While Toronto's Forest Hill neighbourhood is best known for its posh single-family housing and luxury lifestyle, the neighbourhood's northern reaches offer an abundance of rental towers containing affordably-priced units on both Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue West. A new proposal recently submitted to the City of Toronto Planning Department aims to intensify one property on the stretch of Bathurst north of Eglinton with a new 13-storey rental tower. The property at the southeast corner of Bathurst Street and Castlefield Avenue is currently occupied by a 4-storey apartment building containing 32 rental units.

2525 Bathurst Street, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The L-shaped structure would rise 39.9 metres plus a 6.5 metre mechanical penthouse. Fronting onto both Bathurst Street and Castlefield Avenue would be a total of seven town-house style units. 2525 Bathurst would step back above the 11th floor on the Bathurst Street side and the above the 8th floor on the Castlefield Avenue side. Additional step backs along the Bathurst Street and Castlefield Avenue frontages are proposed, in an effort to match the heights of neighbouring buildings to the east and south. From a design standpoint, the Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects-designed development aims to create a dialogue with the surrounding brick-clad rental buildings while modernizing the design by employing ample glazing in conjunction with brick.

2525 Bathurst Street, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The development proposes 162 residential dwelling units, 32 of which would be built in accordance with the City's rental housing replacement policy. The apartments would consist of 8 bachelor, 110 one-bedroom, 34 two-bedroom, and 10 three-bedroom units. Residents would have access to 332 square metres of outdoor and 358 square metres of indoor amenity space on the second and third floors of the development.

2525 Bathurst Street, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

Vehicles would be served by a two level underground parking garage containing 117 parking spaces. Residents using public transportation would have access to the future Forest Hill Station on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, while 146 spaces are proposed for bicycle parking. An additional 16 bicycle spaces would be provided for visitors on the ground floor.

The owner of the property is listed as 2525 Bathurst Holdings Inc., and while it is not yet known who the company will partner with to develop the site, we will be sure to return with new details as they emerge. In the meanwhile, you can visit the project's dataBase file for more details, or join in the conversation by checking out the associated Forum thread, or leaving a comment in the field provided at the bottom of this page.