Tag: David Mirvish

Toronto City Council Votes Decisively in Support of Mirvish+Gehry Toronto

New images podium david_01 (wide)

Toronto, July 10, 2014 – With today’s vote at City Council supporting Toronto Planning staff’s recommendations to approve the current application plan for the Mirvish + Gehry Toronto development, the team expects to continue to work with Council, staff and local stakeholders through the remainder of the development process, before launching the project.

“Today’s decision by Council was obviously a necessary step in this lengthy process,” says Mirvish Enterprises’ David Mirvish.  “While we believe today’s vote was first and foremost an endorsement of our vision for the site, lead by our architect Frank Gehry, we also believe that it is a clear endorsement of the city’s development process and staff’s demand for consultation and collaboration among the stakeholders.  Through an iterative process, a myriad of ideas were considered leading to a better project, and we are pleased that today, City Council agreed.”

The Mirvish + Gehry development team, lead by Peter Kofman (of Projectcore Inc.), has spent nearly two years engaged in an iterative and collaborative design and urban planning exercise with city staff and local politicians, highlighted most recently by an intensive and detailed consultation with local stakeholders as part of a city-appointed working group process.

The process resulted in a revised application that features two iconic towers and an enhanced public realm, includes both space for a new art gallery for the Mirvish Collection and new campus for OCAD University, manages to both preserve the Princess of Wales and Royal Alexandra Theatres, and protects many of the architecturally significant heritage components of the current site.

“The process we so fully engaged in has led to a more evolved scheme and a more refined approach to the development site,” says Peter Kofman, adding that he believes the planning process ultimately created the conditions for a positive staff report and approval from Council.  “Today’s vote was a critical step in the development process.  We look forward to working with the city through the rest of the process, before moving ahead with our sales and marketing program in the near future.”

Please visit www.mirvishandgehry.com.

 

For more information, contact:

Peter Kofman, P. Eng                                                            

Projectcore Inc.                                                                     

(416) 363-9066                                                                                

p.kofman@projectcore.com               

David Mirvish and Daniel Solomon

Daniel Solomon and David Mirvish: A 45-Year Friendship In Art

David Mirvish and Daniel Solomon
David Mirvish (left) and Daniel Solomon (right) in the 60s.

Daniel Solomon, now a painter and professor in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University, met David Mirvish, now a prominent theatre producer, art collector and art dealer, in 1968 back when they were both beginning their careers. The two became lifelong friends. On Tuesday, November 12, in a rare opportunity, the OCAD U community becomes privy to one of their wide-ranging conversations about art. Their talk is presented by the Drawing and Painting Thesis and Advanced Painting classes.

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David Mirvish (left) and Daniel Solomon (right) today.

Solomon was an architecture student at the University of Oregon in the early 1960s and relocated to Toronto in 1967. From 1968 to 1970 he worked full time at the David Mirvish Gallery and later went on to exhibit there, as well as at major galleries both in Canada and around the world. He divides his time evenly between his painting career and his teaching at OCAD U. Solomon’s paintings, watercolours, sculptures and stage sets are characterized by intense, vibrant colour and complex pictoral space.

During the 1960s and 1970s the David Mirvish Gallery was regarded as one of the most important venues for contemporary art in Toronto. It was located on Markham Street, around the corner from Mirvish’s father’s landmark discount store, Honest Ed’s in a neighbourhood. As his career evolved and diversified into other areas of the arts community, including theatre production and bookselling, his passion for contemporary art never wavered. Mirvish is one of Canada’s foremost art dealers and collectors and a longstanding donor and supporter of OCAD U. His Mirvish+Gehrydevelopment project proposed for King Street in Toronto’s Entertainment District includes plans for the Princess of Wales Centre for Visual Arts at OCAD University, a 25,000 square foot arts education facility. A significant part of the development plan is also the creation of a new Mirvish Collection museum.

VIA OCAD UNIVERSITY