The Charlotte and Adelaide site of the cancelled 13-storey ‘Langston Hall’ residential development is back in play in Toronto’s Entertainment District. Since being purchased by Fortress Real Developments, plans for the vacant lot have dramatically altered, with a recent submission to the City of Toronto by Fortress and the Cityzen Group calling for a 46-storey mixed-use apartment tower with a commercial and retail podium.

Designed by Architecture Unfolded, the residential and office building would rise a total height of 157 metres at the southwest corner of Charlotte and Adelaide. The main design feature revealed in the renderings is an elegant gradient pattern worked into the cladding: the base of the tower features punched windows that reference the podium and the surrounding historic built form, while as the tower rises, the punched windows gradually increase in size as the solid cladding's surface area shrinks, transforming into an almost fully-glazed exterior about two thirds of the way to the top. The gradually thickening cladding then begins again and resolves at the final levels with a dynamic pattern of staggered punched windows.

Rendering of 46 Charlotte from the west on Adelaide, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The proposal is anchored by a 5 storey office podium rising from the lot lines, the massing is designed to blend with that of the adjacent warehouse and mid-rise condominium. The ground level would include one retail/service unit, while in the podium levels a combined 1,518 square metres of office space is planned.

Rendering of 46 Charlotte's podium, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

Above the podium levels, the tower's footprint would be quite slender at approximately 400 square metres in area, containing 248 residential units on levels 7 through 46. The proposed unit mix includes 39 bachelor units, 120 one-bedroom units, 25 one-bedroom plus den units, 39 two-bedroom units, and 25 three-bedroom units. 38 of the proposed rental suites are designed to be barrier-free.

Residents of the development would be served by a combined 767 square metres of amenity spaces on the 6th and 7th floors of the building. 303 square metres of indoor amenity space and 124 square metres of outdoor terrace space are planned for the 6th floor, with another 310 square metres of indoor space and 29 square metres of balcony space found on the 7th floor.

Rendering of 46 Charlotte, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The subject property is smaller than the average skyscraper site in Toronto, with just 560 square metres of total surface area. Its frontages are approximately 22.9 metres on Adelaide Street West, and 24.4 metres on Charlotte Street. Due to the tight nature of the site, the project's 72-space, 5-level below-grade parking garage is being designed to be fully automated by parking supplier 5BY2, the same company in charge of the complex parking system under construction at the Massey Tower.

46 Charlotte subject site, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

Residents with cars will be issued transponders to access and operate the parking system from an at-grade control unit. The "driverless" system will utilize car elevators and mechanically-sliding pallets that shuttle vehicles between the entry cabin on the ground floor and a predetermined parking space below ground. This system eliminates the need for parking ramps and greatly increases usable space within the confined garage. For cyclists, 249 bicycle parking spaces are also proposed on the garage's first two levels, including 224-long term spaces.