Over four years after Lifetime Developments proposed a 32-storey mixed-use tower in Toronto's Liberty Village neighbourhood, the 2012 proposal has worked its way through the planning and approvals process, and an altered version was recently submitted for site plan approval (SPA). The Wallman Architects-designed building—dubbed the Liberty Market Tower—is now scaled back to a height of 28 storeys and 90.33 metres. 

Previous proposal (left) and current proposal (right), images retrieved from submission to City of Toronto

Liberty Market Tower would replace just the east end of the Liberty Market Building at 171 East Liberty Street, a heritage warehouse building that serves as a retail hub for the Liberty Village community. The development's podium is designed as a modern interpretation of the warehouse vernacular. It features retail on the ground floor, with office space on levels 2 through 7. Above that, 281 residential units would be housed on levels 8 through 28, with the 8th floor to be split between residential and amenity uses.

Podium, Liberty Market Tower, image retrieved from submission to City of Toronto

Responding to concerns by city planning staff, revisions followed the initial 2012 submission and the subsequent 2014 SPA submission. Among them, the updated unit mix includes an increase to the number of two-bedroom units—now at 50 units or 28%—while maintaining the previously-proposed 31 three-bedroom units (at 11% of the total). The remaining unit count consists of 198 one-bedroom units and 2 bachelor units.

Liberty Market Tower, image retrieved from submission to City of Toronto

Residents of the development would have access to 512 m2 of indoor and 257 m2 of outdoor amenity space. In total, the development would be served by a three-level underground parking garage containing 287 parking spaces, while an additional 7 spaces would be housed at grade. Residents and tenants who rely on shorter commutes will have access to 347 bicycle spaces, including 22 visitor bicycle parking spaces at grade, accessible via the residential lobby.

Subject site viewed from same angle as podium rendering, image retrieved from Google Street View

Additional information and renderings can be found in our dataBase file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment using the field provided at the bottom of this page.

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