Word has reached Urban Toronto that Lanterra Developments has made a major bet on Yonge Street by purchasing 501 Yonge Street for $38.5 million dollars. 501 Yonge Street is an interesting property as it doesn't really fit in architecturally with the rest of the Yonge Street retail strip. The reason for that? This building is newer than the rest due to the fact that it is built over where the Yonge subway veers away from Yonge as it heads north to Bloor. The previous retail was demolished in the 1950s for the subway construction, and this strip was rebuilt years after subway construction was done.

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Many Urban Toronto forum members detest this building exactly for the fact that it is not as old as the rest of the strip. It could use a touch of TLC, but with this announcement, we suspect that does not top the list of Lanterra's intentions.

The purchase includes the retail along Yonge Street along with the parking in the back, as seen in this photo by forum member dt_toronto_geek.

City planners are trying to keep major towers off of Yonge Street outside of major nodes like Bloor. That would mean lowrise retail along Yonge with some mid-size condo or even a couple of point towers set back from the street in the back. All that we at Urban Toronto ask for is great architecture along with Yonge frontage that properly respects the retail nature of the street.

We'll update as this story develops. In the meanwhile join in on the 501 Yonge discussions here.

This article was originally published in forum thread: 501 Yonge Street (Lanterra)