A proposal submitted to the City of Toronto in the last days of 2019 seeks rezoning to permit a new office and rental tower at 625 Church Street, just south of Bloor Street East. Manulife Real Estate is proposing a redevelopment and partial retention of the existing six-storey Traders Building that includes a full replacement of the existing office space, topped by a new purpose-built rental tower.

Site of the proposed development, image via submission to City of Toronto

The new building would rise 59 storeys. Architecture is by RAW Design and heritage elements overseen by specialists ERA Architects. The Development Manager is Colliers Strategy & Consulting. The building would rise 201.83 metres measured to the top of a mechanical penthouse level, and contain a total gross floor area (GFA) of 56,078 m². This includes a retail GFA of 593 m² (1% of total) and an office GFA of 10,079 m² (18% of total). The remaining 45,742 m² of residential GFA would include 651 units proposed in a mix of 66 studios, 319 one-bedrooms, 200 two-bedrooms, and 66 three-bedrooms, resulting in over 40% of units being family-sized.

Looking east to 625 Church Street, image via submission to City of Toronto

While the existing Traders Building is neither designated under the Ontario Heritage Act nor listed on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register, plans call for a significant retention that would largely preserve the building’s outward appearance. The primary west elevation along Church would be entirely retained along with the first three metres of the north and south elevations, while new levels would be constructed behind.

A lone rendering released with the application reveals the Traders Building facades would be topped by an intermediate seven-storey volume dividing the heritage base from the tower above. A mix of residential amenities and units are planned for the mid-podium volume.

Podium, 625 Church Street, image via submission to City of Toronto

While the mid-podium features balconies, the upper volume is proposed with a clean glazed exterior lacking balconies on all but the south elevation. A three-storey notch in the tower’s southwest corner at the 38th through 40th storeys would act as the main exterior expression, with the southwest corner of the floors above extruding somewhat from the flat front below the notch. The notch would be home to a mix of indoor and outdoor amenity space for building residents.

Tower, 625 Church Street, image via submission to City of Toronto

You can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like to, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.

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Related Companies:

Bousfields, Colliers Strategy & Consulting, Entuitive, Figure3, LEA Consulting, RAW Design