Right on the heels of the 777 Victoria Park affordable housing proposal, CreateTO — the City’s agency to manage municipally owned land — has applied for a Zoning Bylaw Amendment to allow for a 4-block development at 50 Wilson Heights, a TTC Commuter Parking lot to the east of Wilson Subway Station. As one of the 11 designated HousingNow sites, the development would house an affordable rental component as a portion of the 770 rental units and 380 condo units proposed to be built on the 8-acre site. The plan has been drawn in a massing format by Montgomery Sisam Architects, giving a general overview of the proposal's built form.

Aerial overview of the masterplan at 50 Wilson Heights Blvd, image obtained from submission to the City of Toronto

Block 1, closest to the Wilson Subway Station entrance would be a slab-style tower rising 12 storeys. At grade, the north side of the building offers a retail/cafe space and an office lobby, fronting a newly constructed transit plaza beside the station entrance. Levels 2-3 would house 4,260 m² of office space, while 232 condo units would be found on the floors above.

Looking south-west to 50 Wilson Heights Blvd, image obtained from submission to the City of Toronto

Located directly east of Block 1 across a new private road, Block 2 consists of a six-storey O-shaped podium with three tower volumes of 16, 16 and 14 storeys rising above. This building would house the 770 rental units, with 385 (50%) designated affordable. Of the affordable units, 77 would be constructed as Barrier Free units, offering accessibility features designed to serve tenants with disabilities. The development's second retail space would be located here, at the north-west corner of Wilson Avenue and Wilson Heights Boulevard.

Looking south-west to 50 Wilson Heights Blvd, image obtained from submission to the City of Toronto

Located directly to the north across a new east-west public road and fronting a 3,070 m² public park is Block 3, with a slab-style building running alongside Wilson Heights Boulevard, rising 7 storeys and housing 148 condo units.

Looking south-west to 50 Wilson Heights Blvd, image obtained from submission to the City of Toronto

Finally, to the northwest across a new north-south public road is Block 4, which would house a three-storey, 1,867 m² community centre with a surrounding outdoor green space.

Looking south-west to 50 Wilson Heights Blvd, image obtained from submission to the City of Toronto

Within the entire development, the unit mix heavily favours 1 bedroom units, with 680 proposed, while 362 two-bedroom and 108 three-bedroom homes fill out the rest of the project. A ratio of 60% one-bedroom, 31% two-bedroom and 9% three-bedroom units make up the affordable rental component.

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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