A series of meetings to try to reconcile local uptown residents to the design of a proposed condominium at Yonge St. and Strathgowan Ave. has failed. A communication from the Uptown Yonge Neighborhood Alliance (UYNA) rejected the final compromises offered by the architect Will Alsop. The unorthodox appearance of the Alaska condo with its much ridiculed “Flying Table Top” component has yielded widespread opposition to the building. In the last of a series of working group meetings last week the development team behind Alaska presented its proposed revisions to the original application. The members offered to reduce the height of the building one storey, add a service vehicle entrance off Yonge which would pass through the building and exit onto Strathgowan across from Sheridan Nurseries, add landscaping along the eastern and northern frontages and create a single residential entrance for condo owners and tenants off Strathgowan. The UYNA newsletter says these “minor revisions” leave the fundamental scale and design of the building unchanged. The design team is said to be standing by the present form on grounds of “economic viability and design integrity”. But UYNA insists Alaska continues to “unapologetically flout the zoning by-law, key sections of the Official Plan, and the Avenues and Mid-Rise Buildings Study.” UYNA maintains the position that a development at Yonge and Strathgowan should respect the City’s policies and says it remains committed to appropriate development at Yonge and Strathgowan.
