The Waterfront development continues with another huge undertaking, this time by
Hines and Tridel, announced last week.
Bayside will ultimately be a 13-acre, $1.1-billion mixed-use project, including two office buildings and 125,000 square feet of retail.
But first, there's a condo.
Aqualina will be a 363-suite tower, designed by New York’s
Arquitectonica, winner of an open architectural competition. "It takes more time and more administration," says Tridel's VP of marketing and sales, Jim Ritchie, of the unusual step of opening up a condo design to competition. "It's obviously quicker to go to the guys you know best, but I think the creative juices are enhanced when you go to a competition."
Tridel is devloping the residential aspects of the project.
Waterfront’s development standard is LEED neighbourhood Gold, which requires earning between 60 and 79 points on the
UCGS LEED scale, but Ritchie says they're going for LEED neighbourhood Platinum for Aqualina, which requires a minimum of 80 points.
Sales were announced last week, and Ritchie figures construction will start in 12-15 months if sales go well, with first occupancy available towards the end of 2016.
Bayside is the second very large Waterfront neghburhood developmet, after the
Canary District, being developed in the West Don Lands by Dundee Kilmer, which includes the athletes village for the Pan Am/Parapan Games on its 35-acre site.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jim Ritchie