Toronto The Stack at Bayview | 29.1m | 7s | The Brown Group | Kohn

A company known as the Brown Group has consolidated property on the west side of Bayview Ave. between Soudan Ave. and Hillsdale Ave and is proposing to build what it says would be a nine-storey mixed use structure there. A notice was circulated in the neighborhood in recent hours. It states that a meeting is scheduled to tell residents about "the rationale for the proposed design" of the building. It says the developer is looking for feedback. A building of nine storeys would require changes to the official plan and the residential nature of the block between the two side streets. The development would take out the properties between 1674 Bayview (the Hillsdale Apartments) and 1684 Bayview. As well, it would remove 720 Hillsdale and 701 to to 713 Soudan. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 3, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the Leaside Library on McRae Drive.

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http://www.bayview-news.com/2014/11/9-storey-mixed-use-bid-for-south-bayview.html?m=1

Same group responsible for The Berwick on Duplex near Y+E and Willow Park near Bayview&Finch. Looks like they've consolidated the properties between Soudan and Hillsdale on Bayview and intend to build something out of it. I expect heavy opposition from Councilor Matlow.



Red - 701 to 713 Soudan Ave
Green - 1674 to 1684 Bayview Ave
Purple - 720 Hillsdale Ave E

Maybe a bit premature on the thread but I've always said that what needs to be done in the area is to connect the retail strips on Bayview between Hillsdale and Davisville with the future development node at Eglinton-Bayview where the future Crosstown LRT station will be. That means the elimination of residential houses between Eglinton and Soudan on Bayview. A mixed-use project on this site and the elimination of those houses between Soudan and Hillsdale would be a good start.

9 Stories seems like a lot but it is still comfortably midrise height. Increased density in the area might not be the worst thing for the neighborhood either if it means more customers for the South Bayview retail and restaurants. I don't doubt that Councilor Matlow will succeed in getting it tones down a little though.

And as expected, people were not happy at the meeting yesterday.

Some Highlights:

Josh Matlow (Ward 22) took the floor briefly and said nine storeys is the maximum that will be permitted in the new world of an LRT-equipped Eglinton Ave. "It is only reasonable that we would wish to build down from there as we move away from Eglinton," he said. There was brief uncertainty as to present zoning until Geoff Kettel said the land was "neighborhood" -- a designation that would permit no more than three, perhaps four storeys. Mr. Brown was insistent on the company's desire to have peace with residents.

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He seemed to modify his opening assertion that the Brown Group did not intend to negotiate on the height of nine storeys. The building plan as it sits calls for stores on Bayview with as many as 30 residential rental units overlaid by as many as 170 "sales units" that would be sold. The most expensive of these units would be in a three-story box of glass sitting atop the six floors below. It was these three glass floors that drew the most criticism. An underground parking garage would contain 240 spaces for cars and 190 racks for bicycles.

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Commercial store fronts would extend along Bayview and around each corner onto Hillsdale and Soudan, a characteristic that Brown said would provide "an animated retail space.".

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This strip of Bayview (as far north as Soudan) is designated as part of the City's Avenues Plan, AFAIK, so I think they can get 8 storeys without much problem here. Will that be the eventual compromise from 9?

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I like. The building looks good. It would be good to extend retail north of the current strip towards Eglinton & the Crosstown station, which this seems to do.

In terms of height, I would assume it would be similar in feel to the mid-rises on Mt Pleasant just west of here. This is right on Bayview, the main commercial street, so it seems appropriate to me.

this building has a lot of parking, more than I would expect.

701 SOUDAN AVE
Ward 22 - Tor & E.York Distric

Proposal for official plan amendment and rezoning related to a proposed 9 storey mixed use building with a commercial ground floor and residential above (a total of 174 units) with 3 levels of underground parking

Proposed Use --- # of Storeys 9 # of Units 172
Applications:
Type Number Date Submitted Status
OPA & Rezoning 14 267151 STE 22 OZ Dec 23, 2014 Under Review

Ooh nice. This will mirror the density of Mt. Pleasant south of Eglinton. Especially important to me is seeing the commercial ground floor.

I am telling you guys, the proper way to intensify and develop this area is by expanding the commercial realm of South Bayview BIA north to the Eglinton&Bayview intersection.

Townhouses on the SW corner of Bayview and Soudan:

http://www.postcity.com/Eat-Shop-Do/Do/January-2015/Nine-storeys-in-Leaside/



"traffic" "height" "density", same "concerns" as every other development everywhere since the beginning of time.

Lovely.

I don't care about design, it looks like something you would see on Mt. Pleasant anyway. The density and streetfront retail is what will go a long way towards making this street more vibrant and expanding the retail north from Hillsdale. It will also mean the sidewalk is to be widened like on the opposite side of the street which will be good for the public realm.

I also am happy with the precedent this will set for north of Soudan on Bayview.

WislaHD said:

Lovely.

I don't care about design, it looks like something you would see on Mt. Pleasant anyway. The density and streetfront retail is what will go a long way towards making this street more vibrant and expanding the retail north from Hillsdale. It will also mean the sidewalk is to be widened like on the opposite side of the street which will be good for the public realm.

I also am happy with the precedent this will set for north of Soudan on Bayview.

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The design is not bad. But yeah, I like seeing the street front retail and nice patio & coffee shop.

The overall goal should be to have a very pleasant walk getting off at Bayview station on the Eglinton Crosstown walking south towards the main Leaside shopping area.

I'm looking forward to this, but the amount of spandrel here is a little concerning.

salsa said:

I'm looking forward to this, but the amount of spandrel here is a little concerning.

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This looks like CRAP. If you want to change the scale of a prosperous, established neighbourhood like that, you could try proposing a decently attractive building people actually could be able to get behind. Is this the new spandrel-covered crap we can now expect to dominate new buildings in this province? Toronto needs to fight back against cheap developers, lest it become a spandrel-covered nightmare world of soul-crushing, bargain-basement dogsh*it buildings.

I live on Hillsdale and am fine with this. 8 or 9 stories sounds about right. If they wanted 30 stories, then that would be a problem. The staggering of the upper floors should limit any overwhelming feeling at street level. It also looks much better than the hideous looking building north on Bayview across from the CNIB. I'm looking forward to a lot more like this being developed south of Eglinton on both Bayview and Mt Pleasant. Shops on both streets could benefit greatly from more foot traffic.