The North St. James Town area is quickly becoming one of the tallest neighbourhoods in Downtown Toronto, with several large-scale projects previously and currently being built out along Sherbourne Street just south of Bloor. Medallion Corporation has gradually been remaking their properties on the east side of Sherbourne along the stretch from Howard Street to Earl Street over the past decade, including a renovation and expansion of the retail podium, the construction of the 43-storey infill tower at 561 Sherbourne, and the construction of 3-storey townhouse blocks fronting onto Bleecker Street.

Context plan of the Medallion-owned properties, image courtesy of Medallion Corporation.

The latest—and largest—addition to the neighbourhood by Medallion is currently advancing through the planning process with a proposal for a 51-storey 532-unit rental tower at 591 Sherbourne Street. Located at the southeast corner of Sherbourne and Howard Street, the tower would replace all the low-rise properties along Sherbourne except for the heritage-designated 1902-built Thomas Cruttenden Building at the corner of the intersection, which will be retained in its entirety. The new tower features a design from IBI Group, and was submitted to the City for Site Plan Approval last month.

Rendering of 591 Sherbourne, image courtesy of Medallion Corporation.

The current proposal is a revision of a previous version, which would have seen a 58-storey 640-unit building constructed on the site. The current version keeps much of the architectural features, but presents a scaled-down version of the tower. As well, modifications to the 3-storey podium have been made to better integrate the base with its surroundings.

Rendering of 591 Sherbourne, image courtesy of Medallion Corporation.

The tower is clad in glazing with brick accents, while the podium will be composed mainly of brick with reddish-brown aluminum infill panels. The podium is meant to mimic typical historic Toronto storefronts with the use of red brick and the division of the facade into narrow bays, aiming to better relate the tower to its surroundings.

Rendering of the podium, image courtesy of Medallion Corporation.

Also included in the proposal is a redesign of St. James Town West Park, located directly to the south of the new tower. Situated above an existing parking garage, the park is actually a privately-owned public space that is leased to the City, and this arrangement will be maintained. Previous designs indicated that the park would be designed with an Indigenous theme, however, it is unknown if this is still the intent, as recent documents do not provide details on the park design.

Preliminary park design from the previous iteration in 2016, image courtesy of Medallion Corporation.

We will keep you updated as 591 Sherbourne continues to work its way through the planning process. In the meantime, you can visit our database file for the project, linked below, or tell us what you think by checking out the associated Forum thread or by leaving a comment in the space provided on this page.