ABOVE: A year and several draft designs later, Mirvish King St. condo plan no closer to approval. Mark Carcasole reports.
TORONTO – David Mirvish said he’s taking a condo building plan to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) in a luncheon Thursday.
The theatre mogul and art collector made the comments defending his vision at the Empire Club after city staff failed to approve the huge towers.
Mirvish teamed up with renowned architect Frank Gehry to design three residential towers that he said were “unlike anything that has been built in Toronto.”
Related: Blog from MPP Rosario Marchese: No more empty gestures, set Toronto free from the OMB
Mirvish’s vision would be a major transformation for the King West area, including a public art gallery and a new campus for OCAD University.
But the city planning department said in a statement to Global News that it’s concerned about the sheer size and complexity of the development.
“The proposal represents an amount of development not anticipated in the area,” read the statement from Director of Community Planning Gregg Lintern. “The City has to consider how much the area can sustain and what the right scale is for the project.”
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The project would have seen the removal of the Princess of Wales Theatre in order to make room for the three towers, as Mirvish believed the theatre “compromised” Gehry’s plan and “lessened” the impact of the project.
City planners viewed the project with disapproval but Mirvish is hoping the Ontario Municipal Board can save the plan.
At least one city councillor is questioning how the board makes their decision.
“There is no accountability, there is no transparency, there is no rationale that is consistent on any one of their applications,” said councillor Adam Vaughan.
– With files from Mark Carcasole
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