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Just north of Cadillac Fairview’s office tower now under construction at 160 Front West, H&R REIT is proposing a 65-storey mixed use building at 145 Wellington Street West. While an application has been submitted to the City for a Zoning Bylaw Amendment as a first step in the public planning process, as of writing the documents from the submission have not been posted yet, so the details gleaned below from the developer's official website are preliminary.
On the site now at the southeast corner of Wellington and Simcoe is a 13-storey, 160,146 ft² office building with will likely be demolished should the new project be approved. H&R REIT is proposing not only to replace all of the existing office space in the new building, but to also add an as yet unspecified amount. Above the podium office floors, 52-storey residential tower is envisioned to rise above, containing 476 new purpose-built rental units.
The Turner Fleischer Architects-designed building would meet the street with a double-height lobby, and retail space to serve the Entertainment District clientele. The plan aims to improve the public realm at the corner of Wellington and Simcoe; widening the sidewalks and improving the streetscape.
The 1987-built office building on-site was renovated as recently as 2016 and is currently fully leased. The developer has stressed that the project is in an early stage and the main goal right now is to see if it feasible to incorporate residential uses on the site to capitalize on the high demand for Entertainment District living. Expecting a two to three year process to obtain approvals for a new building on the site, H&R will continue the employment uses in the current tower in the meantime.
H&R is soliciting the public's thoughts on the concept. You can leave feedback and find more info at their official website, while additional information and images can also 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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