Tag Archives: royal alexandra theatre
David Mirvish and Frank Gehry to transform King St. strip into culture and condo complex
Martin Knelman – Toronto Star
David Mirvish and Frank Gehry are boldly planning a mega culture-and-condo complex that brings down the curtain on the Princess of Wales theatre and will transform Toronto’s Entertainment District, the Star has learned.
The complex will give Toronto two new museums, including one that showcases the sensational abstract art collection of David and Audrey Mirvish. The other museum will feature the collection of OCAD University, along with studios, seminar rooms and a hall for public lectures.
Mirvish, the king of Toronto theatre, and Gehry, the world’s most celebrated living architect, are collaborating on the visionary project. They’re working on a canvas that stretches along the north side of King Street West all the way from the corner of John, crosses Ed Mirvish Way and extends eastward for another half block to the edge of the venerable Royal Alexandra Theatre, purchased 50 years ago by David’s father, the late “Honest” Ed Mirvish.
That theatre, built in 1907, will survive, but the Princess of Wales, which opened in 1993, will be scrapped to make way for the new centre.
Call it the end of one era and the dawn of a new one.
Offering multi-level podiums with terraces and retail shops at its base, the complex will reach skyward with three dancing condo towers, over 80 stories tall – each one different – designed by Gehry in a way that comments on the fabric of the city where he grew up.
David Mirvish and Frank Gehry King West Condo Complex
The development, expected to take four to seven years to construct, will sweep across six Mirvish-owned properties, some of which were once homes to restaurants opened by Ed Mirvish, David’s father. Those properties will all come down to make way for the new development. And while some of the buildings are designated, it is understood they are not covered with easement agreements that would prevent them being torn down.
“We see an opportunity to join our history with Frank Gehry’s history and continue our ongoing commitment to the neighbourhood,” said Mirvish, who owns two other Toronto theatres (the Ed Mirvish Theatre and the Panasonic) besides the two on King Street.
He declined to put a price tag on the complex, but it’s almost sure to be in the billion-dollar range.
The Mirvish museum (60,000 square feet) will offer free public access and house a selection of Mirvish’s more than 1,100 abstract paintings (by artists including Frank Stella, Jack Bush, Jules Olitski, David Smith and Helen Frankenthaler). For years most of these paintings – acquired in his first career as an art dealer from 1963 to 1978 – have been in storage, and are frequently lent to museums in Europe and the U.S. for special exhibitions. The Mirvish collection will be presented to the public with free admission except for special exhibitions.
Gehry, 83, is flying to Toronto from Los Angeles, where he has lived and worked for most of his career, for Monday’s official announcement of the project. Appropriately, that event will take place at the only other Gehry building in Canada – the Art Gallery of Ontario, which reopened four years ago after he reinvented it.
“We’re at a very early stage of development,” said Mirvish.
Step one will be an application to the city of Toronto for zoning approval, to be submitted immediately.
The west section of the complex has a podium with the Mirvish collection in the atrium and terraces overlooking King Street and David Pecaut Square. Soaring above the podium are two residential towers, each with a distinctive identity, rising 80 stories above the street.
“Doing a project on this scale is like docking the Queen Mary,” Gehry quipped in an interview with the Star. “It’s always precarious, because so much depends on the marketplace and world events and construction prices. It’s because of the art component that we like the project so much. I am ecstatic to be doing something near my old Toronto neighbourhood, and also to be collaborating with David. Whatever we do we want to be very special”
According to Mirvish, the project would deliver enormous benefits to the city in terms of jobs and taxes. Peter Kofman of Projectcore Inc. will take charge of the project’s development, management and construction.
As for the demise of the Princess of Wales, Mirvish said while it is a great building, the new centre will be even greater with two museums and other features. “The podium will become a major cultural destination,” he said. “The towers will not be just condos but a symbol of the city by our greatest architect.”
Frank Stella who painted the decorative theme for the Princess of Wales Theatre is working with Gehry to create new work for the public areas of the new complex, integrating art and architecture.
And most of Stella’s work from the doomed theatre will be saved and stored for possible future use. Stella will be in Toronto Monday to take part in the official announcement.
“This area was transformed 50 years ago after my father purchased the Royal Alexandra Theatre,” Mirvish said. Then that theatre was the only cultural building in the area. Today it has been joined by Roy Thomson Hall, TIFF Bell Lightbox and David Pecaut Square.
“This project will continue the theatre’s future and transform the neighbourhood again for the next 50 years,” he said. “I am proud that we can continue this legacy.”
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
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Downtown Toronto
Downtown is certainly one of the most popular neighbourhoods in Toronto. Everyone wants to live where the action, close to work and close to play. Located entirely within the former municipality of Old Toronto, it is approximately bounded by Bloor Street to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, the Don River to the east, and Bathurst Street to the west. The area is made up of the city’s largest concentration of skyscrapers and businesses.
The Financial District, based around the intersection of King and Bay Streets, is the heart of Canada’s financial industry. It contains the Toronto Stock Exchange, which is the largest in Canada and seventh in the world by market capitalization. The retail core is along Yonge Street from College Street to Queen Street. There is a large concentration of retail here, including the Eaton Centre. The area also has Dundas Square, a public space some call the Times Square of Toronto.
The area also includes live theatres, a movie complex and historic Massey Hall. Historical sites and landmarks include the Arts & Letter Club, the Church of the Holy Trinity, Mackenzie House, Maple Leaf Gardens, Old City Hall, and the Toronto Police Museum.
Downtown Real Estate Map
To the east, the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood is the oldest area of Toronto. It has many gorgeous heritage buildings, a community of distinct downtown neighbourhoods including the site of the original Town of York – where Toronto began back in 1793. St. Lawrence has one of the largest concentrations of 19th-century buildings in Toronto. Some of the best are St. Lawrence Hall, St. James’ Cathedral, St. Michael’s Cathedral, St. Paul’s Basilica, the King Edward Hotel and the Gooderham (Flatiron) Building. Further to the east is Corktown and the Distillery District.
West of the Financial District is the Entertainment District, home to many restaurants, nightclubs and live theatre. The district was formerly an industrial area and was redeveloped for entertainment purposes in the early 1980s, starting with the Mirvish family refurbishing the Royal Alexandra Theatre and then building the Princess of Wales Theatre. The area is also the site of Roy Thomson Hall and the Canadian Broadcasting Centre.
North of Bloor Street is Yorkville, with more than 700 designer boutiques, spas, restaurants, hotels, and world class galleries. The intersection of Bloor and Yonge Streets is where the subway lines meet – and is one of the busiest intersections in the city. At the intersection of Avenue Road and Bloor Street is the Royal Ontario Museum, the largest museum in Toronto.
The lake shore and Harbourfront area to the south was formerly a polluted and forgetten railway area. Since the 1970s, it has been extensively redeveloped. From the building of the Rogers Centre, to the many condos of CityPlace, to the Harbourfront Centre arts and cultural complex. The area to the east of Yonge Street, the Port Lands, is still in transition.
Please explore the neighbourhoods that make up Downtown Toronto:
- Alexandra Park
- Bay Street Corridor
- Beaconsfield Village
- Bickford Park
- Cabbagetown
- Corktown
- Distillery District
- Downtown East
- Downtown West
- Dufferin Grove
- Fort York
- Grange Park
- Kensington Market
- King Street West
- Liberty Village
- Little Italy
- Moss Park
- Niagara
- Regent Park
- South Annex
- St. James Town
- St. Lawrence Market
- Trefann Court
- Trinity Bellwoods
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416−388−1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
—————————————————————————————————–
Incoming search terms
Theatre Park
Lamb is acting on his confidence
Tracy Hanes – Yourhome.ca
When the curtains rise on a new condo in the heart of the Theatre District in early 2011, Brad Lamb is predicting buyers will applaud the innovative development.
Lamb, the well-known Toronto condo broker turned developer, is well-versed in hyping the projects he’s involved in, but his confidence in Theatre Park seems well placed.
The condo at 224 King St. W. will rise as a slim 47-storey tower surrounded by lowrise historic buildings, including the Royal Alexandra Theatre next door. The tall contemporary glass tower, designed by Peter Clewes of architectsAlliance, will appear to be crisscrossed with ribbons and at the front of the property will be a forecourt, or small urban park, facing onto King.
“I bought a parking lot from a relatively large foreign investment corporation two and a half years ago and immediately thought that to get a project approved there, I’d have to do something crazy,” says Lamb, started Lamb Development Corp. in 2001.
Well, crazy like a fox. Lamb hired Clewes to design the building, as he knew his proposal would have to be spectacular to win favour from the city.
Lamb says most developers build instinctively to the front lot line, but he decided to pull the building to the rear of the site to create a compact park in the heart of the Theatre District that would act as a neighbourhood gathering place, as well as showcasing the Royal Alex.
“I think it’s the best location of any condo ever,” claims Lamb. “It’s steps from the financial district, steps from the entertainment district, in a very prestigious neighbourhood.”
He knew one obstacle would be the building’s height, but he felt a lower, squatter structure on the narrow 62- by 100-foot lot would require the suite designs to be long and narrow to get the required massing.
Still, “it was a long, protracted fight from day one,” trying to win approval, despite the blessing of theatre maven David Mirvish, owner of the Royal Alex, and local city councillor Adam Vaughan.
The proposal set a precedent for height and one fear the city had, says Lamb, was that someone would start buying up heritage buildings in the immediate vicinity and start knocking them down to build more condos.
“This site has never had anything built on it. It’s been a parking lot and before that, vacant land owned by Upper Canada College,” he points out. And he wasn’t concerned about the building’s height as there are several new tall towers nearby, including the 66-storey Shangri-La and the 45-storey Festival Tower.
Eventually, the city passed a heritage bylaw to protect the older buildings on the block and paved the way for Theatre Park.
“It’s very neat, but it’s very difficult as well,” says project architect Adam Feldmann of architectsAlliance.
The main issue was to figure out a strategy to deal with the historic buildings in a sensitive and respectful way.
“Our first idea was to create the courtyard beside the Royal Alex. If you push the building back, it doesn’t compete with the historic buildings at street level.”
The podium will be at the same height as the surrounding buildings in the warehouse district and the tower will float above the public space created by the forecourt, thus unobtrusive.
“The site is on the tight side and the building is compressed, so the tower is wrapped in bands to appear like it’s held in. It’s a tiny floor plate, a point tower,” says Feldmann, adding that because the neighbourhood is protected and the tower has windows on all sides, virtually every suite will have great views.
He’s excited by the courtyard and foresees theatre goers mingling there before attending a play at the Royal Alex and in summer, a grid of trees, a water wall along the east side and a zero edge pond which will flood part of the courtyard will act as a soothing retreat from the bustle of the street. In winter, he says the water wall might become an ice sculpture.
Lamb tested the market with a broker launch in mid November “and we know the building will sell well. The development opened public sales last month.
Lamb’s development partners include Niche Development and Harhay Construction Management.
There will be 234 suites, starting on the ninth floor. The lower floors will be devoted to a five-star restaurant, amenity space and administrative facilities. The restaurant has yet to be determined, but Lamb vows it “will be Canadian or international, one of the finest restaurants in North America. And the space is just fantastic.”
He says the facilities will be like a five-star hotel, with 24-hour concierge, a swimming pool, and gym, etc.) but without the steep fees associated with hybrid condo-hotel developments.
The suites will be priced at $600 per square feet (the penthouses from the 36th floor up will be more expensive), which Lamb claims is substantially less than for other condos in the neighbourhood.
“Nobody needs to pay $1,000 a square foot,” he says. “I want to sell apartments, I want to build this building and move on to the next project. I actually want to offer value, do good stuff and make it available to people.”
Suite sizes will range from about 400 square feet to a 3,270-square-foot penthouse (plus 2,000 square feet of terraces) that occupies the entire top floor. Suites from the 36th floor up will have 10-foot ceilings while those below the 36th floor will have nine-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows.
As well, there will be an assortment of studio, one and two bedrooms, with and without dens, and Lamb says 10% of the project will have three-bedroom suites.
The building’s tall, slim design allows for windows on all four sides of the building and short corridors, with a maximum of six suites per floor.
Lamb says the type of buyer who will purchase there will be “young, hip urbanites or those who aren’t necessarily young, but young at heart. There are also people who want pied-à-terres and need this. It could be a second or third home for some.”
II by IV Design will design the interior common spaces and the suites. Suites will have exposed concrete ceilings and feature walls.
“There’s going to be a crazy lobby, crazy facilities. We’re going to build a model suite to show people what they are getting,” Lamb says. “There will be stainless steel cooking, the best hardwood flooring, stone countertops, Scavolini kitchens and beautiful quality finishes.”
———————————————————————————————————————
Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information – 416-388-1960
Laurin & Natalie Jeffrey are Toronto Realtors with Century 21 Regal Realty.
They did not write these articles, they just reproduce them here for people
who are interested in Toronto real estate. They do not work for any builders.
———————————————————————————————————————
Incoming search terms
Related posts:
- King Street tower proposal pits prominent architect against city hall By Natalie Alcoba, National Post Prominent Toronto architect Peter Clewes...
- Highrise condos behind Queen’s Park to proceed With a provincial election less than nine months off, McGuinty...
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