8.7K 
As construction presses on on a new office tower and the phase 1 condos of Menkes’ Sugar Wharf community on Toronto’s former LCBO lands, an updated planning submission is shedding light on the even taller towers planned for the northwest quadrant of the site. An application for Site Plan Approval submitted to the City earlier in the month includes updated designs for the 79, 87, and 90-storey architectsAlliance-designed residential towers set to become prominent features on the Toronto skyline. Menkes aims to introduce another 2,705 condominium units in the Phase 2 towers to the East Bayfront, along with 196 affordable rental suites.
The proposal dates back to OPA and ZBA applications sought in May, 2016—the same month that the site's purchase by Menkes was announced—with SPA applications for the eastern buildings following at the end of 2016. Following an appeals process, a settlement was reached at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) and subsequently adopted by the City in 2018. The latest application for the northwest block conforms with the 2018-approved settlement, and in full compliance with the site-specific zoning bylaw.
The three towers planned on the block would rise from a pair of mixed-use podiums, including one that will preserve and reintegrate heritage elements from the existing LCBO office and warehouse buildings on site. The towers would reach heights of 260, 290, and 299 metres. If they were standing today, the taller two towers would be the tallest buildings in Canada, while the 260-metre tower would easily rank in the top ten.
On the north half of the block, the taller east and west towers are described in a letter to the City provided by Menkes' planner as shifting and chamfered stacked blocks, and that they have been designed to help transition the skyline from the South Core area to the (shorter towers of the) emerging East Bayfront. On the south half of the block and positioned between the east and west towers, the south tower's floor plates are an irregular ovoid shape, similar to architectsAlliance’s work at ICE Condos, and described in planning documents as a “composition of curvilinear and amorphic forms.”
The shorter 79-storey south tower would rise from a six-storey podium containing a 929 m² daycare, retail units, space for a new 5,271 m² elementary public school, and residential uses on upper levels. To the north, the podium for the taller two towers would contain residential lobbies and amenity spaces for both the market condominiums and affordable housing units, which will be housed in the upper floors of the partially preserved LCBO office building and in the lower floors of the west tower.
Renderings included in the new application also reveal that the Phase 1 condominium towers already under construction to the east have had their exterior expression altered. While the massing is unchanged from previous submissions, the balcony guards now show crisscrossing patterns of diagonal lines obtained by varying the density of fritting on the glass.
Additional information and images 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 in the field provided below
* * *
UrbanToronto has a new way you can track projects through the planning process on a daily basis. Sign up for a free trial of our New Development Insider here.
