King-Victoria Transit Hub

[taylortbb]

The fact the article says they're entering negotiations with the region rather bidding through a proposal process I think confirms they were the only people to answer the RFQ (or at least the only technically compliant one).

It's a common process in large deals like this that if there's ever only one technically compliant bidder then the pricing envelopes are returned unopened (or in this case, never created) and the government enters direct negotiations.

[panamaniac]

I believe in this case they were the only bidder, period. Or am I mistaken about that?

[urbd]

I believe in this case they were the only bidder, period.  Or am I mistaken about that?

Only bidder, correct.

[boatracer]

They were the only respondent. I believe it was a request for qualifications and there weren't any cost submissions. So if they met the requirements of the RFQ then presumably the Region would negotiate directly with them.

[Canard]

When will a design be presented?

[panamaniac]

How will the process work? Is it the Region or the developer that comes up with the concept? Will the Region need to issue a contract for the design?

[tomh009]

When will a design be presented?

I expect that it will be awhile, since the awarding of the project was just recently confirmed. I don't know how long it takes to put a design together, which would need to be approved by the Region.  The other levels of government would probably need to have some input too.

The project wasn't awarded yet!  The consortium will still need to respond to the RFP, even if they are they only ones in the running.  The city might not be able to choose another bidder, but they would still have the option to not proceed if they don't like the proposal.

The King Victoria Transit Hub Partners Inc. (a consortium of three companies) successfully responded to the Region's Request for Qualifications call for building the new transit hub at King and Victoria Streets, and has qualified to participate in the Request for Proposal process.

[Canard]

Ugh, I wish Zaha was still around. She’d do glorious things for us.

[Viewfromthe42]

A more pertinent question was what option were the potential bidders presented with? Low, Mid, or High density?

[clasher]

An RFQ is about proving the company can build something, ie prove their track record and experience. I would guess that since EllisDon is involved that they can show a track record for developing large projects but the RFP will likely show all 3 options if that is what the region wants for proposals. AFAIK they haven't picked one yet.

[Owen]

Noticed they have been doing drilling on various spots across the site... assuming soil testing, etc.   Hopefully some movement soon!

[urbd]

can we change the name of this thread to Multimodal Transit Hub or King & Victoria Transit Hub as that is the name the Region uses?

[Canard]

Hopefully some movement soon!

I hate to be pessimistic, but aren't we still years away from seeing any movement? A concept hasn't even been shown of what they are planing on building there, beyond some Google Sketchup-type diagrams of "potential shapes".

[taylortbb]

I'm sure Perimeter is working on it, and based on their previous work (Google KW, 305 King, 345 King, Simpson building, etc) I trust that it will be good. I think the contract specifies timelines for transit components that include completion around 2021, so they'll probably have to break ground in 2018 (maybe early 2019) to hit that. So that's a year, but not years.

The big question is how much office or residential they think the market can take, and they'll have to answer that for themselves before we see any renders. Perimeter seems to be the most successful company at downtown office leasing right now, so that's a good start. The market seems to be better for residential right now though (look how fast Momentum can sell), but it's not clear how much of the site could be residential given requirements for minimum separation from rail corridors. Perimeter also doesn't have any residential experience AFAIK.

[Canard]

That’s the first I’ve heard of concrete (ha!) dates, thanks!

If they’re going to break ground in 2018, surely we are just months away from seeing the final design?