A development looming on the horizon for 245 Queen Street East in between Downtown Toronto’s Moss Park and Trefann Court neighbourhoods has morphed again. Located on the south side of Queen east of Sherbourne, the project is poised to inject a mix of residential units, office, and retail space into a slowly gentrifying neighbourhood. The project by developer One Properties (the Edmonton-based firm was operating under the name WAM Development Group when they first proposed this development) has evolved several times since it was first proposed in 2016.

The first proposal was for a three tower development combining retail and condominiums with a total of 1,645 units. The buildings were intended to rise 39, 45 and 39 storeys with heights clocking in at 142, 160, and 142 metres respectively. The Arquitectonica-designed plan also included having all three towers and much of their respective 12-storey podiums be glazed with high-efficiency glass panels. At street level, the pedestrian experience drew some comparisons to the The Well development now under construction to the southwest.

Looking northwest to the 2016 proposal for 245 Queen Street East, image courtesy of WAM Development Group

In late May of 2016, the project went before Toronto's Design Review Panel and the outcome was less than favourable. The critique of the project was almost unanimous with panel members pointing out a disregard for the neighbourhood due to the shortest tower in the development rising double the average height of other residential towers in the surrounding area. Panel members lamented the ground realm plan, that it needed to be made more walkable, suggesting another north-south connection be established. The panel was also recommended that developers go back to the drawing board regarding the preservation for more heritage buildings on the site. In the end, the panel voted unanimously for a redesign.

Looking southwest across Queen Street to the 2017 proposal for ground real, image courtesy of ONE Properties

In January 2017, after the City had established Queen and Sherbourne as the location for a station on the Relief Line (as the Ontario Line was then referred to), the storey counts for the three buildings were bumped to 47, 52 and 56, the heights to 174, 188, and 201 metres respectively, with the number of residential units jumping to 1,820 units spanning three towers. In addition, a 150 room hotel was added, while a greater number of heritage facades were retained, as per the recommendation of the Design Review Panel.

Looking northwest to the 2017 proposal for 245 Queen Street East, image courtesy of ONE Properties

In early 2018, the project was appealed to the OMB, as was just about every project in the planning process at the time, as developers wanted to be sure that it would be judged against the planning rules of the time, and not the new ones coming in. At the same time, they continued to work wth the City, which opposed anything close to the heights and density seen in the 2017 renderings above. In mid-2018, a completely redesigned project with reductions to both heights and number of units was presented to a community workshop. This version pegged the heights of the three buildings at 24, 28 and 37 storeys, 90, 102, and 128 metres respectively, while the number of residential units was reduced to 1,468. The 2018 proposal included more heritage facade preservation again, as well as significant stepbacks from the facades, plus a new 1,400 m² public park.

Looking southeast to a 2018 massing plan of the proposal for 245 Queen East, courtesy of ONE Properties

In August, 2018 a settlement was agreed to between the developers and the City and ratified by LPAT/OMB to allow a further refined version of what is shown above, now with the park south shifted to Richmond Street, and are massing sifted north. The latest plans, submitted to the City in June, 2019, shows Tower A, the 25-storey westerly half of the development (94.35 m high) in detail, while the 24-storey Tower B (88 m high) and 33-storey Tower C (113 m high) only appear as a ghostly outline behind it.

2019 Rendering of 245 Queen East, via submission to City of Toronto

The plan now calls for a grand total of 1,341 units with a mix of unit sizes still unknown as of now. While the ground floor of Tower A will predominantly feature retail space, floors 2 through 6 are for office space. The building's floor plate reduces in size for the residential units above. While Arquitectonica remains on board as the facade design architect, Graziani + Corazza Architects have the rest of the design duties for the buildings. NAK Design Strategies is developing the landscape plan for the park and pedestrian mid-block connections. The developer will contribute funds to the city for capital initiatives such as improvements to Toronto Community Housing Corporation properties in the vicinity.

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

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