One could argue that pushing people to buy condos rather than tract housing (which the province has encouraged through the greenbelt) means the condo developers are having an easier time selling a limited resource (it takes a lot of time to conceive and build a condo building). For some developers it's why bother doing something special (nicer) when they are basically selling buildings no matter what they look like.
 
Right, but does anyone really believe that if developers had a tougher time selling condos, they'd respond by spending more to improve the the architecture and make them more attractive? Heck no, they'd most likely respond by cutting costs so they sell faster. And what's the easiest way to cut costs? Cheap materials, cheap design.

There's a reason you don't see cutting-edge residential architecture in London, Ontario, and it's certainly not because of overly restrictive greenbelt policies.
 
My guess is that in a buyer's market, developers would actually take a variety of directions to differentiate their product from their competitors. Some would doubtless do exactly what you say and go cheap in order to attract buyers with low prices. But I think there would also be some builders who would try to make their offerings stand out with excellence in construction and fine design. I could see both strategies being practiced at the same time.

Of course, in a really slow market, they just wouldn't build at all.
 
smably said:
Right, but does anyone really believe that if developers had a tougher time selling condos, they'd respond by spending more to improve the the architecture and make them more attractive? Heck no, they'd most likely respond by cutting costs so they sell faster. And what's the easiest way to cut costs? Cheap materials, cheap design.

There's a reason you don't see cutting-edge residential architecture in London, Ontario, and it's certainly not because of overly restrictive greenbelt policies.
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I'm confident enough to say investors don't care as much as home buyers. There's fewer of them in less heated markets. I also don't believe developers are having an easy time building on budget in our long drawn out boom. Everything is incredibly inflated. They maybe more room in the budget for better design and more practical amenities to attract those home owners in a weaker market.

There's very little competition in London. A couple lousy developers (Drewlo, Tricar, Old Oak) control the entire high rise market. It wouldn't take make for someone else to come in and change things up. Context and aA created an unrecognized legacy with the evolution of Toronto's architecture during those early years of the boom.
 
enrigue8 said:
With the choice of colors,the style and the claddings will make the project stand out compared to other .
Even in 100 years in the future ,1 yonge will not be outdated .1 Yonge will be one of the biggest achievement in our decade.
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The colour of this development will likely be relatively banal, and also look at how Urban Toronto responds to the quality of the developer's projects. Pinnacle is not a very high quality developer, architecturally, from Urban Toronto's point of view. Also, a century from now, I wonder how they can't be outdated then, as one can assume architectural trends may be different then. One would hope that high quality is used on sites like this, and I am not sure if that will be the final product when all is said and done.
maestro said:
You can bet they aren't going to use red, purple, orange, gold, etc. coloured glazing.
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If they would have gone with those colours it would be easier to distinguish from the other countless condos in the area. Too bad for most of you, Urban Toronto members, that that is not happening. :(
 
maestro said:
There's very little competition in London. A couple lousy developers (Drewlo, Tricar, Old Oak) control the entire high rise market. It wouldn't take make for someone else to come in and change things up. Context and aA created an unrecognized legacy with the evolution of Toronto's architecture during those early years of the boom.
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OK, but is there anywhere else in Ontario that's building condos comparable in design to those going up in Toronto? I mean, honestly, can anyone name any buyer's market in Canada or otherwise that has bred excellence in residential design?

Meanwhile in Vancouver, where supply is further constrained by the ALR and demand is way higher than in Toronto, they're getting residential buildings by Arthur Erickson, Bjarke Ingels, Ole Scheeren, Kengo Kuma...
 
smably said:
OK, but is there anywhere else in Ontario that's building condos comparable in design to those going up in Toronto? I mean, honestly, can anyone name any buyer's market in Canada or otherwise that has bred excellence in residential design?

Meanwhile in Vancouver, where supply is further constrained by the ALR and demand is way higher than in Toronto, they're getting residential buildings by Arthur Erickson, Bjarke Ingels, Ole Scheeren, Kengo Kuma...
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...and in Toronto we're getting or have recently had buildings designed by Bjarke Ingels, Frank Gehry, Will Alsop, DSRNY, Morphosis, Foster + Partners, Daniel Libeskind, 5468796,etc.
 
ADRM said:
...and in Toronto we're getting or have recently had buildings designed by Bjarke Ingels, Frank Gehry, Will Alsop, DSRNY, Morphosis, Foster + Partners, Daniel Libeskind, 5468796,etc.
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But not this site; nor is this proposal nearly the best of what our local firm can offer.

AoD
 
Drewlo, Tricar pretty much own most of Ontario. Waterloo is building mostly private student residential. Ottawa does have some that compare quite well to Toronto. Vancouver always has some great proposals lined up. They never quite turn out as first envisioned. I hope these get built as rendered. Regardless, these buildings will sell at $2500 a square foot. It's not comparable at all to Toronto's situation.

The stricter zoning in Vancouver is a benefit to developers. It doesn't leave them guessing what they build and therefore how much to pay for a property.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
But not this site; nor is this proposal nearly the best of what our local firm can offer.

AoD
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Totally agree -- what we've seen of the detailed proposals for here as yet are dreck; I was taking exception to (what I read as) the repetition of the "Toronto only has buildings that are boring and terrible and green/blue glass boxes" trope.
 
Aside from the recent banter on glass colour, does anyone know of a city decision today on the go-no/go for the first tower was made?
 
Wow six years and this is still floundering around. Dealing with city government seems torturous they need to move faster.
 
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