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1 Sumach Street (Cube Cluster)

DonValleyRainbow

DonValleyRainbow

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Toronto's three-cube structure is for sale.

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It is on the triangular shaped parcel wedged between Adelaide, the East Ave Diversion, and an isolated segment of Sumach Ave. The proper address is 1 Sumach Street. Article says it has been on the market for months and is zoned for residential, but no takers so far.

Looks like a prime redevelopment opportunity to me. I think we've seen crazier proposals: 10 York comes to mind.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
I wish they can keep this and build more of the cubes on site.

AoD
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I know someone suggested a heritage designation. Again, as per the article, they were built in '96, based on Piet Blom’s cube homes in Rotterdam, Netherlands. I don't have a lot of faith they would be retained though.

A rough calculation puts this site at ~800m2. Considering development across the street in the West Don Lands (i.e. River City Phase 3), I could see a tower going up here. Perhaps, if a developer wanted to create something that salivates local and political taste buds, the proposal could incorporate some angled cubeism.
 
he listing price for the approximately 9,000 square feet property is under wraps, said Crapopoulos, but a property like this, located close to downtown and with great potential for future use, could be worth around $4 million and possibly higher.

You sometimes wonder how some agents look at themselves in the mirror.
 
maestro said:
he listing price for the approximately 9,000 square feet property is under wraps, said Crapopoulos, but a property like this, located close to downtown and with great potential for future use, could be worth around $4 million and possibly higher.

You sometimes wonder how some agents look at themselves in the mirror.
Click to expand...

Not sure why your view of this guy is so negative, any elaboration?
 
It's a tight, constrained site beside an elevated highway that's zoned I1 D3 and doesn't have the benefit of SASP 154. Rezoning is going to be a difficult (but not impossible) proposition yet here, Crapopoulis is claiming that it's got "great potential for future use[!]". Really, that's not based on much more than his own hope that he'll vend it for as much as possible.
 
DonValleyRainbow said:
Sorry, can you elaborate for the non-Planning crowd?
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I1 is an industrial zoning which does not allow for any residential use. SASP 154 is 'Site and Area Specific Policy 154' which permits residential uses in some industrial areas. 383 Sorauren, for example, was able to take advantage of SASP 154.

Toronto is very leery about rezoning industrial land. While this parcel won't ever be home to a glue factory, the City won't make life easy for any applicant here. I'm assuming that the cube houses got some sort of site specific amendment since they were constructed 10 years after the by-law was enacted but those can be difficult to find.
 
ProjectEnd said:
I1 is an industrial zoning which does not allow for any residential use. SASP 154 is 'Site and Area Specific Policy 154' which permits residential uses in some industrial areas. 383 Sorauren, for example, was able to take advantage of SASP 154.

Toronto is very leery about rezoning industrial land. While this parcel won't ever be home to a glue factory, the City won't make life easy for any applicant here. I'm assuming that the cube houses got some sort of site specific amendment since they were constructed 10 years after the by-law was enacted but those can be difficult to find.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this. It's hard to find details for zoning for areas still covered by pre-amalgamation bylaws I find. Maybe I haven't found the proper sources yet.

In fairness, wasn't most of the West Don Lands industrial land, before being converted to residential/mixed uses? I'd find it hard for the City to be a stick in the mud demanding new industrial uses on such a small parcel north of West Don Lands. The self-storage across the street is not a residential use but it's hardly a disturbing use to sensitive receptors.

I could see an argument for preserving it for employment uses, but not industrial. This is near the 504/514 interchange, and will be overtop of the station box for the Sumach Relief Line station. It's prime for redevelopment.
 
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Exactly why and how did this structure got built next to an elevated highway in the first place? Or did the cube house come first?
 
Way back in the day I suspect it was a different story. The east end was sleepy, low-density and very slow to change. Guy comes along, plops down his funky cube house. Doesn't even need to dig a basement out. No one cares. Few people come around. Compared to various spots in the west end, it barely existed in the public's imagination. Also, that area was hooker central. The distillery complex hadn't yet been redeveloped and gussied up, never mind the growth that came with the Pan Am Games. Leslieville was hardly even seen as a neighbourhood; Riverdale was still affordable. Few people were thinking about gentrification or density creep.

In short, I'm guessing it just happened, period.
 
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