Since late 2010, speculation over the fate of 177-197 Front St. East, a parcel of downtown real estate which included Downtown Acura and Sobey's, with the remainder of the site operating as a commercial surface parking lot, has been ongoing thanks to a nearly five year saga of planning applications which have included three versions and two separate architectural firms. With developers the Pemberton Group at the helm, and Wallman Architects now replacing Hariri Pontarini in the design department, the third proposal for the site have been submitted to City Planning ahead of a scheduled mid-October pre-hearing at the OMB. 

177-197 Front St. E., latest version showing four towers, Pemberton Group, image courtesy of Wallman Architects

The new iteration features four residential towers (33, 29, 27, and 25 storeys high) atop 10-storey podiums with grade level retail, and an inner-courtyard that will double as a Privately Owned Public Space (POPS). The POPS will comprise 40% of the site at ground level, and serve as a mid-block pedestrian connection between Princess and Lower Sherbourne Streets. The sidewalks along all streets will be widened and improved for pedestrian use as well, especially along Sherbourne. The development will house nearly 1,700 units contained above 1,900 square metres of retail space along Front and Sherbourne Streets. The north podium will hide an above-grade parking garage which will complement the planned single level, below-grade parking level beneath the whole site. 

Site Plan, 177-197 Front St. E., Pemberton Group, image courtesy of Wallman Architects

This is a large departure from the first proposal, which featured just two towers, 33 and 34 storeys tall, straddled over much denser, taller (predominantly 13 to 15 storeys), more tightly packed podiums, as seen in the rendering below from June, 2012. 

First proposal, 177-197 Front St. E., image courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects

Responding to concerns that the first proposal was too tall and too dense for the site, the second proposal received a range of changes, as seen in the rendering below dating to March, 2014. It featured an increase to three 34-storey towers, albeit with smaller floor plates, all rising from a single 8 and 10-storey U-shaped podium. 

Second proposal, 177-197 Front St. E., image courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects

Besides the entirely reworked configuration, the latest iteration has placed a larger emphasis to the ways in which the development relates to and interacts with the street, through increased retail frontage, the internal POPS green space, and widened edge green space. Ahead of the October 14 pre-hearing at the OMB, City Staff have been busy reviewing the new proposal, and talks with the applicant are currently underway. The aim here is to have a report prepared and submitted to Toronto City Council by September 30/October 1st ahead of the pre-hearing at the OMB in mid-October, so that City Council can take a position on the new proposal.

Google Street View from 2010, Lower Sherbourne, image courtesy of Forum member interchange42

Getting an agreement on a proposal here would offer the promise of a dramatic departure from the dreary, near-suburban presence of the late car dealership, grocery location, and the surface parking lot that have long-dominated this block in the Downtown East, St. Lawrence Neighbourhood.

Keep up-to-date with UrbanToronto for upcoming developments on this file through our Forum thread for this proposal, where you can get in on the discussion. Otherwise, you are always welcome to leave a comment in the space provided on this page.