The Star reminds Toronto that One Bloor Street East still exists

Walking by the giant fenced-off crater at Yonge and Bloor, it’s easy to forget that, once upon a market bubble, a huge residential tower was supposed to be there. Back in 2007, One Bloor was the most hyped condo development in the city. Hundreds of people camped outside the presentation centre for days to plunk down half a million dollars for a unit. Then 2008 hit, and it all went down the drain. But today the Star provides an update—with renderings!—on the revised development that will go up on that corner. To be completed in 2014, the complex actually looks decent, with curves and flair designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects.

Many changes have been made in the shift from One Bloor to One Bloor II:

• It’s now 65 storeys instead of 80
• It has 690 suites instead of 801
• Rather than a hotel, retail will be on the street level
• The name has been “changed” from “1 Bloor” to “One Bloor”
• The design is “more fluid and prettier”
• Apple Canada is now rumoured to want into the complex
• It’s managed by Toronto’s Great Gulf Group of Companies, not the Kazakh firm Bazis, which lost its financial backing during the recession

Come mid-April, the original 490 buyers will be able to opt back in, with prices ranging from “$390,000 to more than $1.5 million for units ranging from 530 to 1,724 square feet,” according to the Star. This is a far cry from the $25-million penthouse that was rumoured to have sold back in ’07, but perhaps the building that became a metaphor for the overheated real estate market will now do the same for post-recession Toronto.

http://www.thestar.com/article/684267

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/668302

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/how-the-plan-to-build-canadas-tallest-condo-fell-apart/article1291333/

http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/realestate/article/784291–one-bloor-will-be-a-bold-futuristic-building