Toronto 137-141 Isabella Street | 231.55m | 69s | Pinedale | BDP Quadrangle

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The Lobbyist Registry tells us Pinedale is looking to put this property along with the adjacent 141 Isabella in play.

The site currently houses a 7-storey rental building, and a seeing heritage house that is neither listed nor designated.

Streetview:

1709047907193.png


Adjacent 'heritage':


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Aerial Pic:

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Site size is ~1700m2 or about 18,500ft2

Comments: This one should come as no surprise..............the nominal precedent is the ask next door at 135 Isabella (not yet passed by Council) where the applicant is seeking 69s.

Thread here: https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...7m-69s-kingsett-capital-bdp-quadrangle.35919/

This site is physically large enough to accommodate a tower form, though it may be constrained somewhat by separation distance requirements with abutting owners. Currently, nothing would prevent a proponent here from demo'ing the 'heritage'

Were they to do, it would be a bit easier to get the right footprint for a tower; though if the choice was to preserve the facade only of the said building, there's still lots of room to play with; where the site is a bit more constrained if the majority of the heritage were retain in-situ.

To the east of this site is surface parking currently associated to the older rental building at 540 Sherbourne. There may be implications for that site; there is also a hydro substation right at Sherbourne/Isabella. Clearly necessary infrastructure, but I'm not sure what Hydro's long term plans are for this 1-storey structure.
 
Let me confirm something about the scale here; the concept is ~800 units.

That is very similar to 135 Isabella, the thread for which I linked above.
 
Surely there has to be some thickness of concrete that would allow for that substation to be moved into the basement of a new tower
 
The substation and parking lot I have long thought were prime to go, I’m surprised the rental towers have had applications first.
 
stjames2queenwest said:
The substation and parking lot I have long thought were prime to go, I’m surprised the rental towers have had applications first.
Click to expand...

The parking lot belongs to 540 Sherbourne with a single level underground garage beneath it. As for the substation, it wouldn't surprise me for it to be there 50 years from now surrounded by a forest of vacant 70 storeys towers. It's owned by a crown corporation. There's no pressure to go through the hassle to relocate it and underground for a few million profit selling it for redevelopment. I don't think we'll have to wait long to find out. 540 Sherbourne will show up in the application info centre sooner than later.
 
Well, this didn't take long:

www.toronto.ca

Application Details

www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca

Architect: BDPQ

Height: 69s

Not much to work with render wise, but here we go:

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Site Plan:

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Ground Floor Plan:

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Elevators: 7 * (6 above podium). Ratio: 117 units per elevator or 0.85 elevators per 100 units.

@Paclo is flagged.
 
TossYourJacket said:
Somehow the "bicycle parking" sign above the doorway is killing me. It's like they're trying to be like "please don't hate the ugliest part of this render" 😆
Click to expand...

You know what, you're precisely on point!

Looking at it, it doesn't require much investment to improve either.

1) Align the height w/the property next door, pretty please. (We're talking the one-storey bit)

2} Blank walls are bad, put a window, if there's a compelling reason you don't want people to see inside, make the glass opaque or one-way.

3) Do something with the @#$# roofline of this bit............I don't mean super fancy overly whatever, just not nothing, top of height always needs a coda. It can be a cornice of some description, or it can be a railing or something else entirely, but something, it reads as an unfinished thought.
 
The last time Pinedale built anything this big was in 1972. I think you are expecting too much.
 
Unfortunately, it looks like another Charles Street East condition is shaping up here. No guiding vision for the broader city block, just a bunch of parcel by parcel developments with a tower on a podium, none of them having any real regard for each other. The whole will never be greater than the sum of its parts.
 
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