Toronto’s chief planner says Mirvish-Gehry debate ‘far from over’

TORONTO – “I wouldn’t say I’m not a fan.”

When asked about renowned architect Frank Gehry, Toronto’s chief planner said quite the opposite.

“I should say I’m a huge Gehry fan,” said Jennifer Keesmaat to Global News on Tuesday.

Toronto-born Gehry teamed up with theatre mogul David Mirvish to dream up a project arguably unlike anything the city has ever seen.

The project includes three 80+ storey condo towers, plus two six-storey podiums – open to the public – that would house a 60,000 sq foot gallery displaying Mirvish’s private collection of contemporary art, campus space for OCAD University and retail. (You can read more about the project details here).

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Four buildings, including the Princess of Wales Theatre, would be demolished to make way to the complex. The design is bold, meant to reclaim the public realm and create a cultural hub at King and John.

As it stands, the future of the project is TBD.

Mirvish said the city basically told him to “fit it” – scale back the original design to fit it into existing space, which he argued would negate the effect of reclaiming the public realm.

READ MORE: Toronto the good – when is ‘fitting in’ not good enough?

This week, Keesmaat dove into the debate over the future of King St. W.

On Monday, she called the project’s plan for the heritage buildings that would be demolished “trite” and “poor.”

On Tuesday, Keesmaat said that the issue isn’t with Gehry’s architecture, but rather the density of the project.

“I think if this project could get off the ground, it could be profoundly exciting for the city,” said Keesmaat.

However, “we have a density being proposed here that is nowhere near the density that we’ve ever seen anywhere else in the city.”

Mirvish has acknowledged this concern, arguing the height of the towers – the density – is required to pay for the architecture and the art gallery.

Keesmaat said concerns such as having adequate park space, community facilities and access to the TTC need to be considered.

The city planner said she is also worried about the precedent that could be set if Mirvish and Gehry’s project gets approved as is.

“If we say yes on this site, to super-density or super-tall towers…it becomes very difficult to say no elsewhere. So we actually have to take a look at the whole area, not just this one site,” Keesmaat said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If we say yes on this site, to super-density or super-tall towers…it becomes very difficult to say no elsewhere. So we actually have to take a look at the whole area, not just this one site," Keesmaat said.

Mirvish will take the plan to the Ontario Municipal Board with hopes the board will approve his project.

“It’s far from over,” said Keesmaat.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's far from over," said Keesmaat.

Gehry, meanwhile, will await next year’s opening of the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation in Paris, which boasts “sails” made of 3,600 glass panels, and will house exhibition and art space meant to promote, support and showcase as many works of art and cultural creations as possible.

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“We wanted to present Paris with an extraordinary place for art and culture and demonstrate daring and emotion by entrusting Frank Gehry with construction of a building that is emblematic of the twenty-first century,” said Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH.

Gehry, now 84 and considered by many to be the most important architect of his generation, will wait to see if one of his final projects will take shape as he dreamed it in his hometown, or be shelved.