A Site Plan Approval (SPA) has been submitted to the City of Toronto by Castlepoint Numa and Greybrook Capital for the latest element of Toronto's burgeoning Lower Junction. Known as the Draft Building, the mixed-use project will be a southern neighbour to the Tower Automotive Building—itself set to be the new home of the Museum of Contemporary Art_Toronto_Canada (MOCA)—adding new uses to a community centered around creative industries.

View from North Public Plaza looking South to the Draft Building, image via submission to City of Toronto

The latest in the string of developments set to populate the Lower Junction, the SvN Architects + Planner-designed Draft Building is planned as a 4-storey, 48,374 ft² commercial building. The building will house office, retail, and a light industrial space that will provide a new flagship home for the Indie Ale House micro-brewery and restaurant. Currently operating out of a Junction retail space on Dundas just west of Keele, the Indie Ale House will expand will new facilities, and a marquee space. 

Indie Ale House entrance, image via submission to the City of Toronto

As part of the development, a new publicly accessible open space will also be developed, which will be framed with the Museum FLTS to the North (Block 3B, below), the Tower Automotive Building to the East, a future public park to the west. A laneway will also permeate the site between the Draft Building (Block 3A) and the Tower Automotive Building. An underground parking structure will also be constructed as part of the entire block.

The Draft Building will occupy Block 3A, image via Castlepoint Numa

The building will be clad in a gradient of aluminum panels ranging from light metallic to near black, some perforated and some solid. As reported in the Heritage Impact Assessment prepared by ERA Architects, the Draft Building aims for a contemporary aesthetic in order to "maintain the legibility of the adjacent heritage resource [The Tower Automotive Building]."

The street level, image via submission to the City of Toronto

Just as the architectsAlliance-designed Museum FLTS. aim for a contemporary aesthetic while using clearly industrial materials as a nod to the industrial heritage of the site, the Draft Building—which has been redesigned since the concept was first presented—aims to reference past industries while fostering new ones.

Museum FLTS. and the adjoining POPS, image via submission to the City of Toronto

Site preparations for the Draft Building are slated to begin in the first quarter of 2018 and aboveground work is set for Spring 2018. Meanwhile, work on retrofitting the Tower Automotive Building is progressing, with new HVAC and sprinkler systems now being installed throughout the building in anticipation of a Fall opening. On Perth Avenue, construction for the TACT-designed West TWNS. (Block 1) is recently underway, with shoring just completed. 

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We will keep you updated as the Lower Junction Triangle continues to take shape. In the meantime, more information about the Draft Building is available via our dataBase file, linked below. Want to share your thoughts about the developments changing the neighbourhood? Leave a comment in the space provided on this page, or join in the ongoing conversations in our associated Forum threads.