we started off our preview of 2015 with articles covering two of midtown Toronto’s primary growth nodes, Yonge and Eglinton and St. Clair Avenue West. Today we continue our Growth to Watch For series with a look at the many current and future developments in the works for the posh Bloor-Yorkville area and its surroundings. The area has evolved from a village to a gritty bohemian cultural enclave, then into a chic shopping destination, and now into one of the most sought after live-work-play-shop locales in all of Canada. With its success, Bloor-Yorkville’s borders continue to expand as new developments on the fringes of the neighbourhood adopt the ‘Yorkville’ moniker. We will start our tour through the area and its surroundings by looking at a cluster of developments in the Avenue Road and Davenport area to the northwest.
At Avenue Road and Pears, just north of Davenport, construction of Menkes Developments‘ Pears on the Avenue is now in its late phases. The 20-storey Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects-designed development topped off last year, and is now close to being sealed off from the elements with its exterior cladding. The project will add 175 condominium units to the area after construction wraps up later this year.
Pears on the Avenue as it appeared in October 2014, image by Forum contributor david-realtor
East on Davenport on the other side of Avenue Road, construction is continuing on Mizrahi Developments‘ 133 Hazelton. Designed by Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects in a classically-inspired idiom, this 9-storey building will add 35 luxury condominium units and three townhomes to Ave & Dav.
133 Hazelton as it appeared in October 2014, image by Forum contributor david-realtor
Next door, work recently began at the site of Mizrahi Developments‘ sister project at 181 Davenport which follows the street’s curve towards Bay Street. Also designed by Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects, this 12-storey condominium development has sold all of its units, and is now rising from the excavation site.
Rendering of 181 Davenport, image courtesy of Mizrahi
There are a number of proposals in the works on Avenue Road.
Just south of Davenport Road, plans are in the works for a new 12-storey, Teeple Architects-designed condo development at 143 Avenue Road, the site of a former gas station. The Dash Developments‘ Avenue Lofts proposal which would bring 94 condominium units to its site is going to the OMB as the City did not complete its response to the application in the allotted time.
Less than a block south, Urbancorp‘s proposal for a 14-storey, TACT-designed condominium tower at 121 Avenue Road would stand at the former site of St. Paul’s-Avenue Road United Church, which was lost to arson in 1995. It’s not yet know when this project, which first surfaced in the planning process last year, will surface again.
Another few doors to the south, Freed‘s proposed redevelopment of the Howard Johnson Hotel at 89 Avenue Road was recently settled with neighbours and the City, and is set to be ratified at the OMB with a reduced height of 20 storeys. The smaller building at the east end of the property, previously proposed at six storeys, has been cut down to three storeys.
Just south at 33 Avenue Road is a 40-storey condominium tower is in its early planning stages, also known as 140 Yorkville. We will know more about this development after the upcoming public consultation, to be held on January 22 at the neighbouring Park Hyatt Hotel.
Continuing to the south, residents are now moving into Camrost-Felcorp‘s The New Residences of Yorkville Plaza. The WZMH Architects-led project has converted the former 31-storey Four Seasons hotel at the southeast corner of Avenue Road and Yorkville into a new condominium tower.
The New Residences of Yorkville Plaza, image courtesy of Camrost Felcorp
To the immediate south, excavation continues for the second phase of the Four Seasons redevelopment, dubbed Cumberland at Yorkville Plaza. Construction of the 38-storey, Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects-designed condominium tower is currently slated for completion in 2017.
Cumberland at Yorkville Plaza, image courtesy of Camrost Felcorp
Jumping over to Yonge Street north of Davenport, the proposed redevelopment of the Ridpath’s furniture store site at 906 Yonge Street continues through a complicated gestation. A fourth iteration of the development plans for the site has resulted in the approval of a 13-storey building fronting on Yonge just behind the Ridpath’s furniture store façade, but the Ontario Municipal Board refused to allow a 30-storey tower to go in on the west end of the property facing McMurrich Street. It is not know when a fifth plan for the property will surface.
Across McMurrich from the 906 Yonge site at Davenport, yet another project bearing the Yorkville moniker, Lifetime Developments‘ The Yorkville Condominiums, is topped off and almost fully clad. The 31-storey, Wallman Architects-designed condominium tower adds a notable shot of colour to the area with its copper-hued fins and a cantilevered extrusion wrapped in reflective gold glazing. Occupancy for the development is slated for mid-2015.
The Yorkville Condominiums, image by Forum contributor urbandreamer
South a couple blocks on Yonge Street, Bazis and Plaza recently applied for a shoring permit for 1 Yorkville, the first step in constructing a 55-storey Rosario Varacalli-designed condo tower. The new development will feature 585 condominium units atop ground floor commercial space utilizing the retained facades of the existing heritage buildings on site.
Rendering of 1 Yorkville, image courtesy of Bazis/Plaza
Plans for the proposed redevelopment of Oxford Properties‘ Cumberland Terrace at 2 Bloor West were submitted to the city last year, generating much discussion on UrbanToronto. Renderings showed a 54-storey, architectsAlliance-designed tower rising from a large retail podium, and we can expect the design to be further refined with an update expected soon.
Early rendering of the Cumberland Terrace redevelopment, image courtesy of Oxford Properties
Just north of the Cumberland Terrace site and west of 1 Yorkville, Minto Group‘s plans to replace the Yorkville parking garage with a pair of Wallman Architects-designed condo towers were recently approved at a late-2014 marathon council meeting. The 62- and 40-storey towers will contain 655 and 511 condominium units respectively, and we can expect marketing of the development to commence this year.
Rendering of the 27-37 Yorkville proposal, image courtesy of Minto
Minto also has another project in the works to the west across Bay Street called Minto Yorkville Park. The 25-storey, Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects-designed condominium development saw some activity late last year, when an application to demolish the existing 9 storey office building on the site was submitted in October 2014.
Rendering of Minto Yorkville Park, image courtesy of Minto
On Bloor Street just west of Avenue Road, construction of Metropia, Bazis and Plaza‘s Exhibit Residences is now on the seventh floor. TheRosario Varacalli-designed condominium tower will rise 32 storeys on a high-traffic stretch of Bloor, across the street from the Royal Ontario Museum.
Exhibit Residences, image by Craig White
To the east on Bloor Street, Krugarand Corporation‘s proposal to develop 80 Bloor West has been quiet in recent months. Plans to build a new 66-storey architectsAlliance-designed mixed-use tower on the site may resurface at City Hall this year though, so we will be keeping a watchful eye out for any activity on the project.
Over at the corner of Bay Street and St. Mary Street, construction of Pemberton Group‘s U Condominiums is now in its late stages. The shorter of the 56- and 46-storey architectsAlliance-designed condominium towers recently topped off and had glazing applied to its mechanical penthouse level. The first residents are expected to begin replacing construction crews and populating the development later this year. The taller tower will top off in a couple months.
U Condominiums, image by Craig White
Just west of U Condos, Loretto College‘s 70 St. Mary Street was recently approved during the same marathon council meeting in September that greenlighted a combined 755 new storeys of development around the city. The 40-storey architectsAlliance-designed condominium development would add 220 new units to the area plus student housing and new accommodations for the Loretto Sisters.
Rendering of 70 St. Mary, image courtesy of Loretto College
South of Bloor, there is activity behind the scenes for KingSett Capital‘s The St. Thomas. The proposed 23-storey and 10-storey mixed use buildings, designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, would contain 267 residential units, and will retain the existing historic apartment building at 8 St. Thomas.
Rendering of The St. Thomas, image courtesy of KingSett Capital
At 230 meters, Morguard Corporation‘s 50 Bloor Street West would bring a major presence to to the block west of the Yonge and Bloor intersection… but there are no plans to build the 71-storey, Pellow + Associates Architects-designed tower soon. It was one of the many developments approved during the previously mentioned August 2014 City Council meeting. We should hear about plans for the Holt Renfrew store on the site this year though.
Rendering of 50 Bloor West, image courtesy of Morguard
Expected to be even taller than the future 50 Bloor West, Mizrahi’s recent $300 million purchase of Stollery’s and adjacent properties at the southwest corner of Yonge and Bloor is paving the way for a new landmark development. The project is being designed by internationally renowned firm Foster + Partners, partnered with Toronto-based Core Architects. Earlier this month, an application was filed by the developer proposing to demolish existing 3-storey retail building occupying the site.
1 Bloor West, image by Jack Landau
The catalyst for all of the ultra-high-density projects planned for the Yonge and Bloor area is rising steadily on the intersection’s southeast corner. Great Gulf Homes‘ One Bloor East now stands 42 storeys tall, over halfway towards its lofty goal of 75 storeys. The Hariri Pontarini-designed condominium tower, which has become a fan favourite on UrbanToronto, is expected to top off in 2016.
One Bloor East, image by Forum contributor Benito
A block southeast of One Bloor East on Charles Street, work continues on 45 Charles Ltd and Edenshaw Homes Ltd‘s CHAZ Yorkville Condos. The Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects-designed tower is now topped off at 47 storeys, and cladding installation has progressed up to the steel-framed mechanical penthouse level above, meaning it won’t be too much longer until the project is officially complete. The first residents will be moving in this year.
CHAZ Yorkville Condos, image by Forum contributor Benito
Across the street to the north, the podium levels are rising at the site of Cresford Developments‘ Casa II. The 56-storey, architectsAlliance-designed condominium tower will add to the growing canyon of condominium towers forming on this once quiet east-west running side street.
Construction at Casa II site, image by Forum contributor jivey80
Next door, work has begun on Casa II’s younger sibling, Casa III. Shoring work for the 55-storey condominium tower got under way in 2014, along the demolition of a former post office on the site. The completed development will add 621 residential units across the street from its first phase and alongside the second phase.
Casa III site as it appeared in October 2014, image by Jack Landau
Further east on Charles Street, developer Aspen Ridge Homes has applied for a zoning amendment to allow for a new high-rise condominium development at 68 Charles East. The project, which would redevelop the historic apartments known as The Manhattan, would rise 52 storeys with a design by Quadrangle Architects.
Site of 68 Charles Street East, image from Apple Maps
Back on Yonge Street, an application was filed last Summer by Lifetime Developments, asking to amend a zoning bylaw and allow a 42-storey condominium development to rise from the site of 10 St. Mary Street, currently the site of a mid-20th century nine-storey office building. This will progress through the planning process this year.
Rendering of 10 St. Mary Street
There is a whole lot to look forward to development-wise in 2015, and we will return soon with previews covering the other major nodes in the GTA
Read the full post in UrbanToroonto.ca
Leave a Reply