Kanuckistan and Grand Towers.

The haunting words of right wing Republicans in the United States reverb around knowing skulls.

Here is the story from the much maligned CTV Website. Why is CTV News maligned? Well have you ever watched it? Its more pablum than problem.

Anyway they were first up on the news anyway.

Design unveiled for Yonge-Bloor skyscraper

toronto.ctv.ca

A Kazakhstan company unveiled plans today for an 80-storey tower that will change the landscape of the Yonge and Bloor streets intersection.

The $450 million structure by Bazis International will house 500 luxury condominiums, high-end retail stores and a five-star hotel.

The sleek building will be Toronto's tallest residential-commercial building and the tallest condominium structure in Canada.

The company's president, Michael Gold, said the tower will be "so bold, so striking" that it will become an "instant icon."

The tower will go up at the intersection's southeast corner, which is currently occupied by a Harvey's restaurant and a billboard.

Demolition of the old structure is expected to being this year.

The new tower, to be named 1 Bloor, is expected to open in 2011.

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See what I mean. Pablum. They are for it.

Problem. Central questions aren't asked. The North American Auto Industry is loosing 10,000 jobs this week. Money is leaving Toronto for Calgary where the white rich people are. Question one. Where are the multimillion dollar tenants coming from?

The Trump Towers announced headed up by one of his un "fired" Apprentices two years ago originally scheduled for completion this fall... Is still a parking lot.

The company that owns 1 King east the highly publicized skinniest building or condo in the country is basically still half empty and well the company is in "receivership." So poor is it, that I haven't even seen pigeons living near it.

Some sort of towers got muscled in south of Eglinton, which is a consortium led by Tridel. This project was heavily opposed by other residents in the neighborhood who constantly pointed out that this area used to be a swamp. Nonsense said the developer and they started anyway only to find out that it wasn't a swamp but a full blown underground stream running there. According to original rumors or promises it is about a year behind and overbudget because they are trying to shore up the foundations.

The other condo project was a total glass lined fancy building called "The Spire." It is about thirty stories of glass. With an eye to saving the environment this glass lined monster will not only contribute to global warming they will most certainly heat up the planet all by themselves.

A glass building works for a building in Charlotte or Atlanta but in Toronto? The Spire will not help the Canadian Kyoto commitment. And it will cost new tenants. It is almost complete and as ugly as you can get.

Condos climb around the Rogers Center. And apart from the placement blocking the sightlines to Lake Ontario they are as ugly as the post at a vision obstacle seat in a music concert. Then some people complain about the Gardiner Expressway. Well you could five years ago but now no problem, no one can see it anymore. There is a phenomenally high vacancy rate in these new towers.

Now onto Bloor. The politicians love it. It is a monument to their stupidity. While the revenue generating base deserts this country, they love this project of future ugliness and future slum as a feather in their cap.

It seems that no one has clued in. Every single major residential project ever launched in Toronto eventually became a miserable failure all the way from Jamestown, Regent Park et al.

Back to this project. What a lot of people do not realize is that this particular project is right on top of the subway. It won' t be to the left. It won't be too the right. It will be right on top of it and on top of the south end of the Yonge line part of the station.

Now no one has explained to me how this project will manage to work around the fact that most of its foundations are going to be into the tunnel. This building is 80 stories high. It will require deep foundations that will impinge on the running of the vital NS transit corridor.


From the Star. An opinion.

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Apr 06, 2007 04:30 AM

Christopher Hume
Urban Issues

It would be hard to imagine a more unlikely scenario: A developer from of all places, Kazakhstan, shows up in of all places, Toronto, and decides to build of all things, an 80-storey condo/hotel at, of all locations, the corner of Yonge and Bloor.

No, this is not a new Borat movie, it's just another day in the life of this city.

And before you start with the jokes, two things: The developer, Bazis International, already has permission to start work on the building, and second, it has committed $450 million to the project.

It will also contribute $2 million to rehabilitate Bloor St., straight from Kazakhstan to Toronto's most prestigious shopping district.

Some may be laughing, but Councillor Kyle Rae (Toronto-Centre-Rosedale) isn't one of them. He couldn't be more excited. Speaking at a press conference called yesterday by Bazis, Rae couldn't contain his enthusiasm.

"The southeast corner of Bloor and Yonge," he rightly noted, "is an eyesore and a failure."

But then, so are the other three corners. Given that this is one of the city's most important intersections, that's not good. In fact, one might wonder why it has taken so long for something to happen on the site. Situated at the crossroads of the two major subway lines, close to practically everything, Bloor and Yonge has been ripe for redevelopment for years. It's extraordinary that it has taken so long for something to happen.

And before the NIMBYites start screaming about the height, let's get one thing straight: there is no better location in all Toronto where an 80-storey residential tower makes more sense. Besides, city council approved the construction of an earlier tower, same height though fewer floors, four years ago.

And in case anyone has forgotten, the nearby ManuLife Centre comes in at 51 storeys.

Though Torontonians are loath to admit it, the small town they think they live in has become a big city. That means tall buildings and greater densities. Those ratty two- and three-storey boxes that line so many of our main streets will slowly but surely disappear – as they should.

"We're competing with other cities and countries for investment," Rae noted. "It's time now to start acting like a big city."

As Rae also made clear, "This is where the highest building in the neighbourhood belongs."

For Michael Gold, Bazis's director of acquisitions and finance, Toronto makes sense because property here is so cheap by international standards. The firm has built in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg.

"Toronto is a most desired place to live," he declared yesterday. "Prices of real estate are still undervalued compared to the world cities. We believe real estate prices here have a long way to go."

It's an argument that's been heard before, but not so often by people actually willing to spend money. Donald Trump, for instance, said the same thing three or four years ago about Toronto, and his site at Bay and Adelaide sits empty.

The only problem with the Bazis scheme, which would include three double-height floors of retail at grade, a hotel on top and, above that, condos – is the design. Toronto architect Roy Varacalli has come up with a scheme that would look more at home in Dubai, Shanghai or some other instant-city than in Toronto. Let's be honest, glitz isn't us.

This multi-part tower consists of two "masses" – as Varacalli calls them – one, curved, faces west, the second, straight-edged and square, looks east. The idea is to reflect the differences in the two halves of the city. The west side, according to Varacalli, is playful and loose. The east is more staid.

For better or worse, the building will be an icon simply by virtue of its height and location. Indeed, it will change the neighbourhood dramatically. But this is a tower that speaks the language of empty slickness. It is more rhinestone than diamond.

But as Varacalli pointed out, the building remains a work in progress. Let's hope there's time for improvement. His design for Bazis's other Toronto project, Crystal Blue, is much more convincing.

But the pressure's on; demolition of the site will begin later this year and One Bloor East is scheduled to be completed by 2011.

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Now it seems that this guy didn't ask the obvious transit question. Or how this monster will interact with the tunnels and future structure of the Subways. Of course this may be just another promise building. Signs are that there is a substantial cooling of the condo demand in Toronto. Its all a hustle.