In the roughly six years since Pace Condos wrapped up construction at Dundas and Jarvis in Downtown Toronto, a new Garden District neighbourhood skyline has formed around Pace. Yet another tower could be coming to the area as Amexon Development Corporation moves forward with demolition of the Grand Hotel at 225 Jarvis Street, just south of Dundas.

Built in 1972 as the headquarters to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s "O" Division detachment, the RCMP decamped to London in 1993 and the building was later converted into a 177-suite hotel. Plans to redevelop the 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 hotel. This initial application was fast-tracked because of an application on the abutting property to north that would come within less than 12.5 metres of the property line, a key part of the City's Tall Buildings Guidelines to leave enough space between towers. An OMB decision resulted in the proposal to the north--since built as Grid Condos--being adjusted to accommodate future development on the site of The Grand.

Grand Hotel, image by Forum contributor ShonTron

A demolition permit was applied for in December, 2019, the site was fenced off last month, and exterior demolition commenced this week, starting with the teardown the north end of the building's two-storey podium. It is not currently known how much of the building is being demolished, with previous plans to incorporate the tower's structural skeleton into the new tower possibly still in play.

Demolition at north end of Grand Hotel, image by Forum contributor ShonTron

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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Related Companies:  Amexon Development Corporation, Core Architects