Amexon Development Corporation has applied to the City of Toronto for permission to demolish the Grand Hotel at 225 Jarvis Street. It was built in 1972 originally as the headquarters to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s "O" Division detachment, and remained so until 1993 when the detachment relocated to London, Ontario. The vacant building was subsequently renovated to become the 177-suite hotel.

Looking southeast to the Grand Hotel, image via Google Street View

Plans to redevelop the Grand Hotel property date back to 2015 when Amexon proposed the addition of a 45-storey condominium tower designed by Core Architects to the property that incorporated the existing 13-storey hotel on its south side. The application was made in response to an application on the abutting property to north of it to develop a similarly tall condo tower less than 12.5 metres from the property line, which the City's Tall Buildings Guidelines call for. An OMB hearing led to a decision which moved the south wall of the adjacent proposal further north, and that building dubbed Grid Condos has since been completed. 

Previous plan for 225 Jarvis, image via submission to City of Toronto

Now, plans may be in the works behind the scenes for a new version of the proposal, but the first step is clear: Amexon applied last week for a demolition permit for the full teardown of the existing building, a surprise for those familiar with then previously approved rezoning submission.

Demolition permit for 225 Jarvis, image via submission to City of Toronto

While no submission for a new plan has yet been filed with the City, more renderings of the previous planning submission that incorporated the hotel structure are available in our database file for the project, linked below. If you would like to get involved in the discussion, check out the associated Forum thread.

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