Plans for a new office development in Toronto’s Liberty Village area continue to develop, as a rezoning application has been resubmitted by The Fueling Station for a former industrial site at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Liberty Street. New plans for 58 Atlantic were first submitted in September 2015 with a 12-storey, 53-metre high building, and the Sweeny &Co Architects-designed project has been undergoing a series of refinements ever since. By the following September, the plan had been scaled down to 11-storeys and 45.4 metres. The project was submitted for rezoning again at the start of 2017 at 10 storeys, and resubmitted yet again earlier this month with minor revisions including a height of 42.9 metres, with 293 m² more space inside the building, for a total of 25,669 m².

Revised plan for 58 Atlantic Avenue, image retrieved from submission to City of Toronto

Revisions to the massing are accompanied by some significant design changes, with some of the previous submission's most notable features having been value engineered out of the proposal: speculation by UrbanToronto members in our dedicated thread centre on office lease rates in Liberty Village not being high enough to all for more expensive architectural flourishes. Specific changes include a sculptural four-storey volume that has been simplified with the removal of chamfered edges and coloured finishes, while the main building envelope has been revised from a two-tone glazing to a single glazing treatment accented with vertical fins.

Successive iterations of 58 Atlantic Avenue, image retrieved from submission to City of Toronto

Another major change with the latest submission is the return of dramatic sculptural supports in the lobby atrium—similar to the much-lauded Sweeny &Co design at Allied REIT's recent QRC West development. Part of the original submission, the January 2017 revision replaced them with a hidden, more conventional structural support system, images of the which are included below.

Lobby atrium at 58 Atlantic Avenue, image retrieved from submission to City of Toronto

Seen from outside in the most recent revision (below), the supports are back but redesigned, heightening the drama in the atrium lobby where the new building bridges over the retained heritage building.

Lobby atrium at 58 Atlantic Avenue, image retrieved from submission to City of Toronto

The revised submission proposes 22,970 m² of office space, accounting for 89.4% of the building’s floor area. The proposal also includes 2,699 m² of retail space, or 10.6% of the total floor space, to be found on the ground floor, with two of the spaces offering mezzanine levels. The retail space found on the ground floor of the existing heritage structure at 25 Liberty Street will be retained. 

Below grade, 58 Atlantic proposes a two-level garage with 108 parking spaces, 190 spaces fewer than the City’s planning formula requires. Additional accommodations for local/personal transportation include 60 bicycle parking spaces housed on the garage's P1 level.

Additional information and images of the current and previous iterations can be found in our Database file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment using the field provided at the bottom of this page.