In recent years, Scarborough has seen its share of shiny, new vertical development projects (for example, Tridel's Metrograte neighbourhood at Kennedy and the 401, and the continuous congregation of condos around Scarborough Town Centre/Civic Centre area). A new one that will soon be added to the list is located at 8 Chichester Place, near the northeast corner of Sheppard Avenue East and Victoria Park Avenue, straddling the suburban border of Scarborough and North York. Although this may be old news to many UrbanToronto forum members, the recent revival of the 8 Chichester Place thread made us think now would be a good time for an official story on the project!

The Remington Group and The Brown Group of Companies alongside Quadrangle Architects have teamed up in conjunction with the province and the City under Ontario’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP), which has proposed to create seven new developments in the city that will provide up to an additional 1,433 affordable homes. With 8 Chichester Place being one of the lucky seven, AHP and the City of Toronto have already contributed $25.2 and $3.15 million into the Scarborough development, respectively. 

Rendering of 8 Chichester Place, The Remington Group & The Brown Group of Companies and Quadrangle Architects

The 16-storey modernist building that currently stands at 8 Chichester Place was built during the peak post-WWII suburban development period of the 1960s, of course inspired by Le Corbusier’s Tower in the Park vision.  Remington & Brown and Quadrangle have decided to keep the original 220-unit structure in place, while creating a two-part tower extension at a corner of the building. The 20-storey tower will be home to 210 new affordable rental-housing units that will include 114 spacious 1-bedroom spaces at 600 square feet, as well as 96 2-bedroom spaces at 900 square feet. 

Aerial site shot of 8 Chichester Place, courtesy of Toronto's Affordable Housing Committee

There is some mystery, however, behind the official name of this development project. The original name was publicized as "Perfect 10 Condominiums,"but it seems that this may no longer be the case, with the website being having been taken down.  

"The Perfect 10 Condominiums" billboard that was previously posted at 8 Chichester Place, image by UT forum member marcus_a_j

Most recent billboard posted at 8 Chichester Place back in May, image by drum118

Construction that started in December of 2009 has finally hit ground level, as seen in the pictures taken recently by UT forum member, cruzin4u. The expected completion date is sighted for 2012, and by the looks of it may be well into late 2012, at the earliest.  

Looking southward at the 8 Chichester Place construction site, image courtesy of cruzin4u

Looking northward at the 8 Chichester construction site, image courtsey of cruzin4u

Another noteworthy point to mention about 8 Chichester Place is its energy conservation efforts, with all 210 rental units being operated under a geothermal heating and cooling system. Another UT forum member, Travis, posted a recent Globe and Mail article by John Bentley Mays mentioning 8 Chichester Place, in which his opinion is that although the project means great things for Scarborough’s transition from its über-suburbanism qualities, Quadrangle's design efforts for the project falls short.  

Is the design of it, as Mr. Mays would say, “stylistically humdrum”? What are your thoughts about the development of 8 Chichester Place?