Toronto 2 Cawthra Square | 206.97m | 63s | BV Realty Partners | ZAS Architects

This is an outrageous application, but nothing truly surprises me anymore. The building will at best only briefly shadow the north/east corner at the back of Barbara Hall Park at sunrise. The 100 Wellesley low rise additions got chopped back as an overbuild of the site (its a “tower in the park” high rise), so accordingly, this should get chopped to 20 or 25 levels. It’s heartbreaking to lose those homes and trees on that short, calm, dead end street.

If you feel strongly about it, oppose it. Not just at UT; get your comments in to the Planner.

FWIW, @ProjectEnd 's comments above should probably give you some solace; but don't take any outcome for granted.

Also have a fallback position, arguably mine perhaps?

It saves some trees and enlarges Barbara Hall Park.

PS, the City could always expropriate the 2 houses closest to the park for park expansion (they have the $$$ available to spend in this ward), and if they did, they would kill the app.
 
I'd say the risk is still too great for most, but if you're willing to throw the dice, we are definitely in a very different planning regime to the one when I was assessing the property. BV are a startup with the principal actor coming from a decently long stint at Trollybus. They're likely able to gamble a bit more than folks with tighter purse strings who need to deliver confident returns to their investors.
 
Interesting...........I thought this one might see a Refusal Report.............but it has not.

Community Consultation was held in January.

The proponents just had a meeting w/the Councillor on February 29th.

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The City is moving to designate 2 of the houses that were proposed to be demo'ed in this proposal.

6 and 8 Cawtha Square; that report goes to next week's meeting of the Preservation Board:


Both 6 & 8 Cawthra Square were designated (Part IV designation) by council in June. We now have a resubmission incorporating the heritage structures as well as a height boost:


Additional stat changes are as follows:
  • Storeys increased from 45 to 63
  • Height increased from 145.4 to 206.97m
  • Total residential units increased from 488 to 590 (incl. 14 rental replacement)
  • Below grade levels reduced from 4 to 2
  • Total vehicular parking decreased from 119 to 26
  • Total bicycle parking increased from 548 to 650
  • Primary architect changed from Arcadis/IBI to ZAS Architects
Updated renderings:
PLN - Renderings or Perspective Drawings - Rendering One_2-12 Cawthra Square_Oct 15 2024-0.jpg
PLN - Renderings or Perspective Drawings - Rendering Two_2-12 Cawthra Square_Oct 15 2024-0.jpg
 
Look at @Paclo scooping me............ I thought it would be someone else on this one........but he shall remain nameless, LOL

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The Block Context Plan suggests the ask isn't out of reach....

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More interesting is what's intimated:



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Do you wonder how hypothetical those are? ...............

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Now...turning our attention to @ProjectEnd 's elevator ratio:

He'll like this bit................six elevators to 590 units....... or 1.01 elevators to 100 units.

What else do we want to look at:

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Comments, better, preservation/restoration of heritage facades, retention of many mature trees. Would still benefit from further refinement.

Despite falling within tall building design guidelines........the tower reads a very bulky relative to the heritage facades, there's a need to do better there. It may require smaller floor plates, but I'm not settled on that.

I still don't see a clear plan to shift a portion of the Cawthra ROW not required for vehicle access into the park. To be clear, that's not on the applicant, but makes incredibly good sense, and getting the applicant to do that work in lieu of on-site parkland dedication would simply be a judicious win-win here.

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Edit to add: Alex makes some excellent additional points below, with which I agree.
 
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Interesting. Just some numbers if the idea of four towers materializes: units - 2,360 and assuming 2 peeps/unit - 4,720.

And this is on top of whatever happens from Earl down to Wellesley on the east side. Would this trigger a new library/community centre/school? I wonder if a subway under either Jarvis or Sherbourne has ever been contemplated?! 🤪🤔
 
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The design of the base looks like a student project.

Diagonal exoskeleton (why?) + oddly shaped windows with competing diagonals + weird stained glass to honour the heritage + too many materials + lots of curtain wall which will get VEd.

The retained portions of the houses are fragments in an atrium.

Also: where is the driveway entrance in these renders?


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Diagonal exoskeleton (why?) + oddly shaped windows with competing diagonals + weird stained glass to honour the heritage + too many materials + lots of curtain wall which will get VEd.

Agreed.

Should this actually go ahead (I'd prefer it didn't)..........

Non-heritage components in the base should be complimentary/sympathetic, not pastiche, but also shouldn't be jarring/distracting, you want to let the heritage shine.

If one could make something work here, the tower needs to be pushed further away from the park, but also further back, this, of course, would require the purchase of additional properties not within the assembly. (or LDAs)

The (proposed) building pretty much goes to the rear lot line, with the tower set-in 10M specifically to allow for a tower to the north, with similar provisions to the east.

They are hamstrung by an assumption they must facilitate the development of others, where I don't think they can deliver a particularly good building here, and preserve the same ability for every abutting property.

The retained portions of the houses are fragments in an atrium.

Agreed. Though, I think it's fair to ask what the purpose of the heritage retention is here. If the purpose is simply about creating a visually appealing base building, with a heritage-feel...... you don't require a ton of depth for that.

However, this would certainly benefit from more, from at least partial returns, and some level of treatment that might make the heritage appear to be something other than a movie set for the pedestrian walking by.

Also: where is the driveway entrance in these renders?

Good catch!

Clearly it remains a part of the arch. plans, (they need loading anyway) but it is not rendered at all, so far as I can discern. Which impacts both the apparently building, but also the landscape. That's quite misleading!
 
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The facades gives 1 Bedford a run for its money. This isn't preservation. Just put the designated properties out of their misery.

Over 20 FSI is excessive residential coverage. The more lots replaced with 20 FSI, the more that excessive density will come into focus. The number of bike parking isn't posted. I gather it's closer to 1 per unit than 2 per unit to compensate for the little vehicular parking.
 
I still don't see a clear plan to shift a portion of the Cawthra ROW not required for vehicle access into the park. To be clear, that's not on the applicant, but makes incredibly good sense, and getting the applicant to do that work in lieu of on-site parkland dedication would simply be a judicious win-win here.
How exactly does such a process work? Would such a removal of ROW come from advocacy by the local councilor? Or is it something staff determine with changing land uses like we will be seeing with this site? Or could the developer suggest it in lieu of new parkland on their land?

I know there's a ton of historical examples of this like a big chunk of Ontario Street thru St. James town, but how common would you say it is for this to happen nowadays?
 
The design of the base looks like a student project.

Diagonal exoskeleton (why?) + oddly shaped windows with competing diagonals + weird stained glass to honour the heritage + too many materials + lots of curtain wall which will get VEd.

The retained portions of the houses are fragments in an atrium.

Also: where is the driveway entrance in these renders?


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This is all extremely stupid, but the garage entrance is here, hidden by foliage:

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