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Initially proposed back in 2012, TUX Condos, located at the southwest corner of Blue Jays Way and King Street West, was to have been a 40-storey residential tower with 242 units. Rising 414 ft, this condo in Toronto's bustling Entertainment District would have been built adjacent to developments including King Blue Condos, Bisha Hotel and Residence, and M5V Condominiums. After a sales launch that didn't meet with the desired results—several nearby projects were competing for the same buyers, the Quadrangle-designed tower for Great Gulf was ultimately shelved in 2014. Flash-forward two years later, and there is once again new life for a project on this site.
An application for a rezoning was submitted to the City of Toronto in September. Now proposed as a rental tower, the application is for a 42-storey mixed-use residential building, with 1,300 m² of retail space at grade, below grade, and on the second storey. There would be 325 residential units, along with 512 bicycle parking spaces; one space for every bedroom in the tower. The original proposal of a few years ago recieved approval for a Zoning By-law Amendment which permitted a 40-storey building with 350 residential units, 93 vehicle parking spaces, and 184 m² of retail space.
The total gross floor area (GFA) of the new development would be 25,654 m². The tower's floor plate is approximately 632 m², and will rise 148.5 m to the top of the mechanical penthouse (137 m excluding the penthouse). A 5-storey podium would fill out the streetscape at King and Blue Jays Way, to a height of 24 m. Above the retail, bicycle parking and both indoor and outdor amenity space would be provided on the upper levels of the podium.
Moving down to the lower levels, the building would include an underground vehicle parking garage on the B3 level for just 18 car-sharing spaces, bicycle parking on B2, and retail on B1. In a response to the growing demand of pet-friendly buildings, a pet spa will occupy space on the B2 level. Access to the underground levels would be through the rear of the site from the south laneway that connects to Blue Jays Way.
Breaking down the residential units, there would be 216 1-bedroom units, 73 2-bedroom units, and 36 3-bedroom units. The square footage of these units typically ranges from about 550 ft² to about 1,110 ft². The tower's repeating floors would have 9 units each. Overall, the building would include 710 m² of indoor amenity space, and 273 m² of outdoor amenity space, split on floors 3 and 42.
As this is now planned as a rental building, no renderings of the redesigned tower have been released. At the same time, it appears that the overall form of the building has remained the same with minor changes. Private balconies will be placed along the south-facing units, while no windows or openings are planned for the western face of the building: a patterned cladding is planned for it instead.
We will keep you updated as more information regarding this new rental development becomes available. In the meantime, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below, or join in the ongoing conversation in our associated Forum thread.
