A zoning by-law amendment application has been submitted to the City of Toronto by Niche Development Inc. to allow the redevelopment of 445, 447, 449, and 451 Adelaide Street West into an 11 storey office tower. Located on the southwest corner of Adelaide Street West and Morrison Street, the architectsAlliance-designed office tower would rise 131 feet and contain 45,251 square feet of commercial space. Currently, the site contains 4 buildings, 445 Adelaide St W being built in the 1880s, and 447-451 Adelaide St W being built in 1906. All of the buildings are considered "contributing properties" to the proposed King-Spadina Heritage Conservation District Plan. Three of the buildings are rental residential, while 445 Adelaide St W is home to commercial space. All are proposed to be demolished.

Rendering of 445 Adelaide Street West from St. Andrew's Playground, image courtesy of architectsAlliance

With 45,251 square feet, the building as proposed has a density of 7.62 FSI. The building would rise 8 storeys straight up from the sidewalk, while the top 3 storeys would gradually step back. At grade, setbacks from the property line would align the frontages with the surrounding buildings. The building would be surrounded by hardscaping, with 2,680 square feet of retail space at grade to animate this portion of Adelaide. The building's skin is a flat solid faced clear glazing divided by vertical aluminum mullions. The mullions are extended with fins to he north and south facades to act as a sunshades early and late in the day.

Rendering of 445 Adelaide Street West looking Southwest, image courtesy of architectsAlliance

Located on the first level below grade would be 9 long-term and 11 short-term bicycle parking spots in a total of 20 stacked spaces in addition to shower and change facilities. Located on the second level below grade would be 10 parking spots, accessible via car elevator from the laneway to the south.

This is the latest smaller scale office building proposed in a relatively dense area of the city, as office vacancy rates are at all time lows, and space for businesses looking to locate within the city centre becomes more difficult. Another recent proposal nearby is the Allied REIT's plan to suspend a new building over two heritage buildings at the southwest corner of Adelaide and Spadina, an example of innovative planning to create new space in the city centre. 

As this project develops further we will keep you updated with any details that emerge. In the meantime, you can review project facts and renderings by visiting our Database file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment using the field provided at the bottom of this page.