Brandon Donnelly

Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

Subscribe

Tag: event

  • SvNSpeaks: How to remove overly prescriptive and rigid development policies

    This event poster has reminded me that, every now and then, I probably need to pull out a cooler headshot. In any event, next week I’m going to be a guest on SvNSpeaks, along with John Lorinc, talking about the obstacles that overly prescriptive and rigid development policies are creating for our climate goals. This is obviously a really important topic. Because if we were singularly focused on reducing carbon emissions, we wouldn’t be building the way we are building today.

    For more information and to register for the virtual event, click here.

  • The resilient story of Toronto’s tall towers

    The Urban Land Institute Toronto is hosting an event and panel discussion on April 8, 2021 about the future of high-rises in our cities. Here’s the blurb:

    Against the backdrop of the pandemic and its toll, what is the future of high-rises in our cities? What role do tall towers now play in shaping Toronto’s identity? While the pandemic has accelerated existing large trends, residential tall towers are proving the durability of a quality urban centre and hyper-urban lifestyles in Toronto and around the world.

    An introduction will be provided by James Parakh (author, Fellow of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, and Urban Design Manager for the Toronto & East York District) and then a discussion will be moderated by Robyn Player (Director, BTY).

    The discussion will be focused on what ULI is calling three of Toronto’s most exciting tower projects under development: Pinnacle One Yonge, One Delisle, and 11 Yorkville.

    I will be on the panel (talking One Delisle) alongside Lee Koutsaris (VP, Sales and Marketing, Metropia) and Anson Kwok (VP, Sales and Marketing, Pinnacle International).

    If you’d like to register, you can do that over here. It should be a great/timely conversation.

  • Dixie Outlet Mall launches drive-in movie theater

    Dixie Outlet Mall in Mississauga has just launched a drive-in movie theater that will run for three Saturdays starting on September 12, 2020. Tickets are available for $5 and you have to purchase in advance. It’s first come, first park. And there only 100 parking spots available.

    Here are the event links:

    Sept. 12, 2020

    Sept. 19, 2020

    Sept. 26, 2020

    All of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the New Haven Learning Centre, which is a group that works to positively change the lives of people with autism, and other related disorders. For more information about the Dixie Drive-In, click here.

    And for those of you who are curious, the answer is yes, a minor variance application was required in order to allow this “pop-up.”

  • Saves the dates: The House Beer Garden

    We are reasonably confident that summer will eventually arrive in Toronto this year, and so we (Junction House) have partnered with Indie Alehouse to host a public and outdoor beer garden from June through to August, right in the Junction.

    We are calling it The House Beer Garden because we both have “House” in our name and that’s as clever as we get.

    Here are the details:

    There will be four editions of The House Beer Garden and each will host a different local food vendor. For the first one, we will be welcoming Chau Toronto and their modern Asian bites.

    The timing of the first Beer Garden also happens to line up with the Annual Summer Solstice Festival in the Junction (that was deliberate). So Dundas Street West will be closed to cars and it’s going to be a lot of fun.

    No need to RSVP. Just show up at 2720 Dundas Street West, Junction. See you in two weeks.

  • Forum on Future Cities: Urban Intelligence

    MIT Senseable City Lab and the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization are hosting a conference next month on the impact that artificial intelligence is having on our cities. Here is a summary of the event:

    As AI (Artificial Intelligence) becomes ubiquitous, it transforms many aspects of the environment we live in. In cities, AI is opening up a new era of an endlessly reconfigurable environment. Empowered by robust computers and elegant algorithms that can handle massive data sets, cities can make more informed decisions and create feedback loops between humans and the urban environment. It is what we call the raise of UI (urban intelligence).

    The 2019 Forum on Future Cities, organized by MIT Senseable City Lab and the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization, will focus on four aspects of the UI transformation: autonomous vehicles, ubiquitous data collection, advanced data analytics, and governing innovation. Panelists include mayors, academics, senior industry leaders and members of civil society to explore such topics from different points of view, highlighting the scientific and technological challenges, the critical collective decisions we as a society will have to make, and the exciting possibilities ahead.

    The forum takes place on April 12th in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And since it looks to deal with many of the topics that we talk about on this blog, I figured that some of you might be interested in attending. If so, you can register here.

  • The Future of Hamilton

    image

    As many of you know, we have a development project in Hamilton, Ontario – more specifically in the Corktown neighborhood. We filed our development application earlier this summer.

    Because of this I was invited to participate in a Bisnow event on The Future of Hamilton. It takes place the morning of Wednesday, September 12, 2018 in The Alley by Core Urban. I walked this space last summer while it was under construction and so I’m excited to see it finished.

    For those of you who aren’t familiar with Core Urban, they are doing some really great work in Hamilton and have established themselves as a responsible city builder with a focus on adaptive reuse projects.

    Steve Kulakowsky, who is co-owner of Core Urban, will be speaking at the event along with the mayor, some guy who has pretentiously included his middle name, and many other smart people. To see the full list of speakers and to buy a ticket, click here.

    Photo of Hamilton by Vivek Trivedi on Unsplash

  • Celebrate the sidewalk (at Yonge + St. Clair)

    I have two quick announcements to make regarding Yonge + St. Clair in midtown Toronto.

    The first is that Slate has just unveiled a new “ravine bench” at the northeast corner of the intersection. 

    Here’s a photo:

    And here’s another photo with people sitting in it. #SitTO

    Designed by Gensler (the same firm behind the renovation of 2 St. Clair Ave East), the design is all about celebrating both the sidewalk/public realm and the extraordinary ravines that cut through the area. Some people may not even be aware of these natural features, so perhaps this bench will help with that.

    The second announcement is the launch of our Yonge + St. Clair Pop-up Store at 1470 Yonge Street. I know this is short notice, but the launch party is on Thursday, September 21 from 6 – 10pm (drop in whenever). That’s tonight if you’re reading this post via email subscription.

    At the party we’ll be introducing 8 exclusive t-shirt designs from Toronto artist, Lucas Young. All of the tees will be screen-printed for you right on the spot and 50% of all proceeds from the opening night will be going to The Canadian Cancer Society. 

    Wine, beer, and snacks will be available. If you come find me at the party, I’ll give you some drink tickets. So if you’re around on Thursday night, come by for some drinks, a Toronto tee, and to check out the new ravine bench on Yonge Street.

  • The roots of the tree

    Yesterday morning I attended a CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) breakfast event called The Story of Marketing Tall Buildings.

    It consisted of a talk by William Murray, who is Group Director of the UK-based creative agency Wordsearch, and then a panel discussion with some of Toronto’s leading developers. (David Wex of Urban Capital was one of the panelists. Many of you will probably remember him from this BARED post.)

    Shown above is one of William’s slides. The title is: The roots of the tree. And I thought it was a great metaphor for what tall buildings, well really all buildings, should aspire to do.

    The tendency is to think of buildings as objects. Here, look at how beautiful this thing is. That’s obviously important, but what about its roots? What about the way in which it interfaces with its context and hopefully gives back? Is it a catalyst for positive change?

    I thought it was a good slide.

  • Is Toronto a world-class city?

    image

    Earlier this week I was on a panel discussion called Building Toronto Tomorrow. One of the questions was about whether or not Toronto is world-class city. It elicited a good discussion, so I thought I would talk about that today on the blog.

    Shamez Virani, President of CentreCourt Developments, responded by saying that he thinks Toronto is the greatest city in the world and that he wishes more people would just accept how incredible this city is. I agreed with him.

    I also responded by saying that I hate this question. I think it reeks of insecurity and I think it’s a bit of a red herring. It distracts from more direct and meaningful questions – questions such as our livability and our position as a global city.

    Because the reality is that Toronto is one of the most livable cities in the world and, in my view, we are the only true global city in Canada. We are an important node in the global economy for the flow of goods, people (we’re particularly good at this), capital, and now information. There’s a lot to be proud of.

    But that’s not to say that we’re perfect. Everyone knows we need better transit. And to name a few others (non-exhaustive list), I also think we need to:

    • Get a move on road pricing.
    • Loosen up our archaic alcohol laws and start using nightlife as a competitive advantage for attracting talent.
    • Acknowledge through our governance structures that cities are what drive today’s information economy.
    • Stop thinking about the Canadian/Toronto value proposition as being about cost savings. That is, buy this from us because our currency is weaker than yours. This is anti-innovation and there are much better ways to create sustainable value. (Innovation is still a weak spot.)
    • Focus on developing an information economy that leverages the unique talent and knowledge base of Toronto. For example, I think we’re in a great position for real estate + tech innovation.
    • Do everything we can to encourage big tech IPOs in this city. They are critical to developing the ecosystem.

    There’s a saying in Silicon Valley that you “make what you measure.” It means that whatever you decide to focus your attention on, is invariably what you end up making – regardless of whether or not you happen to be focusing on the right metric.

    In the context of Toronto, I think we’d be better served if we focused on and quantified our position in the global economy, as opposed to chasing some idea of “world-class.” The latter will grow as the former grows.

    I also think that this needs to be balanced against our livability. Sometimes there’s a tension. But there are cities – the best example is perhaps Tokyo – who have managed to pair a high quality of life with one of the strongest positions in the global economy.

    Is there anything else you think we should be doing? We can talk about it in the comments below.

    Image: Building T.O Toronto (BuzzBuzzHome Event)

  • Building Toronto Tomorrow

    I’m going to be speaking on a panel on May 3rd, here in Toronto, called Building T.O. Tomorrow. The topic is the future of this city.

    It is being put on by the good folks at BuzzBuzzHome and it will be held in the lobby of Allied’s new Queen-Richmond Centre (134 Peter Street). If you haven’t yet been to this building, that alone makes attending worthwhile.

    Here’s the event poster:

    If you’d like to attend, make sure you RSVP to aleks@buzzbuzzhome.com.

    On a largely unrelated note, I recently picked up the handlebar bicycle mount for my GoPro and I’m looking for some fellow city geeks who would like to ride around the city and film some – potentially cool – videos.

    I find that being on a bike is one of the best ways to experience a city (at least the cities that are actually bikeable). So I’m hoping some of that magic will translate into video. If that sounds at all interesting, drop me a line.