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Portal Developments has submitted Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to the City of Toronto for a 26-storey condominium tower at the southwest corner of Bathurst Street and Finch Avenue West in the Northwood Heights area of North York. Portal says the project would bring a distinct sense of place and identity to a prominent but currently unremarkable corner.
The site is currently home to a Shell gas station and convenience store with a Tim Hortons. To the immediate south and west is a 6-storey apartment cluster. The site is part of a larger pattern of development to the west along Finch Avenue and to the north along Bathurst Street towards Steeles which contains pockets of mid and high-rise apartments interspersed with low-rise residential, commercial, and institutional uses. The majority of the existing apartment towers in the area are of the 'Tower-in-the-Park' typology typical of the 1950s and 1960s, with buildings set well back from the street and large expanses of surface parking and lawns at grade.
The design by IBI Group is for a 26-storey mixed-use building with 263 dwelling units in a mix of 1.1% studios, 40.3% one-bedrooms, 48.3% two-bedrooms, 10.3% three-bedrooms. It includes 900 m² of street-related retail space, and approximately 20,305 m² of residential gross floor area, resulting in a Floor Space Index of 8.54. A total of 197 vehicle parking spaces is proposed in three underground levels and a small surface parking area at the rear of the building.
The 5-storey podium is intended to enhance the pedestrian realm along both street frontages, with entrances to the retail spaces on Finch Avenue, Bathurst Street and at the corner. The residential lobby will be tucked into the southeast corner of the building. The garage ramp and other functional elements will be located towards the rear, also screened from the public realm.
Residential units on the 2nd to 5th storeys have projecting balconies/loggias along the north and east facades. Rising above the podium and stepped back along both street frontages is a slender tower with a 780 m² floor plate (City of Toronto planning guidelines typically look for towers with floor plates of 750 m² or less), and which is defined with eroded/indented corners. Inset balconies are located on the south face of the building. Contiguous outdoor and indoor amenity spaces for residents will be included on the 2nd level of the podium (at southwest corner) and on the building’s 6th level to take advantage of the podium rooftops to be used as landscaped terraces.
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| Related Companies: | Arcadis, Bousfields, Counterpoint Engineering, LEA Consulting, STUDIO tla |
