Starchitects are descending on Toronto. First it was Frank Gehry with his plan for three 80-story skyscrapers on top of an art museum, and now Norman Foster with a massive plan to redevelop the Metro Toronto Convention Centre area adjacent to the CN Tower and Rogers Centre Stadium. Developed by Oxford Properties Group and dubbed Oxford Place, the plan calls for upgrades to the current convention center and four new towers for housing, office space, a hotel, and a casino surrounding a five-and-a-half acre park spanning a railroad.
An Intercontinental Hotel on the northeastern corner of the site would be demolished and replaced by two large towers containing a combined 3.1 million square feet of office and residential space atop one million square feet of retail and a massive 4,000-car parking structure. While site renderings are marked as illustrative massing diagrams, some have noted the resemblance of the two towers to Foster’s proposal for the World Trade Center, nicknamed the “kissing towers.”
Overall, Oxford Place’s 7.35 million square feet is expected to cost $3 billion, but is contingent on approval of the casino. The City of Toronto must give the final go-ahead before the casino can move forward.
[Via Urban Toronto.]
