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A development proposal was brought to our attention last week for a project that is sparking some discontent amongst UrbanToronto forum members. Forum member, ChriskayTO snapped a photo of a board that had been erected on the southeast corner of Front Street East and Sherbourne; project information as well as an initial rendering describe a form of large-scale development that is currently unprecedented within the neighbourhood. Submitted by the Pemberton Group, the proposal calls for two towers — 34 and 33 storeys — atop 13 to 17-storey "base buidlings," containing a total of 1,663 units. Ground floor retail is included, as are 913 underground parking spaces.
The renderings show the base buildings stretching along Front from Sherbourne to Princess, demolishing the Sobeys currently located at Front and Princess. They then stretch south to The Esplanade, encompassing the entire city block. What appears to be an internal laneway cuts off of Sherbourne Street just above The Esplanade, creating an internal street that then heads north and then east again to link up with Princess and dividiing the project into south-east and north-west sections.
Even those usually supportive of development and densificaiton are having a hard time supporting this project; while we are seeing some height precedents in the way of Monde Condos (south of the Gardiner Expressway at Sherbourne and Queens Quay) there's nothing of this scale in the area. We've yet to hear anything from Pemberton Group, or who the architect is, but we'll be sure to keep you updated. In the meantime, let us know what you think of this development below, and be sure to check out the project thread here to see what others have to say.
