Tag: yonge and st clair

• One Delisle wins best unbuilt high-rise housing project

  The winners of this year’s Architizer A+ Awards are out.

  Now in its 11th year, the A+ Awards are intended to “honor the world’s best architecture and spaces.” And supposedly, it is also the world’s largest (119 categories) and most democratic architectural awards program. I don’t know, I read that here.

  I went through the list of winners this evening (okay, I skimmed this Urban Toronto article), and I’m now excited to report that 13 Canadian projects/firms won an award — either a Jury Award, a Popular Choice Award, or a Special Mention.

  I’m also excited to announce that one of the winners is our One Delisle project. It is the Jury Winner for best unbuilt multi-unit housing project (over 10 floors). Awesome!

  If you’d like to see the full list of winners, click here.

  2023.06.02

• Corktown Condos to launch sales this spring

  

  Earlier this week, I shared this image of Corktown Condos on my Instagram. It represents the first phase of Slate’s two-phase project in Hamilton, and I’m excited to announce that we’ll be launching sales this spring (both in Hamilton and in Toronto).

  We love Hamilton. It has walkability, transit, a wonderful stock of old buildings, and a dynamic and growing cultural scene. In other words, it has all of the characteristics that we look for when it comes to new projects. And here, our approach to city building is exactly analogous to what we did in Toronto at Yonge & St. Clair.

  Those of you who are familiar with our work will know that Slate owns 8 office buildings in midtown, including all four corners of the Yonge & St. Clair intersection. And that we have spent the last decade investing in these buildings, investing in the public realm, investing in public art, and working to support businesses in the area. Then in 2021, we launched sales on a landmark condominium tower called One Delisle that is now under construction.

  Here in Hamilton, we are similarly investing in economic development and in housing. Last year, it was announced that we acquired approximately 800 acres of industrial land and buildings on Hamilton’s waterfront. This site alone has the potential to create up to 23,000 new jobs across the region and inject up to $3.8 billion into Ontario’s economy. It will likely also take some time and be measured in decades.

  We prefer to think of ourselves as city builders. And that means taking a long-term view and thinking about the broader city — not just about our individual projects. So for us, Corktown is part of a much larger and longer-term commitment to the City of Hamilton. And we couldn’t be more excited to share it with all of you in the coming weeks.

  Stay tuned. And if you’d like to register for Corktown, you can do that over here.

  2023.04.15

• The Architect’s Newspaper — 2022 Best of Design Awards

  

  This week AN announced its 2022 Best of Design Awards, which is intended to celebrate outstanding built and unbuilt architectural projects from around the world. And this year I am excited to share that Studio Gang was awarded two editors’ picks: one for 11 Hoyt in Brooklyn (Built-Residential, Multi-Unit) and one for One Delisle here in Toronto (Unbuilt-Residential, Multi-Unit). Selfishly, it of course makes me very happy to see our project being celebrated for its architecture. Go team! But from a less selfish perspective, it also makes me very happy to see Toronto being recognized in these awards. Because this is about city building, right?

  2022.12.15

• Building on top of existing buildings

  There is a growing trend in Toronto right now where people want to build on top of existing buildings. We are proposing to do this in midtown at 1 St. Clair Avenue West and, this week, this proposal was announced for the Cambridge Suites Hotel in the Financial District (shout out to Len Abelman).

  Generally speaking, this is something that an owner and/or developer might want to do when you have an older building and there is now “unused” density on the site. By “unused” I mean that if you were developing the land for the first time today, the resulting density would be higher than what is currently on the site.

  Alongside this, it can also be a way to reposition the existing asset. In the case of the Cambridge Suites site, it sounds like the existing 231 hotel keys will be converted to residential.

  At some point in the process you will probably also look at whether it is “better” to tear down the existing building and build new, or whether you should try and build on top. The former is obviously very bad from an embodied carbon perspective but, for whatever reason, this may be the preferred option.

  If you decide to build on top, your structural engineer will love you because the result — for them — will be a far more interesting project compared to a typical high-rise. But interesting comes with its challenges. Here’s how your structural solution might work:

  It’s a complicated project that will require a 10-metre-high bridge structure to be built atop the existing hotel where the roof is removed. The bridge will help bear the weight of the new tower, explains Len Abelman, principal at Toronto’s WZMH Architects, the firm designing the redevelopment for the property’s owner, Centennial Hotels Ltd.

  “It’s not a common technique, it’s challenging. We worked with a firm called RJC Engineers to do simulations of the massing and loading of weight and the lateral forces the building will face, to make sure it will work,” Mr. Abelman says.

  “Other projects in Toronto have added floors before, but it’s usually done with a big exoskeleton that goes over the entire building. This one uses technology that transfers some of the weight to the columns and the floors of the existing structure below,” he says.

  This is similar to what we are doing in midtown, except that we are proposing to retain all of the the existing facades along with the building. It is certainly not the easiest way to build. But we are likely to see more, not less, of it in the city.

  It is evidence of the immense development pressures that certain areas of our region are facing. When you restrict new supply, the market will find somewhere to build, even if it involves a lot of structural gymnastics.

  2022.10.29

• Construction starting at One Delisle

  

  Two quick project announcements today.

  One, the sales gallery for One Delisle has now officially closed in preparation for demolition and construction (above is a photo from moving day). None of us expected it to close so quickly after only having launched sales in May, but of course this is a good problem to have. We are now just waiting on our demolition permits to arrive, which we expect will happen sometime between the next few days and several weeks. The official groundbreaking ceremony will happen early in the new year once we have a clean/flat site to work with. Shoring and excavation works after that.

  Two, we just announced a partnership with Technogym for Junction House. Our team was all in the office one day and I asked a question about who makes the best performing and most design-forward gym equipment. Technogym was immediately mentioned and so we reached out. They’ll now be equipping the entire fitness center at Junction House and the plan is to make it a longer-term relationship. If you aren’t familiar with Technogym, you can check them out here. They were the official supplier for the recent Olympic Games in Tokyo, as well as 7 other Olympics, which I suppose is something.

  2021.12.02

• The creative agency behind One Delisle

  We have been working with Vanderbrand for many years. They are the creative agency behind both Junction House and One Delisle. We love the work that they do. It’s beautiful, and they have always managed to get our vision behind each project.

  In the case of Junction House, we wanted something clean and simple that at the same time responded to the creative edginess of the Junction neighborhood.

  And in the case of One Delisle, we wanted something elevated but that wasn’t traditional or typical. One Delisle is all about pioneering architecture and the brand needed to reflect that (we ended up creating our own typeface that will be carried through into the completed building).

  If you’re interested in learning more, Vanderbrand has just updated their website to include a full “case study” on One Delisle. You can check that out over here. Below are a few of my favorite images.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  2021.09.07

• ONE DELISLE: Official launch video

  Last week was the official broker launch for One Delisle. In normal times, we would have packed the house and done a fun in-person event involving food, and probably some negronis. Instead, Lucas, Riz, and I did a livestream from the sales gallery at Yonge & St. Clair.

  That video is now available online (embedded above and here). You’ll have to get past our hair (Lucas and I are both in desperate need of a cut), but otherwise it’s pretty cool. Shoutout to Veronica for pulling everything together and making it awesome.

  If you’d like to schedule an appointment at the sales gallery, send a note to sales@onedelisle.com. Please also feel free to contact me directly (or copy me on the email to the sales team). If you’re interested, I would encourage you to act quickly as demand has been incredibly strong.

  2021.05.31

• One cool thing each year

  

  Last month I wrote a post introducing the One Delisle video series. Well, in case you missed it, the next two episodes in the series are now out, which you can watch over here. My personal favorite (so far) is episode two. It’s about city building at Yonge & St. Clair and a goal that Slate set for itself to do “one cool thing each year.” That thing has ranged from murals to streetscape improvements, and has included work from artists such as birdO (aka Jerry Rugg). If you aren’t familiar with his work, have a look over here.

  2021.03.15

• Introducing the One Delisle video series — a renaissance at Yonge and St. Clair

  

  Today I am excited to share the first episode in a new film series about One Delisle and the surrounding neighborhood of Yonge and St. Clair in midtown Toronto. Created for Slate Asset Management by the award-winning UK filmmakers, Raspberry and Jam, the series is about telling the story of how Studio Gang’s first ever project in Canada came to be. (Hint: It started with a neighborhood and not with an individual building.) Episode one is called “A Renaissance at Yonge and St. Clair” and you can view it over at onedelisle.com. Stay tuned for episode two and for the upcoming launch of One Delisle this spring.

  2021.02.19

• One Delisle approved at Community Council

  

  Back in March of this year, which seems like a very long time ago, I wrote about how One Delisle came to be and how City Planning at the City of Toronto were recommending approval of its development application. Well today I am thrilled to announce that, after two deferrals, these recommendations were adopted (with some amendments) by Toronto and East York Community Council. Though it will still need to go through City Council on July 28, 2020, this milestone is a big deal for the project. It’s now time for the next chapter in this story. So stay tuned. For those of you who are new to One Delisle and would like a bit of background, here is a good place to start.

  2020.07.16