At the northeast corner of St. Clair West and Alberta Avenue near Toronto's Corso Italia, construction is now underway on Main and Main's 12-storey rental building at 898-900 St. Clair Ave West. Now, just across Alberta Avenue to the west, Main and Main has filed a Site Plan Application (SPA) to the City's planning department to redevelop the northwest corner of the intersection as well. Designed by TACT Architecture Inc., the 908 St. Clair W proposal would see another 12-storey building, featuring retail at street level and 151 rental units above.

The site is currently occupied by three retail units either 1 or 2 storeys high, and includes an LCBO fronting St. Clair. Along the Alberta Ave frontage, a surface parking lot extends north to the property line, adjacent to a low-rise residential street to the west. The new proposal would be built to the property lines, encompassing a gross floor area (GFA) of 11,739 square metres; 730 (over 7,800 square feet) of which is dedicated to the ground floor retail. 

Aerial view of the site facing north, highlighted, image via submission to the City of Toronto

Clocking in at a height of 39.7 metres or 130 feet, 908 St. Clair will be slightly shorter than its counterpart across the street, which is 145 feet tall. Architecturally speaking, the first seven floors of the development would be clad in brick, articulated with angled inset balconies and a curved corner at the southeastern corner of the building. It's a look that not too far off from 383 Sorauren. The upper five levels see the elimination of the brick cladding, instead focusing on metal panel cladding, and metal banding on the lower level of each floor slab. 

Rendering looking north to the site, image via submission to the City of Toronto

Breaking down the residential suite mix, the development consists of 5 bachelor units, 100 1-bedroom units, and 46 2-bedroom units. The unit sizes appear to be slightly larger than the average market size, averaging from 463 square feet for the bachelors, up to 904 square feet for the 2-bedroom units. 

Rendering of the ground realm, image via submission to the City of Toronto

As the building rises, the north frontage begins to step back from the property line by 1.5 metres on the 6th and 8th floors, while creating outdoor amenity space in the step back from the 10th level. In total, 3,543 square feet of indoor amenity space is proposed, while 3,205 square feet of outdoor is planned. Below grade, two levels are proposed for underground parking, with 61 vehicular spaces dedicated for residents, and 9 spaces for visitors. Included in the underground levels are stacked parking spaces for up to 152 bicycles.

Rendering looking northeast to the site, image via submission to the City of Toronto

We will keep you up-to-date as this project moves through the planning process. Additional information and renderings can be found in the project's dataBase file, linked below. Want to share your thoughts on this project? Feel free to leave a comment in the space provided on this page, or join in the ongoing discussion in the associated Forum thread.