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TORONTO | One Bloor Street East | 257m | 844ft | 75 fl | Com

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)


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As reported in the SSC Toronto threads, there is a new proposal for a mixed development at Yonge St and Bloor Street in Toronto:





Here is the Press Release:

Bazis International unveils plans for Canada's most celebrated corner

TORONTO, March 22 /CNW/ - Bazis International of Toronto, Ont., willunveil its plans to redevelop Canada's most important corner at a newsconference Thursday, April 5, 2007. Bazis International has acquired a one-acre property on the southeastcorner of Yonge and Bloor Streets in the heart of Toronto. It will create aninnovative mixed use development featuring a nearly 80 storey tower with afour storey double-height podium at the base making it Toronto's tallestresidential/commercial building. Michael Gold together with celebrated Toronto architect, Roy Varacalli,both of Bazis, will offer details and be available for interviews as will CityCouncillor Kyle Rae. The news conference will be held in the Panorama Room on the top of thenearby ManuLife Centre, a vantage point that offers a bird's eye view not onlyof the 1 Bloor site but also of Bazis' first Toronto project, the Crystal Blucondominium, soon to start construction on Balmuto Street just south of Bloor.

WHAT: Unveiling plans for 1 Bloor, Canada's most high profile urban address
WHERE: The Panorama Room on the top of the ManuLife Centre
WHEN: Thursday, April 5, 2007 at 10 a.m.

NOTE: Parking under the ManuLife Centre will be validated for thoseattending the press conference.

and the developer's website:

Bazis International
 
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#193 ·
No way, they'd have to convince evil ExxonMobil to stop penny pinching on everything. Sorry, I get a little carried away with Imperial (can't stand their business practices, though I guess it's good to be an EXX shareholder). I guess I was hoping the likes of Suncor, CNRQ, Penn West etc.. would want to build some kind of monument to their success. Any way you get it, a 300 + would be awesome for Calgary. Go Flames:)
 
#194 ·
If you we can always create a thread in the Canada section about general growth of cities. Back to 1 Bloor. Any thoughts? I'm beginning to think the latest tower is the best becuase it makes the most sense financially and thus would have a higher chance of becoming a supertall. I love the base on the second rendering. Too bad they couldn't have kept those sexy slanted pillars.
 
#202 ·
Well, First Canadian Place has been around since the 70's and is just under the magical
figure now used of a supertall being 1000 feet. I don't know if a few feet make a difference.. certainly not from street level. In any case, the 1000 foot thing is arbritrary.

In any case, **ahem** back to One Bloor East.
 
#203 ·
Sky seems to be limit for One Bloor East
Oct 30, 2007 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Toronto Star

In a city afraid of heights, the advent of an 80-storey condo tower can be counted on to set off howls of outrage.

Yet if history is any indication, once the screaming has subsided, Torontonians will be lining up to buy units in One Bloor East.

The $450 million project on the southeast corner of Bloor and Yonge will get underway at the end of the year when the leases in existing buildings expire. Demolition will start and after that, by next September, construction.

If all goes according to plan, the first residents will arrive in late 2011.

The developer, Bazis International of Kazakhstan – yes, that's right, Kazakhstan – has no qualms about investing in the Toronto condo market.

"We believe prices of real estate are still undervalued compared to world cities," says Bazis president Michael Gold. "Yonge and Bloor is the most important corner in Toronto. We wanted to address it and do something for Toronto. The city has been tough, but supportive. We believe real estate prices have a long way to go."

Indeed, if One Bloor East is any indication, the sky's the limit, physically and financially.

Let's face it, there's no more appropriate site in the city for such a tower than Bloor and Yonge. In truth it's amazing it has taken so long for something to happen here. Certainly the area needs work; it may be one of Toronto's most desirable corners, but you'd never know it by looking.

As downtown councillor Kyle Rae puts it; the intersection is "an armpit. To think that the intersection of two major streets and two subway lines is greeted with this dross – this is an opportunity that can't be missed. The project is fantastic. The architecture has been cleaned up and they are still working with the urban design department."

Robert Freedman, director of design for the City of Toronto, confirmed: "We're still working with the architects."

At the launch of One Bloor East last night, several hundred frenetic investors showed up and were clearly excited by what they saw.

"We could sell 5,000 units," Gold said. "The response has been amazing."

Even Mayor David Miller seemed impressed: "If there's one corner in the country that calls out for something spectacular, he said, "it's Yonge and Bloor."

The new 275-metre skyscraper, tall, skinny and sleekly sculptural, will include shops at street level, an eight-storey hotel and residential above. Sitting atop a three-storey glass podium, the tower will become a midtown landmark.

"This is about the fourth or fifth version," explains architect Roy Varacalli. "It's changed quite a bit; the biggest move is the addition of a second skin. The balconies bothered me, so now each will be covered with a glass panel that can be opened or closed. It'll be like a pixillated façade."

Most dramatic of all are the series of "fins" that extend along the top of the building. They are, Varacalli says, "pure art. The inspiration came from the 1957 Cadillac. I wanted something that would respond to the skyline."

Since the project was first announced last April, Bazis has also acquired the building on the southwest corner of its property; that means the complex will extend south from Bloor all the way to Hayden St.
 
#214 ·
An 80-storey tower reclaims the lost corner of Yonge and Bloor
2 November 2007
The Globe and Mail

So long, Harvey's. Hello, Hy's Steakhouse.

The southeast corner of Bloor and Yonge streets has long been a festering blight on the city, according to the self-appointed custodians of Toronto iconography. This February, however, its fast-food joints and kitsch stores will be on the business end of sledgehammers and backhoes. When the rubble is cleared, the 80-storey, $450-million 1 Bloor Street East will rise on the famous corner.

And unlike other skyscraping high-rises throughout downtown Toronto, few people seem to mind.

This particular project, which includes retail space and a hotel, is under the direction of Kazakhstan-based Bazis International and has set a land-speed record from concept to approval to sales launch. But the quest to bring something appropriate to the storied intersection has been a 20-year journey.

The project's powerful yet graceful rendered figure, overseen by Toronto architect and Bazis's design and construction director, Roy Varacalli, appears to have scored the thumbs-up from even the crankiest of architecture critics, (though our own John Bentley Mays has his reservations; see page G2).

Mr. Varacalli started working with Bazis on the design team for Crystal Blu, a 38-storey high-rise now under construction on Balmuto Street, a block west of the 1 Bloor site. At the time, he was a partner in Burka Varacalli Architects. For 1 Bloor, he left the firm and became a partner and senior executive with Bazis.

He toured the company's myriad construction projects around the world, concentrated mostly in Russia.

“I learned they did things very quickly, and their projects are realized very quickly,” Mr. Varacalli said. Techniques included employing three shifts of workers a day, multiple crane systems and innovation in materials, he added.

At least 100 people crammed the presentation centre for 1 Bloor on Monday night, sipping vodka-based cocktails and nibbling on rich hors d'oeuvres, to take a first glimpse at some of the model suite layouts. They also heard Mayor David Miller and area councillor Kyle Rae, fresh from pushing the municipal land-transfer tax through council, speak effusively of the project and all that it would mean to the city's most famous intersection.

Attendees included consultants and real estate agents representing interested buyers. Some were recent immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe who'd done well for themselves in Canada. Some of these particular potential buyers, while duly admiring the slick finishes of the model suite, admitted they were definitely going to purchase a suite, maybe two, as investment properties.

On their way out of the overcrowded presentation centre, a pair of cheerful, fetching ladies handed out a hefty catalogue of suite layouts and dazzling photos and renderings.

Mr. Rae, never shy to offer an opinion, has been too happy to run down the corner's current tenants (which includes, yes, Harvey's) and their low-rent quarters, and foist lavish praise upon the promise held by Bazis's 1 Bloor.

Mr. Rae has a point. But the city has no shortage of so-called revitalization structures that are only marginally more appealing than the blight they replaced. Look only as far as Dundas Square and some of the glass catastrophes among the CityPlace communities on the railway lands west of the Rogers Centre.

Luckily, 1 Bloor goes a long way toward raising the standard for high-rise design. Mr. Varacalli, who grew up in Toronto, certainly felt the pressure in delivering something that would cut a striking figure on a very important corner.

“I want it to be truly memorable,” he said. “I was particularly interested in how it relates to the skyline, but also how it relates at the street level and the human scale.”

To that end, Bazis purchased property south to Hayden Street, a relatively quiet side street going east from Yonge. It's here where you'll find the entrance to the condominium portion of the project, 564 suites from the 18th to 77th floor.

The first six floors above the retail platform will be a hotel, with an entrance on Bloor instead. An L-shaped steel frame dissects the entire building, settling into a cornice separating the street-level glass façade from the residences above.

Another innovative feature 1 Bloor brings to the table is the use of lanais. These are essentially extra balconies, but with moveable glass walls that can enclose the space in cooler weather.

“On a warm day it will look porous, but on a cold day it will look like a solid block,” Mr. Varacalli said. “It will be able to produce a pixilated façade.”

Sales officially launched Tuesday morning, ranging from $355,000 to more than $2-million for pre-registered potential buyers, with sizes ranging from 540 to 2,110 square feet (excluding lanai space). A large majority of the suites, even the smallest ones, have lanais and balconies.

Extra costs include $5,000 for a locker and $45,000 for a parking spot (available only for suites larger than 700 square feet).
 
#220 · (Edited)
Yes, pretty normal. That's quite cheap by international standards. Too bad you can't buy these parking spots separately from the condo. It would be a nice way for people to break into the real estate market.
 
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