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An increasingly tight rental housing market in Toronto has brought about a resurgence in purpose-built rental developments, and new rental apartment proposals continue to spring up here. The latest proposal, submitted to the City of Toronto Planning Department at the end of June on behalf of Carlyle Communities and CentreStone Urban Developments, calls for a 19-storey mixed-use building containing 155 rental residential units on Bathurst Street a couple of properties south of Richmond Street.
The 749 square metre subject site sits on the east side of Bathurst, and is currently occupied by a 2-storey rowhouse with municipal addresses of 149, 151, 153, 155, and 157 Bathurst Street. The site includes a frontage of approximately 26.5 metres on Bathurst with a lot depth of approximately 28.6 metres.
Though the multi-unit structure was originally constructed between 1880 and 1881, renovations since have severely compromised the heritage features, and none of the associated properties appear on The Toronto Heritage Register.
In place of the existing homes, the new structure—with architecture by RAW Design— would rise from a 3-storey base containing street-fronting retail space. Above, levels 4 through 6 would be cantilevered out towards Bathurst Street and the western property line. The west facade would also include a volume that projects 3 metres towards the street on levels 9 through 16, while the east facade would also feature a step back of approximately 4 metres above the 10th floor. The 19th floor features a step back of 3.183 metres to support outdoor amenity spaces, while a 3.8 metre high mechanical penthouse would rise above at the northeast corner of the building.
The north and south sides of the development would be built out to lot lines as party walls up to the 7th floor, allowing for future redevelopment of adjacent properties without privacy concerns. The party wall portion of these facades would be clad in a dark-pigmented precast concrete finish. On upper levels of these elevations, the precast cladding continues with the addition of recessed glazing panels to provide articulation.
At ground level, plans call for a residential lobby and 172 square metres of retail space occupying the site's Bathurst Street frontage, with building services housed internally. In addition to being well connected to transit, including the Bathurst, King, and Queen streetcar routes, the project would include parking stackers located along the rear laneway. Capable of supporting a total of 24 cars, they would be grouped into eight stacks of three cars each. Unlike the style of parking typically found in new residential developments, 149 Bathurst's units would not include parking spaces, with the 24 spaces provided to be managed as rentals.
Above, levels 2 through 18 would house the project's 155 rental units, coming in a mix of 10 studio units, 94 one-bedroom units, 26 one-bedroom plus den units, 16 two-bedroom units, and 9 three-bedroom units. 23 of these suites would feature barrier-free access. At the top of the tower, indoor and outdoor amenity spaces would be located on the 19th level, giving residents of all floors access to the same panoramic city views.
In total, the building would reach a height of 54.25 metres measured to the top of the residential floors, 57.85 metres to the top of the 19th floor amenity level, and 61.65 metres to the very top of the screen-enclosed mechanical penthouse level.
We will return with updates as new details on the development emerge. In the meanwhile, you can learn more about the proposal by visiting our dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out our associated Forum thread, or leave a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.
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