The market for buying large rental towers has really started to soften. The possibility that rent controls will be linked to the unit rather the tenant has been the final dagger to the heart for a lot of institutional investors like pension funds.

You are right about that. I know of a few owners that are quickly trying to unload the properties while there is still some money in the market. Most people think that the prospect of the NDP tying rent controls to the unit is very real and will be the precursor to widespread Government ownership of rental properties as owners will be forced to sell at liquidation prices to what will essentially be the only buyer.

IMHO the Government would have no qualms about screwing over a Starlight or Centurion as greedy capitalists that were profiteering.

Is than an example of large, state controlled rental projects that have ever really been more than slums for the poor?

The previous Roundhouse submission in spring of 2021 assumed that they would be able to move the rail line a bit to the south, which allowed for different building and street / walkway placement. It was a cool out of the box idea for a challenging site, but I figured at the time that it would be impossible for them to jump through all the hoops needed to get the rail line moved. Since this new submission shows the rail line in its current location, I'm guessing that is one of the reasons for the changes.

I also noted that the previous submission included way more details and drawings, and they had obviously spent a lot of time and money on that package. It was 112 pages compared to the new submission's 20 pages.

We need a Mike Harris-type government that's not afraid to knock municipalities down several notches. Why successive administrations would rather ruin the entire housing market than tell cities they maybe shouldn't make building so hard, I'll never know.

Sorry not the update most here are looking for to be sure for Bayview, but as a rail geek I thought this T-C story this morning was very cool.

Assuming of course this turkey of a redevelopment project ever takes flight IMO it'll be fantastic to have this little fella scooting back and forth along the rails moving the rolling stock to and fro. This is actually a relatively rare find; I remember seeing a couple of these switcher locos on the prairies and in Ontario in the 60's/early 70's on a couple of our family trips by rail across the country - these models are small but very powerful:

https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/little-locomotive-revives-vic-west-railyard-5073835

Wikipedia provides a much better look at one these old girls and as indicated in the wiki article the only other (known) preserved and working units of this class in Canada are currently in Edmonton and Hamilton.Makes sense as these guys were typically found in the larger rail-yards such as Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal way back in the day:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_45-ton_switcher#/media/File:1942_GE_45_Ton_locomotive_at_the_Texas_Transportation_Museum,_Mar_2017.jpeg