It was recently announced that buildings along the south side of College Street just east of Bathurst—including the landmark Sneaky Dee's, a rite-of-passage restaurant, bar, and concert venue for Toronto college students—could soon be replaced by a condo. Documents to support an Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications for that project have now been submitted to the City of Toronto, so we are taking a look.

Looking southeast to 419 College Street, designed by Quadrangle for Ironwood Bay

Spanning 419 through 431 College Street, properties starting from Lippincott Street at 409 College through to 415/417 remain outside the scope of the assembly by developer Ironwood Bay. Besides Sneaky Dee's, some of the other tenants within the assembly currently include an RBC branch, a bar called Nest, a Ramen Isshin restaurant, and the Fisch & Antonette law practice.

Sneaky Dee's at 431 College Street, image retrieved from Google Street View

Designed by Quadrangle, the proposal calls for a 13-storey mixed-use building 43.15 metres in height. The ground floor is dominated by three retail units facing the main streets, and condominium servicing spaces facing mostly south. The second through fourth floors make up a brick-framed podium before the building begins to step back above. Piers extend from an otherwise recessed tower massing on the fifth through seventh storeys, while the eight through twelfth floors are stepped back uniformly. The thirteenth floor steps back again, enough that it will be hidden from most street level views from the north, as is the case in the rendering.

169 residential units are proposed on floors 2 through 13, with an indoor amenity space on the second level and an outdoor amenity terrace on the north side of the 13th floor. The residential lobby is proposed to be accessed from a widened lane running south of the building, plus via a door facing Bathurst Street in the southwest corner of the building. The total gross floor area of the proposal is 13,009 m², the bulk of which is residential, other than 701 m² which is for retail. The proposed floor area results in a floor space index of 6.64 times the lot area.

Detail, looking southeast to 419 College Street, designed by Quadrangle for Ironwood Bay

Along College Street, the easternmost retail unit has the potential to be a good fit for a music venue, as a raised floor in part of it (above the garage access ramp) could act as a stage. Meanwhile, at the corner of College and Bathurst, a 27 m² POPS (Privately Owned Publicly-accessible Space) is proposed as an indentation into the ground floor of the building. In the rendering above, a mural is depicted on the walls of the indentation, a likely position for the building's public art contribution. The indentation would allow extra space for pedestrians gathering to cross at the lights, or provide some shelter in the rain.

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:

BDP Quadrangle, Counterpoint Engineering, Goldberg Group, o2 Planning and Design