[URBAN NOTE] "Mirvish's new condo plan will keep Princess of Wales intact"

[rfmcdonald]

People upset by 2012 news that a stretch of King Street hosting the Princess of Wales Theatre would be torn down for a new Frank Gehry-designed condo complex can rest easy. The theatre will live! From Newstalk 1010:

From Newstalk 1010:

It looks as though David Mirvish will get the condo towers he wanted on King Street.

He's also going to be able to keep the Princess of Wales Theatre intact.

According to several sources, Mirvish, architect Frank Gehry and Toronto city staff have been working on a compromise to get giant condos built on King St., while keeping heritage buildings in the area.

The new plan would see two condo buildings, instead of three, and much taller than original specs. The two buildings would soar 92, and 82 storeys respectively. But while it's taller, Mirvish and Gehry say it's actually smaller in scale.

The Globe and Mail.

Toronto’s head planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, said it is wrong to call the new plan a compromise. “It’s a new project that’s better than the project that existed before,” she said.

Ms. Keesmaat said planning staff are “absolutely thrilled” with the result. “Frank Gehry has been able to use his creativity to come up with a proposal that, quite frankly, exceeded my expectations about how you could have a tremendous amount of development on this site and at the same time be very true to its historical context.”

While the block would get a taller tower, Ms. Keesmaat said its slender profile would reduce shadows.

Mr. Gehry conceived the original design as a candelabra with three candlesticks. The two-tower design will be “sculpted almost like waterfalls flowing into a pool on one side, and on another aspect of it having a clay appearance,” Mr. Mirvish said.

“Frank is building me a jewel box,” Mr. Mirvish said. That “box” will be placed on top of the warehouse on the west end of the block, and will have 9,200 square feet of space to house art exhibitions. That’s a small fraction of the space in the original design to house Mr. Mirvish’s personal art collection. OCAD University will have a facility on the site as planned.