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Earlier this week we introduced the first of many articles that look forward to the new developments expected to see activity over the course of 2015. In our last feature we discussed the thriving Yonge and Eglinton area, and today we return with a look at the many developments under construction and in planning on and around St. Clair Avenue West, starting on Yonge Street in the east and moving through to Dufferin Street in the west.
A new proposal for 1421 Yonge Street appeared on our radar in the final days of 2014. Proposed to rise just south of St. Clair Avenue on Yonge, the redevelopment would tower over neighbouring Yonge and St. Clair buildings at a height of 42 storeys, and would contain 420 residential suites and commercial space on the 1st and 3rd floors.
Nearby, a zoning review is in the works for 1365 Yonge Street, located just south of St. Clair at the northeast corner of Yonge and Rosehill. The existing 2-storey commercial building, which was recently used as Olivia Chow's campaign headquarters, would be replaced by a much larger 2-storey building with approximately 40,000 square-feet of space.
Just to the south on Yonge Street, Aspen Ridge Homes plans to redevelop the former CHUM building at 1331 Yonge Street. The 11-storey, Quadrangle Architects-designed condominium building called The Jack Condos will contain 149 residential units, and is expected to go into its marketing phase this year.
In contrast to the proposals mentioned above, Camrost-Felcorp's Imperial Plaza is now nearing completion. The development is notable for its repurposing of the historic 23-storey Imperial Oil Building at 111 St. Clair Avenue West, the design of which was a runner-up for the design of Toronto's new City Hall. While the original office building's exterior has been modified as part of the project, the prized mosaic mural in the lobby by York Wilson, called 'The Story of Oil', will remain.
Imperial Plaza will be followed by Camrost-Felcorp's Blue Diamond Condos, a 27-storey Diamond Schmitt Architects-designed tower set to contain 226 units. The new development, which is now in its registration phase, will rise to the immediate west of Imperial Plaza, preserving parts of a shuttered church currently on the site.
Taking a quick jog to the south on Avenue Road, demolition is now under way in preparation for Brandy Lanes Homes' The Davies, a 9-storey, Rafael + Bigauskas Architects-designed condominium development soon to rise on Avenue Road north of Dupont.
A couple blocks to the west, construction is under way on the Burnac Corporation's South Hill on Madison, a seven-storey Northgrave Inc.-designed condominium residence located at 377 Madison Avenue.
Returning to St. Clair Avenue, an application was submitted to the City of Toronto last year, asking for a 15-storey building containing 130 residential units at 200 St. Clair West and Forest Hill Road. The new Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects-designed development would replace the 4-storey medical office building currently occupying the site. A staff report from December 2014 states that the proposal in its current form does not meet existing or amended policies of the Official Plan for this segment of St. Clair Avenue West. This means that the plan will have to be modified or face opposition from the City before continuing through its planning process as the year progresses.
West of the 200 St. Clair West proposal site and across the street, hoarding was recently erected around the single-family homes which will be taken down to make way for Madison Homes and Fieldgate Homes' ZIGG Condos. Designed by Kirkor Architects, this 11-storey mid-rise development draws its moniker from a series of stepped terraces which resemble the ancient stepped ziggurats of Mesopotamia. Once complete, ZIGG will add 166 condominium units to the area, ranging in size from 500 square-feet to 1,776 square-feet.
Excavation is progressing at the site of BLVD Developments and Lifetime Developments' The Code Condos. Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, the future nine-storey mid-rise will contain 118 residential units on the north side of St. Clair, right across the street from Sir Winston Churchill Park. Below, we get a look at how far along the excavation was at the end of November 2014.
Also visible in the image above is the neighbouring site of the Churchill Collection, by developer National Homes. As we can see above, the three-storey wood-frame townhouses were fairly far along back in November, and construction of this development is expected to wrap up later this year.
A couple blocks west of Spadina and just north of St. Clair, leasing and move-ins are well under way at Morguard's The Heathview, a pair of twin 30-storey Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects-designed rental towers located on Tweedsmuir Avenue, just steps from St. Clair West subway station on the TTC's Line 1.
A bit further west, there is a cluster of activity surrounding the Bathurst and St. Clair intersection. At the northeast corner of the intersection, a Petro Canada gas station was recently demolished on land owned by St. Michaels College. While not much is known about the future of this site, it is expected that the school will redevelop the site itself.
Just across the street to the south, the sales centre was recently demolished in preparation for the construction of Reserve Properties' Rise Condos. Over the course of 2015, we can expect to see some major progress on this Graziani + Corazza Architects-designed 25-storey tower containing 324 units. Below, we have included a view of the site as seen in late October 2014, when demolition of the sales centre had just wrapped up.
Just north of St. Clair on the west side of Bathurst, sales are under way for Goldman Group and Lash Group Of Companies' The Barrington Condos. A shoring permit was recently submitted to the City, meaning that we can expect construction of the 18-storey, Richmond Architects-designed condominium tower to commence in the coming months.
A couple of blocks to the northwest, Oben Flats St Clair are proposed to add 51 residential units at 109 Vaughan Rd. This ten-storey, superkül-designed rental building would join The Heathview in the emerging Forest Hill new purpose-built rentals market.
Back on St. Clair and pushing even further to the west, construction has begun at the site of Rockport Group's The Nest, located at 829-835 St. Clair West. The nine-storey, 123-unit condominium development had its groundbreaking ceremony back in October 2014, and occupancy of The Nest is now scheduled for Summer 2016.
Urbancorp's 2012 purchase and demolition of the Hungarian House at 836 St. Clair Ave West has created a blank slate to build their proposed nine-storey condominium development, to be known as the Towns of St. Clair West. The development is currently in its registration phase.
Just a few blocks to the south of The Nest and the Towns of St. Clair West, construction is soon to begin on Dunpar Homes' Ossington Luxury Townhomes. Located at 1145 Ossington Ave., the project will include 54 four-storey townhomes, ranging in size from 1,500 square feet to 2,000 square feet.
There are a few other proposed developments in the Yonge and St. Clair area that haven't seen much activity recently. These proposals include 7 Heath Street East, 1507 Yonge Street and 1481, 1491, 1501 Yonge, but there is no indication at the moment if any of these will resurface this year.
There is a whole lot to look forward to in 2015, and we will return soon with previews covering the other major development nodes in the GTA. For additional information and renderings about the projects mentioned in this article, check out the dataBase pages listed below.
