Category: UrbanToronto

623 housing units, retail and public space

Finished Art Shoppe Condominium

Urban Toronto updates the progress on the Art Shoppe Condo at Yonge St. between Soudan and Hillsdale Aves. There will be 623 new homes in the 28 and 12-storey towers as well as retail and improved public space to the area upon completion. As the website says, high-rise “towers extend in all four cardinal directions from Midtown Toronto’s Yonge and Eglinton intersection, forming a cross of density hugging the major thoroughfares.”

Chester Public School

A plan has been filed at City Hall to uncover and save the facade of Chester Public School built in 1891 at 954 Broadview Ave. between Danforth and the Pottery Rd/Mortimer Ave. corner. The project is part of an 18-storey retirement home plan set on the high bank of the Don Valley. It is put forward by developer Revera Living and designed by Montgomery Sisam with heritage aspects overseen by ERA Architects and would reveal the old school for the first time since it was mostly hidden behind a 20th Century addition. Urban Toronto correctly calls it a forgotten heritage gem.

Condominium proposed for properties running from present street addresses of 1408 to 1420

Urban Toronto reports on a new proposal submitted to the City at the end of February seeking rezoning and an Official Plan Amendment to permit an 8-storey development on Bayview Ave. south of Balliol St. The proposal by Gairloch Developments calls for the replacement of four existing buildings including two brick semi-detached homes numbered from 1408 to 1414. To the north of that two buildings numbered 1416 and 1420 are included. The new address for the condo would be 1410. The website notes a retail space of 98 m² proposed beside the lobby. It can be seen at the south end of the depiction above. Urban Toronto

Context Map of Subject Site – 1408-1420 Bayview Avenue

The Howard Property Group has submitted updated architectural plans for an 11-storey extension of its 13 storey rental property at 368 Eglinton Avenue East opposite Forman Ave. Howard Group, like so many others, is busy fulfilling Toronto’s plan for the high-rise makeover of much of Eglinton along the new LRT line. Urban Toronto

Scarborough Community Council forgot O’Connor Dr. is 100 percent west of Victoria Park Ave.

Years of plotting to redevelop the Eglinton Ave. Golden Mile in keeping with its enormous new value when the LRT is finished seem to have been thrown into confusion. The cause is a plan to reroute O’Connor Drive away from Eglinton Ave. and send it eastward to Birchmount Ave. The unseen problem is that Scarborough Community Council, which came up with the plan, overlooked the lurking presence of North York and Toronto and East York Community Councils to the west of Victoria Park Ave. O’Connor Dr. is 100 percent outside of Scarborough. Rerouting O’Connor would require property purchases inside North York and Toronto and East York. That seems to mean Golden Mile planning would have to move downtown to full City Council. Read on at Toronto.com.   Golden Mile Secondary Plan Study.

Golden Mile Secondary Plan Study Boundary / City of Toronto

The Hospital For Sick Children Patient Support Centre, a proposed 22-storey redevelopment, is seen in a photo gallery at Urban Toronto. It is designed by B+H Architects. The new Patient Support Centre (PSC) has been given the go-ahead to replace the 8-storey Elizabeth McMaster Building, which is being demolished at the corner of Elm and Elizabeth Sts.

Newbigging Funeral Home 2007

Proposal for 733 Mt. Pleasant

The Rockport Group, an active developer of Midtown property, has proposed a nine-storey mixed use building at the site of former Newbigging Funeral Home at 733 Mt. Pleasant Rd. just south of Eglinton. As those in the area will know, this would place the new building about a 90-second walk from the Mt. Pleasant LRT station. The proposal submitted to the City of Toronto in November seeks rezoning and an official plan amendment to permit the mid-rise condominium. The design is by  Wallman Architects. Urban Toronto

• Cumbrae’s and Terroni plan eatery in Montgomery Square
• Rockport Group proposes 16-floor condo at 276-290 Merton

Art Shoppe Condos on the rise

Art Shoppe

Yonge north to Soudan 1930

Urban Toronto publishes pictures of the recent leap upward at the construction site of the Art Shoppe Condos on Yonge St. between Hillsdale and Soudan Aves. The well-known furniture and decor store (upper right) stood there for 70 years and before that (lower right) shops and Bowden’s lumber yard. This photo looks north to Soudan in the summer of 1930. OldTO

Urban Toronto updates condominium frenzy along the LRT. Two towers, the Sonic and SuperSonic condominiums will be 28 and 30 storeys.

Urban Toronto details the increased density — some say alarming overcrowding — coming to Soudan Ave and Lillian St. just off Mt. Pleasant Rd. The two residential developments are a condominium tower known as Distinction Condos and a two-tower rental project called Lillian Park. Urban Toronto

Mid-tower amenities area at 203 Jarvis Street, image by IBI Group for Manga Hotels / urbantoronto.ca

203 Jarvis Street, image by IBI Group for Manga Hotels / urbantoronto.ca

A curious-looking 32-storey hotel and private residence tower has been approved, according to Urban Toronto, for the northeast corner of Jarvis and Shuter Sts. The photos tell a story of great height and odd-looking little boxes, balconies apparently, jutting out of the tower. The UT story also relates how this site (a parking lot) has been the subject of more than one proposal by the developer. He was set to go in 2008 but then decided 25 storeys wasn’t nearly tall enough.

Urban Toronto describes how plans for skyscrapers proposed for Eglinton Ave. E. between Yonge St. and Mt. Pleasant Rd. were presented as a package of three at a recent meeting of the Toronto Design Review Panel. The tumultuous change in process around this intersection contains a proposal called the Green Line, a public space which runs the distance between Yonge and Mt. Pleasant on the north side of Eglinton. In this instance, it would provide a pedestrian connection between the three towers, proposed to rise 50, 55 and 46 storeys. Staggering.