After the construction of Tridel's James Cooper Mansion and Tricon Capital Group's The Selby in recent years, City Planning has recommended the approval of Medallion's 591 Sherbourne, which will bring 532 new residential units to the edge Toronto's densest neighbourhood, St. James Town. The project is a redevelopment of a number of low-rise buildings at the intersection of Sherbourne and Howard streets a block south of the subway station at Bloor.

Rendering of the 51 Storey 591 Sherbourne, image courtesy of Medallion Corporation

Designed by IBI Group, the 51-storey building employs a window-wall glass facade that is enveloped in part by a red brick-pattern precast grid. Some inset balconies will be housed within the precast grid, while others will project from the window-wall sides of the tower.

The building will have a unit mix comprising of 71 bachelor, 279 one-bedroom, 139 two-bedroom and 43 three-bedroom units, all of which will be rental apartments. 5,848 square metres of retail, including a retail terrace that can be used as a restaurant patio, will be housed on the ground floor. The heritage-designated 1902-built Thomas Cruttenden Building will be restored and retained in its entirety adjacent to the new development. This is the second iteration of the tower, a previous proposal called for the construction of a 58-storey, 640-unit building on the site.

591 Sherbourne at street level -viewed from the south, image courtesy of Medallion Corporation

City Planning recommends that Council give its approval conditional on a number of factors. Firstly, a Section 37 contribution of $2,278,000, half of which will be allocated towards local park and streetscape improvements, and half for the construction of affordable housing. Secondly, the Medallion-owned POPS (Privately Owned Public Space) known as St. James West Park will be redesigned and leased to the city for an additional 124 years. The preliminary designs of this park have not been updated since the original 2016 submission, so it is unclear exactly how the park will be reconfigured. Finally, the developer must provide an unencumbered 80.9 square metres of parkland space, which will be designated on the east side of the building along Howard Street.

Preliminary vision for St James Town West Park, image courtesy of Medallion Corporation

City Council will vote the approval on March 19th. To learn more about the project visit our database file and associated Forum thread, linked below.

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