTER%202008/Winter%20Part%20Two%202009/Late%20Summer%20Early%20Fall%202009/2010%20Summer%20Part%20Deux/Winter%202011/IMGP9702iMar1411.jpg

One Bloor Lobby

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/1BloorLobby750.jpg

Lounge

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/1BloorLounge750.jpg

Party Room

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/1BloorPartyRm750.jpg

Spa

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/1BloorSpa750.jpg

Pool

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/1BloorPools750.jpg

Terrace

http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/1BloorTerrace750.jpg


http://urbantoronto.ca/picoftheday/images/1BloorFullHt750.jpg

By drum118, May 11th.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2478/5712649832_ceea4de866_b.jpg

I'm only luke-warm on the design, so not sure I'd want it as the city's first official supertall, but I'll take it. It isn't as if the opportunity comes along everyday.Really? I love the design. I think it's the best designed Toronto 'raper since the Mies van der Rohe towers at TD Centre. I think it's the perfect candidiate for Toronto's tallest.

I think it is going to be amazing and quite possibly the most exciting tower going up next year! :cheers:

By androiduk, a couple days ago. Equipment has shown up at the site. Digging looks imminent.

http://andrewfare.com/UTB/mytoronto14/1bloorgo.jpg

http://andrewfare.com/UTB/mytoronto14/1bloorgoa.jpg

I love design so much that I want one for my city. But I don't think it should be a supertall.

By gan4volta

6/19/2011
http://s42.radikal.ru/i098/1106/bb/4f3bef13ceda.jpg (http://www.radikal.ru)

http://i012.radikal.ru/1106/e3/28034d2bdc63.jpg (http://www.radikal.ru)

By androiduk, a couple days ago. The start of digging looks imminent.

http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto15/1bloorjly7.jpg

Gosh, finally! was about time to start with this beauty. My ex-neighbors at X won't be happy to see their views being ruined, but I 'd be happy if I would see taller structures arise on Yonge/Bloor

gorgeous interior design.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2011/15/c5610.html

Great Gulf Breaks Ground at One Bloor
70-Storey, $450 Million Condominium Community
Now Under Construction

"TORONTO, July 15, 2011 /CNW/ - Today (July 15, 2011), Great Gulf celebrated the highly anticipated groundbreaking at One Bloor, the multi-award-winning company's flagship condominium residence situated at the crossroads of Yonge and Bloor in Toronto. Now 85 per cent sold, and in response to consumer demand, five more storeys have recently been added, bringing the condominium's total height to 70 storeys and the number of suites to 732. "

Time to move this to the construction section! :)

the interior was awesome!very unique!

Amazing. I love interior and ext. As well.

By dt_toronto_geek, July 23rd.

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx341/scullydog259/OneBloor1_July23-11.jpg

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx341/scullydog259/OneBloor2_July23-11.jpg

By androiduk, today.

http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto15/1bdday.jpg

del

http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac197/innsertnamehere/DSCN1028.jpg

by me today

it seems that the piling for this has begun! (not visible in pic)

By androiduk,
http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto15/1ba26.jpg


By jivey80,
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-dw3LVtAScxc/TlfpQuig3KI/AAAAAAAAClQ/duD4c6LYBCw/s800/Toronto-20110826-00176.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-gWH_aZ3hsSE/TlfpQmubFOI/AAAAAAAAClU/3_aqQwazRNI/s800/Toronto-20110826-00177.jpg

It's incredible how many towers are UC in Toronto. This is a master one!

I cannot wait for this project to complete :)

By drum118, Aug 31st.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6085/6101866561_e3198e6af4_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6087/6101866971_f24ce346c4_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6205/6102414168_3eea825006_b.jpg

By cruzin4u,

http://www.candidbling.com/1bloor-15-09-2011-1.jpg

http://www.candidbling.com/1bloor-15-09-2011-2.jpg

http://www.candidbling.com/1bloor-pano-15-09-2011.jpg

By androiduk,

http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto16/1bs16.jpg

By drum118, Sept 15
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6173/6155590952_d85834b857_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6076/6155046205_2d16531965_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6090/6155049663_7c499fe487_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6152/6155593352_5ca07ac5fd_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6182/6155048457_9566092ae4_b.jpg

In a few months I'd be able to upload updates of pictures taken from my balcony

By androiduk, Oct 6th.

http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto16/1bo6.jpg

By androiduk, Oct 12th.

http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto16/1bo11.jpg

One Bloor East reveals T.O.'s unquenchable thirst for condos
The Globe and Mail (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/one-bloor-east-reveals-tos-unquenchable-thirst-for-condos/article1991333/)
Published Thursday, Apr. 28, 2011 6:02PM EDT

It's the sexiest vacant lot in Canada. What it lacks in amenities, it makes up for in location, location, location: the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor Streets, Toronto’s crossroads, where the city’s most important subway lines meet underfoot. Just to the west is the snootiest row of shops in the country—Holt Renfrew, Cartier, Tiffany, Hugo Boss. A bit to the east soar the stately headquarters of corporate titans Manulife and Rogers.

This acre of dirt is rich in history, too—the post-millennial kind. It was the figurative summit of the city’s frenzied condominium boom of the 2000s, and ground zero for the bust stemming from the financial crisis in 2008. But most important, One Bloor East stands—or, rather, just lies there, for the moment—as an emblem of Toronto’s unkillable condo market. For that bust was quickly reversed by a stunning resurgence, despite a punishing recession.

If you were making a movie of this saga, you’d set the first scene on Nov. 13, 2007. Hundreds of people line up on the sidewalk for the opening of the neighbouring sales office for One Bloor East. The proposed 80-storey condo and hotel tower will be the tallest in Toronto. Many of those in line are stand-ins, hired by real estate agents, and they’ve been waiting in line for days.

Just before the office is due to open, the crowd groans as sales staff hike the range of condo prices advertised on a sign outside—$300,000 to $2 million becomes $500,000 to $8 million. Agents squawk into cellphones to their head offices or clients overseas, then barge in and place orders anyway.

Now jump to the summer of 2009. Condo sales in Toronto have plummeted by more than half. At One Bloor East, exit Bazis International Inc., an upstart developer that had arrived on the scene in 2005. Exit also Bazis’s ambitious young Russian-born CEO, Michael Gold—forced to sell the Yonge-Bloor lot to relieve a cash crisis. Enter the buyer: the Great Gulf Group, wily old development pros.

The next scene is set on March 24, 2010. It’s a low-key party for select real estate agents being held by Great Gulf to open its sales office for One Bloor East. “We aren’t opening to create lineups,” declares Bruce Freeman, Great Gulf’s executive vice-president of sales and marketing. The company doesn’t have to; it has already sold almost 85% of its 693 units, most of them by reclosing Gold’s clients.

A keenly interested bystander is Gold. He may have lost One Bloor East, but he’s now a comeback kid who will soon be able to point to his three other condo projects in Toronto.

There’s only one cinematic problem here: It’s a bogus journey for the only characters a young movie audience could identify with—first-time homebuyers. Vast numbers of them were priced out of the market for houses in Toronto and many other Canadian cities in the early 2000s. Condos are their only alternative. And, after all, new condo buildings have their attractions—One Bloor’s plans include a shopping mall, two pools, and a two-floor spa with a gym, yoga studio and “foot relax basins.” But the average new condo in Toronto now costs about $500 a square foot. That translates into about $250,000 for an entry-level one-bedroom of just over 500 square feet, and maybe twice that price or more in One Bloor or even ritzier downtown developments. Before monthly fees, that is.

How did this happen? Is permanent condo mania the new reality? Or is the market headed for another crash—a real one this time?

**********************************

Typically, it takes about five years from the purchase of a condominium building site to buyers moving in and the developer collecting its money. In between, the developer and its partners and lenders are vulnerable to any upheavals in the real estate market and the economy at large because they are highly leveraged and they are stuck with a large, illiquid asset.

In the case of One Bloor, Bazis bought almost all of the lot for about $63 million in December, 2006. Gold, who’s now 48, won’t say how much of that money was Bazis’s, but, typically, the developer only puts up a fraction of even that initial outlay. Some of the rest may come from equity partners who take an ownership interest in the project, but the bulk of it is usually borrowed. Bazis had what looked like a top-drawer equity partner, Lehman Brothers, the giant New York investment bank, and a rock-solid lead lender, the French bank Société Générale, which had agreed to head a consortium of European banks that would provide the construction loans.

Even though it was near the peak of a boom, Bazis’s plan for Yonge and Bloor was startling. The southeast corner of the storied intersection had been an eyesore for decades—a ramshackle block of low-level storefronts, many of them fast-food joints. “For us, it was an opportunity to do a signature project,” says Gold. “It was going to cost $450 million to $500 million.” One Bloor would have a three-storey mall at its base, a 15-storey hotel, and 65 storeys of condos, shooting high above everything else in sight.

The lineup frenzy in November, 2007, and an average sale price of $850 a square foot were also impressive. One buyer from China reportedly signed up for a penthouse worth $24 million. Still, Toronto’s real estate industry was skeptical that Bazis could pull it off. “They had money, but they didn’t have a lot of credibility,” says veteran condo realtor and developer Brad Lamb.

Getting at the reality behind the perceptions is hard. Like most sizable Canadian residential developers, Bazis is privately owned and doesn’t disclose its financial results. Gold is also guarded about his family, which adds to the air of mystery around One Bloor East. He says his background is modest—his father is an engineer and his mother an accountant, and the family emigrated from St. Petersburg in 1977. Gold studied general arts and sciences at York University, then ran several businesses in the 1990s, including clothing stores in Toronto. His plunge into development didn’t come until after he got married in 2005. His wife is from a family of developers in Kazakhstan, a fast-developing but democratically deficient petro-state in central Asia. Initially, Bazis in Toronto was an arm of a parent company of the same name in Kazakhstan.

In late 2007, the Toronto market was so hot that there appeared to be room for plenty of upstarts and glitzy new high-rises. More than 130 condo projects launched that year in the city and surrounding suburbs, and sales of new condos soared by 32% to a record 22,399 units.

In May, 2008, Gold razed the stores occupying the One Bloor site. He’d sold more than 80% of the condo units, leased more than half the retail space and had lined up the European chain Sofitel as the tenant for the hotel. That was more than enough to satisfy SocGen and its consortium, which lent Bazis $250 million for construction.

That’s a lot of money, though, which is why condo developers and lenders typically take several steps to limit their risk. The lessons of past markets are still fresh in their minds. In the not too distant past, banks often financed projects with relatively few presales. In the late 1980s, deposit requirements for condo buyers were just 5% to 10% of the purchase price and buyers could resell units, even in proposed buildings, days after they bought them. “Everyone was an investor,” says real estate consultant Barry Lyon. “The cab driver, the barber—everyone was picking up a condo to flip it.” This layering of levers collapsed with a vengeance when Toronto and many other Canadian cities went through a spectacular real estate bubble and bust in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Now, government regulations and bank lending practices require developers to sell 60% to 70% of their units before they can get construction financing. Canada’s big banks and other lenders limit the amount they will put into any one development, and the total dollars they will lend in individual cities and regions. They also like to see a developer ally itself with an equity partner—or several—with deep pockets and a track record.

By September, 2008, Gold had jumped through all those hoops. But on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 14, he received a fateful phone call at home. It was his contact at Lehman, who said, “Turn on CNN. We are bankrupt. We will not be in a position to finance anything.” Gold was incredulous. “This was a $639-billion investment bank,” he says, “$639 billion.”

SocGen and its consortium also headed toward the exits. Gold quickly called a meeting with representatives of all the banks, and pleaded: “Guys, we have the presales. The people are there.” But at that point, the finances of One Bloor itself were irrelevant. It looked like no bank in the world was safe, and each of Gold’s lenders, as he remembers, pointed at the others and said, “We don’t know if that bank is going to be there in six months.” Soon after, SocGen shut its North American real estate office.

What about the deposits that One Bloor buyers had put down—20% in most cases? Gold couldn’t get at them because, by law, that money is locked in trust accounts until closing.

The nightmare then got even worse for Gold. A trio of Toronto vulture investors had bought Bazis’s loans for the property from its bankers at a discount to the full amount, hoping to foreclose if the company couldn’t make its payments. “It’s like when you have a mortgage on your house,” says Gold. “The bank can sell that loan to anybody, at any given time.” In April, 2009, the investors filed a lawsuit in an attempt to seize control of the One Bloor project. Two other Bazis condo projects in Toronto were also on hold, and industry gossip had it that Gold’s company was about to go under.

As shocking as the global meltdown was, Gold says the timing could have been even worse—it could have come when he’d already started building One Bloor. “In high-rise construction, once you start, you can’t stop,” he explains. “You can’t say, ‘I’m going to stop at floor 12, or take out floors 18 to 22, and then continue on.’” And very few developers have enough cash on hand to pay construction workers and suppliers out of their own pocket. Nor can they sell off small portions of properties or buildings to pay bills as they come due. “In our business, we have big assets, but we roll the money,” says Gold. And so, as the financial crisis took hold in late 2008 and early 2009, a game of chicken between developers and lenders began.

**********************************

In retrospect, you wonder how anyone could believe that all the world’s major banks and real estate markets could crash at once, especially in Canada, with its highly centralized and tightly regulated financial sector. But things sure looked scary at the time to developers. Brad Lamb was arguably in worse shape than Gold—Lamb had four condo projects worth $300 million on the go. “I had 700 condos, sales were dead and I had no construction loans,” he says. “It became evident to me that I was screwed.”

But developers had several things going for them. One was the Bank of Canada. Like central banks in all the world’s leading economies, it slashed interest rates and injected billions of dollars into the chartered banks to encourage them to keep lending. For the most part, the banks still wouldn’t grant loans for new projects, but they were carefully doling out money for many that were already under way or ones that met the 70% presales threshold.

Developers also scrambled to adjust. To get construction loans for his four projects, Lamb managed to push presales over 80%, and injected more of his own equity into them—several million dollars.

Gold bobbed and weaved, too, with mixed results. He kept control of Exhibit, a proposed 32-storey tower across the street from the Royal Ontario Museum’s striking and controversial Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, and Emerald Park, twin green glass towers slated for a busy intersection in northern Toronto. To do that, however, he had to invite in two respected Toronto developers as equity partners in both projects: Plazacorp Urban Residential Communities and Metropia. That helped secure construction loans.

Gold wasn’t as lucky at One Bloor, a much bigger proposition. No Canadian bank was willing to lend him $250 million. Nor would the four largest banks even split the risk. And the vulture investors were circling. In September, 2009, Gold tossed in his cards at One Bloor and sold the lot to Great Gulf, although neither he nor Great Gulf will call it a distress sale. “We were interested once we knew it was available,” says Great Gulf’s Bruce Freeman. He won’t disclose the purchase price, but Gold says it was about $53 million, a painful haircut for him. Bazis also retains a small ownership interest in One Bloor (Gold won’t disclose the size). As for the One Bloor buyers’ deposits, those were released from trust accounts, and Great Gulf has since reclosed three-quarters of the sales.

If rock-bottom interest rates made that feat possible, the fact remains that for homebuyers, low interest rates are always a mixed blessing. They make it easier to borrow, but they also inflate prices. The trigger for the real estate crash of the early 1980s was mortgage rates that soared to near 20% as the Bank of Canada and other central banks tried to suffocate double-digit inflation. They relented somewhat in the mid-1980s, and the real estate market boomed again. But even in the late 1980s, many mortgage rates remained above 10%, and the Bank yanked them even higher in 1989 and 1990.

In 2009, by contrast, the Bank was doing everything it could to keep the economy alive and avoid a U.S.-style real estate meltdown. At the variable mortgage rates of 2.5% or lower that prevailed in 2009—as they continue to do—even a $1-million loan carries for just $25,000 a year in interest charges. Knowing this, Toronto developers and realtors held the line on condo prices and waited for buyers to come back.

They didn’t have to wait long. Again, the turning point was a lineup. On Nov. 25, 2009, Great Gulf opened its sales office for X2, a proposed 42-storey high-rise two blocks east of One Bloor. It was the first opening of a major condominium project in the city in a year. With overall sales in the market still slow, Great Gulf priced units $15 to $20 per square foot below what it figured were the market averages. The company needn’t have bothered being so cautious. As in 2007 for One Bloor East, some real estate agents camped out for days. And there was shouting and shoving when the doors opened.

“Did that surprise us? Yeah.” says Freeman. “We had a situation that day.”

**********************************

The “condo-monium” over X2, as one newspaper headline described it, gave the whole Toronto real estate market a shot in the arm. Total sales of new condo units for 2009 closed the year at 15,544, down about a third from the peak in 2007, but still respectable. Last year, new condo sales soared back to 20,897, second only to 2007. Resales of existing condos set a new record: 21,147.

Freeman, one of three Great Gulf executives who co-founded the company in 1975, says that the 2008-2009 real estate slump turned out to be less severe than busts at the beginning of the 1980s and the early 1990s. “Business was difficult, but manageable,” he says. For Great Gulf, that is explainable partly because it is much larger and more diversified than Bazis and many other developers. Great Gulf builds both houses and high-rises across Southern Ontario, and has averaged about 1,000 new units of each in recent years. In booms or busts, it’s easier to speed up or slow down construction of a new subdivision of single-family homes than a condo tower.

The company has also scaled back slightly at One Bloor, which is scheduled for occupancy in 2014. Gold’s proposed 15-storey hotel is gone. But Great Gulf is still promising plenty of pizzazz, including an exterior pattern of balconies by architect David Pontarini that is “sculpted with piano curves to evoke a warm modernism that is organic and timeless.” Young buyers, in particular, appreciate bells and whistles like inspired design and footbaths.

The trouble for them is the price of the basic product. The same goes for their only realistic alternative: rentals. The still-buoyant real estate market hasn’t just kept house and condo prices high; it’s held rents aloft as well. Developers in Toronto and other major Canadian cities stopped building large new rental high-rises in the 1970s. That was partly due to rent controls in Ontario and other provinces, but also because condominiums offered a faster, more certain payoff to a developer—once the building is completed and you’ve sold the units, you’re out. You don’t have to manage and maintain it for years, even decades. As for owners, they could either occupy the units or make a pretty penny renting them out. “Condos have become the de facto new rental supply,” says consultant Barry Lyon. That supply is much more expensive than old rental high-rises. Lyon and other analysts say that renters typically pay 50% more for a new condo unit than they would on rent for a comparable apartment in an aged building.

And whenever condo prices and rents rise, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver, there’s a temptation to blame speculators—foreign ones in particular. Lyon says that foreign buyers are certainly a big and steady source of demand, but the “speculator” label no longer applies. The minimum deposit for foreign purchasers is now 35%, and, like Canadian investors, foreigners typically hold units for several years, Lyon says. On the other hand, he acknowledges that some realtors’ estimates that 25% to 40% of all new condo sales in the Toronto area last year were to overseas customers are probably close to the mark.

To those international investors and others, Toronto still looks relatively cheap. Average prices per square foot for new condos climbed from $456 a square foot in January, 2010, to $510 in January, 2011. But Toronto’s prices are still only a third of those in central London, half those in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and about two-thirds of those in Manhattan. Toronto appears safe and cosmopolitan, too—no ethnic or religious strife, drug wars, dictators or earthquake fault lines. “I don’t think we appreciate ourselves what a great city we have,” says Lyon.

Nevertheless, many economists say that something will have to give soon. In a widely publicized research note published last November, David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates, said he was “pleasantly surprised by the fact that the real estate market has eased, rather than busted. Be that as it may, a more pernicious turndown in real estate values cannot be ruled out, especially if the Bank of Canada follows the market and resumes its rate-hiking program early next year.”

Developers like Gold and Lamb smirk at those kinds of predictions. “I don’t think a one- or two-percentage-point increase is going to affect the market,” says Gold. “We aim at a segment that is more of a higher-end luxury product.” Lamb argues that house prices in central Toronto have soared permanently out of reach of the vast majority of buyers—$1 million for a sizable family home. That leaves condos, and he’s concentrating on the fat middle of the market, whose centre of gravity is around $500,000. He adds that if you look beyond the hype that ultrahigh-end Toronto projects such as the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, Shangri-La Toronto and the Trump International Hotel and Tower have generated in recent years, most other developers are catering to that middle as well.

Still, even Lamb acknowledges that the city might reach a price threshold within a few years. He figures that will be when the average new condo hits $750 a square foot. At that price, and with interest rates slightly higher than they are now and downtown condo rents averaging, say, $3 per square foot per month, he says that buyers will “get to zero.” That means their rental income will no longer exceed their mortgage costs.

Lamb adds that developers won’t be able to adjust by reducing the size of their units any more, either. Even One Bloor East, a centrally located, upscale project, is approaching the minimum realistic size in many of its “suites.” And a new-condo market dominated by young single buyers over the past decade is aging. “What happens if they couple up?” asks Barry Lyon. “Is 550 square feet enough?” Add a baby carriage to that equation and you have to wonder.

Don't know why this get's moved all the time but as long as there is no hole in the ground with foundation works going on this status should be Prep. They are not piling right now, you can't build a tower this tall without a basement.

By androiduk,

http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto16/1bn6.jpg

By androiduk,

http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto16/1bn15.jpg

By androiduk,

http://andrewfare.com/UTC/mytoronto16/1bn24.jpg

By agoraflaneur, Dec 8th,

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6479213747_7724218925_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6479221387_ccc0c8df98_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7144/6479218019_bceb84fd2a_b.jpg

Oh wow.. they finally started to dig in and build at least something...

By drum118, Dec 12th.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6509148871_cedbecbd16_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6509149727_53580ac0bd_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6509151107_ab351d7fb1_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6509151813_bbf96ea340_b.jpg

By cruzin4u, Dec 25th.

http://www.candidbling.com/1-BLOOR-25-12-2011-1.jpg

http://www.candidbling.com/1-BLOOR-25-12-2011-2.jpg

looks great

a reminder of what is to come:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-syih5vXeIv0/TiBP6CSE_mI/AAAAAAAAHzw/03sGptPkA-A/s400/One-Bloor-Toronto-01.jpg

That intersection will look amazing when you look up once it is built.

I loove every thing about this project. It looks like out should be placed in Times Square

By Jasonzed, Dec 31st.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii108/jasonzedd/Toronto/20111231003.jpg

From http://www.architecturenewsplus.com (http://www.architecturenewsplus.com/project-images/20538/oi)

http://www.architecturenewsplus.com/cdn/images/o/n/2/h/n2h089t.jpg

Very cool

Oh wow, it looks gigantic as well.

a reminder of what is to come:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-syih5vXeIv0/TiBP6CSE_mI/AAAAAAAAHzw/03sGptPkA-A/s400/One-Bloor-Toronto-01.jpg

:bow:
This is gonna be sick!

Kinda of reminiscent of Aqua in Chicago, but like in calmer seas...or something:).

It's just that name. Number One "Bloor"? I know it's the street name, but...oi. Not a pretty name for such a pretty building.

I've always associated the word 'Bloor' with upscale/big city so that word has never had negative overtones for me.

I don't like it either, I always think its a spelling mistake, floor...bloor, yeah don't like it......

:cheers2:

^^It's not that there are negative overtones by any means, I just don't think it's a pretty-sounding word. I still really, really like the design of this building.

For many of us Torontonians it's a very prestigious name and street. The One Bloor saga has been a long battle here for us so we certainly love it. I can imagine from an outside view it would be a rather..unflattering word.

Bloor is the second or 3rd most important street in the city. this is one the corner of Younge and Bloor streets, both are in the top 3 most important streets, and this is in the heart of Yorkville, a very prestigious neighbourhood in Toronto. (lots of Ferraris driving around in this neighbourhood) it is also the corner where the cities 2 main subway lines meet.

The street is named after Joseph Bloor (or Bloore), a brewer and land speculator of this area in the 19th century who founded the Village of Yorkville in 1830.

^ got that from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloor_Street

This is easily the tastiest tower being built in Toronto. One of my favourites in the world.