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26 Alexander St (zoning review requests)

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This is the old Carman's restaurant property.


Application: Zoning Review Status: Not Started

Location: 26 ALEXANDER ST
TORONTO ON M4Y 1B4

Ward 27: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 13 123365 ZPR 00 ZR Accepted Date: Feb 22, 2013

Project: Multiple-Use Building New Building

Description: Proposal for a new 19 storey rental apartment with restaurant on ground floor.
 
Carman's was great for those special occasions, I miss it and really thought someone else would take a stab at it. That said, this should fly through with little problems, and good to see more and more rental buildings going up - though the rents in these new buildings are high.
 
Commercial retail space should definitely be encouraged for new developments along side streets between Yonge and Church. This will help increase pedestrian circulation within these blocks as the neighborhood evolves.
 
This is a very narrow property for apartments. I'm not opposed to a 19s building -- it should fit pretty well with the neighbourhood -- I'm just surprised they could design a useful floorplate for this lot.
 
It is a narrow site but it's fairly deep. I wonder if part of the Alexander St. Park belongs to that property? Hope not.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
It is a narrow site but it's fairly deep. I wonder if part of the Alexander St. Park belongs to that property? Hope not.
Click to expand...
The "rules" are relatively clear. 19 storeys is a "tall" building and should conform to the downtown tall buildings guidelines. Those guidelines stipulate that they must step any tower back 12.5 meters from the lot line. That's not going to happen on that site - the lot is just not wide enough to tolerate an east-west contraction of 25 meters. They will meet resistance. Fortunately, the Alexander street parkette is not part of that lot - it's above the underground parking for 25 Maitland. Maybe they can drive it through the OMB, but I doubt that the city will approve, and I'm confident the neighbours will not.
 
rfabian said:
The "rules" are relatively clear. 19 storeys is a "tall" building and should conform to the downtown tall buildings guidelines. Those guidelines stipulate that they must step any tower back 12.5 meters from the lot line.
Click to expand...

Very good point.
I can't see any resistance from the neighbourhood, it's not that high and it adds to the rental pool in the area but probably a mute point given what you stated above.
 
rfabian said:
The "rules" are relatively clear. 19 storeys is a "tall" building and should conform to the downtown tall buildings guidelines. Those guidelines stipulate that they must step any tower back 12.5 meters from the lot line. That's not going to happen on that site - the lot is just not wide enough to tolerate an east-west contraction of 25 meters. They will meet resistance. Fortunately, the Alexander street parkette is not part of that lot - it's above the underground parking for 25 Maitland. Maybe they can drive it through the OMB, but I doubt that the city will approve, and I'm confident the neighbours will not.
Click to expand...

12.5m? i cant even see them giving 5.5m on each side. my guess is a blank wall on the apartment side and units facing onto the park with windows on lot line? that property looks like it can't be much more than 25 feet wide. its not like shadowing on the park will be an issue with 501 yonge being built next door. i think it could look pretty nice if designed correctly.
 
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This is an awfully narrow site for a high rise -- as rfabian points out they don't really have room to conform to the setback guidelines; setting the building back 12.5m from the side property line would move it off the other side of the property altogether. It's also pretty close to 40 Alexander, separated only by a driveway. I didn't measure it but I don't think it's any more than about 10m wide. I'm sure the people in those apartments won't appreciate looking out their windows and seeing another building right there.

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Is there any information on who submitted the application? Is it possible the Village Green owners are trying to pull a 66 Isabella? I could sort of see that working... they could basically extend 40 Alexander across the parking ramp into an L-shaped wing on the 26 lot. It would also solve the problem of trying to squeeze a parking garage into that narrow little lot, since they could just share the existing garage.
 

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I think as long as the building is set back a comparable depth to the one next door, they should be ok. This would be a good site for westward facing towns and lofts, probably have a blank wall to the east and build the structure so that teh elevators and the main hallway are as close to the east wall as possible to allow for more living space/rental space. It will be interesting as well to see how they can accomodate underground parking, given the size of the lot and the undergrounds for adjoining buildings more or less right next to it.

The next thing you know, someone will buy Buddies and try the same thing!
 
Application: Zoning Review Status: Not Started

Location: 26 ALEXANDER ST
TORONTO ON M4Y 1B4

Ward 27: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 13 245061 ZZC 00 ZR Accepted Date: Oct 2, 2013

Project: Non-Residential Building Other Proposal

Description: Proposal to legalize and maintain the use of a 2 storey restauarant, greater than 30 seats.
 
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