Tag Archives: streetscapes

City Scenes: Snowy Bay Street building sites

Construction cranes on Bay Street Toronto

Snow day: The calendar says it’s spring, but Toronto is getting another blast of winter with 5 cm. of snow falling throughout the day today. This photo, looking north from Queen Street on another snowy day earlier this winter, shows three major building sites on Bay Street. The orange construction crane is building the Sick Kids Research & Learning Tower at Elm Street; the crane in the middle of the photo is atop the Burano condo tower between Grenville and Grosvenor Streets; and the crane at the rear of the picture, on the east side of Bay, is atop the Four Seasons Toronto hotel and condo tower.

 

Motion apartment construction site on Bay Street

Snow motion: This photo was taken on the same day as the one above, a few blocks further north up Bay Street. It shows the Motion on Bay highrise apartment building construction site at left, along with the Sick Kids and Burano towers to the north.

 

Sick Kids Research and Learning Tower construction progress

Ice view: This was a view this afternoon of the Sick Kids Research and Learning Tower construction site from an ice-covered webcam high above the building.

 

webcam view of Aura condos construction site

Snowy Aura: Although it’s not on Bay Street itself, Aura condos is part of the College Park complex that occupies the entire eastern block of Bay between Gerrard and College Streets. This is a webcam view of the Aura condos construction site earlier this afternoon.

 

Will Chaz and a proposed new 64-storey tower turn Charles Street East into a condo canyon?

Charles Street Toronto

West view down Charles Street from Church Street on February 23 2011. The Casa condo (rear left, 46 floors) and the Bloor Street Neighbourhood (BSN) condo (right, 32 storeys) soar high above all other buildings on the block.

 

42 Charles Street East

A developer purportedly has plans to build a 64-storey condo tower on this location at 42 Charles Street East, currently a YMCA child care centre.


Too many towers? According to an old proverb, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. That’s supposed to describe the weather for a month that begins in the dead of winter but ends with the welcome arrival of spring. According to some Toronto real estate agents, however, there won’t be anything sheepish about this month at all. They’re fully expecting March to come in with a giant roar and keep on roaring — all the way through spring and for many months beyond. But the king of beasts whose arrival they are anxiously anticipating isn’t an animal, and doesn’t have anything to do with stormy weather. Instead, it’s a highrise building project for which the realtors are forecasting a fast and fierce storm of sales to condo-craving buyers eager to pounce on what’s being aggressively promoted as an incredible not-to-be-missed investment opportunity.

The project: a 64-storey condo tower that’s supposed to launch sometime early this month with spectacular gala preview sales events for VIP purchasers. The location: 42 Charles Street East, a property occupied by a nine-storey office building currently home to a YMCA child care (some years ago, it was more famous as the location of CTV headquarters and broadcasting facilities; back in the 1990s a developer — Harry Stinson, if I recall correctly — even proposed converting the building into condos, but that project never got off the ground). The developer: Cresford Developments, already a highly familiar presence on this block, having just recently built the Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo tower right next door at 38 Charles St. E. as well as the critically-acclaimed Casa Residenza Condominio tower across the street at 33 Charles East.

Interestingly, the city hasn’t approved a 64-storey tower for the site; in fact, as of this morning, the city’s development application and planning website didn’t even show any listings for 42 Charles East. But residents of Casa and Bloor Street Neighbourhood (BSN) have been buzzing about the condo tower project for weeks — especially BSN owners with east-facing suites who are pissed at the prospect of losing their views if a skyscraper gets built right next door.  And dozens of “in the know” real estate agents have been hyping the project on their blogs and websites and even in videos posted on youtube.com, urging interested buyers to contact them ASAP for “exclusive” invitations to upcoming “preconstruction” VIP sales extravaganzas. Those agents have been quick to point out that units in Chaz on Charles, a 39-storey condo tower that’s going to be built directly across the road at 45 Charles East (currently the site of an eight-storey office building), have been selling briskly, and already earning impressive investment returns for their buyers. That’s great news for those agents and their lucky clients, of course. But is a 64-storey tower on the north side of the block, along with the new Chaz highrise on the south, going to be good for Charles Street, too? Will four towers crowded so close together in the middle of the block improve the immediate neighbourhood and nearby streets? Or could they encourage even more tower proposals for elsewhere on the block, ultimately creating a condo canyon on Charles?

I admit I’m not happy that Charles Street will be developed more densely. Although I’m not fond of BSN’s design, I’m glad it’s an L-shape that accommodates the charming Charles Court apartment building below it.  On the other hand, I love Casa; it’s been one of my favourite downtown condo towers since it started construction in 2007 and then opened for occupancy last year. Its striking design is simple yet sophisticated, and I find it fascinating to watch how its streamlined windows and glass balconies change colour and texture under different sunlight and sunset conditions. But those two towers are enough for this block of Charles Street. Two more will be too many. Frankly, I’m not looking forward to seeing Chaz become Casa’s neighbour because I believe its close proximity will detract from Casa’s appearance, and I’m even more dismayed by the prospect of an even taller tower rising right behind them. Although the skyscraper cluster would undoubtedly create an impressive skyline, I fear a row of tall towers will spoil the streetscape and ruin what is presently a pleasant downtown residential street.

Since BSN and Casa were built, I’ve noticed a sharp increase in the volume of pedestrians and vehicles on the one-way road; the street feels particularly congested around the two condos because of the additional traffic from service, delivery, resident and visitor vehicles. Even the sidewalks feel too narrow. The tight feeling will only get worse once Chaz is built because its podium, regrettably, has been designed to “synch” with Casa’s, “adding significantly to the street wall,” to quote from the Chaz project website.

“Street wall?” Ugh. Sounds as bad as it will probably look and feel once it’s constructed. One of the redeeming features of the office building that Chaz will replace is its generous setback from the street; a taller new building with a podium closer to the sidewalk will likely make strolling down Charles Street as appealing as walking down Bay Street in the heart of the Financial District; in other words, not something you’d really want to do unless you had to do it. The skyscraper planned for 42 Charles will only make things worse. And if other developers jump on the “let’s build Charles Street” bandwagon, I think the low-rise apartment buildings and post office on the eastern half of the block will become targets for future highrise development. Last thing the neighbourhood needs is for Charles Street to become a busy, narrow and shadowy wind tunnel. Below are some of my photos of 42 Charles East and its neighbours which, I think, will help put the proposed developments and my comments about them in context. What do you think?

 

Toronto's Bloor Yorkville skyline

The Bloor-Yorkville skyline on April 4 2010. The Casa condo tower — still under construction, with the developer’s Cresford.com banner on its east penthouse level — already dominates the area. The BSN condo building stands at Casa’s right, blocking most views of The Bay office tower at Yonge & Bloor.


Toronto's Bloor Yorkville skyline

On this photo, shot today, I’ve marked my “guesstimate” of where Chaz and the 64-floor tower proposed for 42 Charles St. E. will stand on the skyline.

 

Charles Street West

February 23 2011: This view from Charles Street West shows BSN and Casa towering above Charles Street just east of Yonge Street. The tower at center rear is the X Condo building at the northeast corner of Jarvis and Charles.

 

Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo tower

December 3 2010: Charles Street view of the south and west sides of BSN

 

Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo tower

November 1 2010: A west view of BSN and the YMCA building at 42 Charles Street East. If the rumoured 64-storey skyscraper goes up, it will soar high above BSN.

 

Charles Court apartments

February 28 2011: Charles Court apartments and Bloor Street Neighbourhood

 

Bloor Street Neighbourhood condo

January 9 2011: BSN’s streetscape presence

 

Bloor Street Neighbourhood and 42 Charles Street East

February 12 2011: BSN and 42 Charles Street East

 

42 Charles Street East

February 12 2011: 42 Charles Street East

Casa condominium tower

December 3 2010: Looking up Casa’s sleek 46 storeys

 

Bloor Street Neighbourhood and Casa condos

December 21 2010: Southwest view of BSN and Casa

 

Casa condo tower

November 1 2010: BSN’s image reflects off Casa’s lobby facade

 

Casa condominium

November 1 2010: Northwest view of Casa’s podium and the brick building that houses the Sanctuary Toronto ministry, to its immediate west

Casa condominium

November 1 2010: Casa’s glass facade along Charles street, looking west

Casa condominium

April 19 2010:  A sidewalk-level perspective of Casa’s presence on Charles St.

Casa condominium

November 1 2010: BSN reflects in Casa’s main entrance

42 Charles Street East and Bloor Street Neighbourhood condos

October 3 2010: Casa’s facade reflects images of 42 Charles and BSN

 

42 Charles Street East and Bloor Street Neighbourhood condos

August 29 2010: Another Casa reflection of 42 Charles and the BSN condos

42 Charles Street East

February 28 2011: 42 Charles Street East

Charles Street postal station

February 28 2011: Charles Street postal station next to 42 Charles St. E.

42 Charles Street East

February 12 2011: Northwest view of the proposed condo tower site

42 Charles Street East

February 23 2011: Hayden Street view of the rear of 42 Charles Street East and the east side of BSN. I don’t know if this parking area, used by the postal station next door, is part of the property on which the 64-storey tower may be built.

42 Charles Street East

Another Hayden Street view of the rear of 42 Charles & BSN

Hayden Street

February 23 2011: This brick house on Hayden Street sits in the northwest corner of the lot directly behind 42 Charles Street East and BSN.

Casa condos left and Bloor Street Neighbourhood condos

January 10 2011: Hayden Street view of Casa, left, and BSN. Part of the building at 42 Charles is visible in the bottom left corner of the photo.

45 Charles Street East

February 28 2011: The Chaz on Charles condo site at 45 Charles Street East

45 Charles Street East

Another view of the Chaz site at 45 Charles Street East

Chaz condo site

January 29 2011: Isabella Street view of the Chaz condo site at 45 Charles St. E.

The Bromley apartment building

The 39-storey Chaz on Charles will tower above The Bromley apartment building on Isabella Street, seen here January 29 2011

Charlesview apartment building

February 28 2011: The Charlesview apartment building next door to the Chaz site

The Star apartment building

February 28 2011: An apartment building next door to the Charlesview

62 and 64 Charles Street East

February 28 2011: The heritage houses at 62 and 64 Charles Street East

66 Charles Street East

February 28 2011: The house at 66 Charles St. E., left, dates from the late 1880s

Manhattan apartments

February 28 2011: The Manhattan apartments at the corner of Charles and Church

Charles Street East

February 23 2011: Looking west on Charles Street from outside the Town Inn Suites at the southwest corner of Charles & Church

Charles Street East

February 23 2011: This middle section of the block could become a virtual condo canyon once the Chaz on Charles condo highrise is constructed on the left, followed by another tower where the YMCA building sits on the right.