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An existing low-rise apartment building housing 29 families could be demolished and replaced with a 27-storey residential tower rising north of Highway 401 in Toronto. Developer Tribute Communities recently filed applications for Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, and Site Plan Approval for 71 Talara Drive in the Bayview/Sheppard area of North York.
The site is located south of Sheppard Avenue East, between Bayview Avenue and Bessarion Road, and backs onto Highway 401. As indicated in the aerial photo below, it’s an area that has seen considerable residential intensification over the past 10 to 15 years, on both the north and south sides of Sheppard Avenue East. The numbers in the bubbles indicate how many storeys high each of the neighbouring residential towers are.
On the site currently is a 3-storey, 29-unit rental apartment building, completed in 1961. It spans most of the width of the lot, while about half of the property consists of surface parking. As is the case with the buildings across the street to the north, next door to the east is a two-storey, multi-family dwelling.
The proposal would replace the aging three-storey rental apartment building with a 27-storey high-rise residential building with a total gross floor area of 21,745 m², resulting in a density of 7.34 FSI (Floor Space Index).
Designed by Turner Fleischer Architects, the proposed 84.4 metre-tall building is construed as a tower and podium form. A 5-storey podium would front on to Talara Drive and wrap the east and west sides of the building, with the tower set back 4.3 metres from the north face of the podium. At the rear of the building, facing Highway 401, the tower will step back 3.9 metres above the 11th floor.
The building comprises 285 dwelling units, including 29 replacement rental units. Of these, 156 are proposed as one-bedroom units (55%), 100 as two-bedroom (35%), and 29 as three-bedroom (10%). The east-west building section above indicates the podium roof serves as a terrace / outdoor amenity area that wraps three sides of the building. It is connected to a south-facing indoor amenity space.
Articulation of the tower faces is provided on all sides with inset balconies along the building faces and at the four corners. Alternating crimped columns in three storey sections serve as the major design gesture. The material palette is grey precast concrete, dark red masonry accents at the base, spandrel panel in light and dark grey and brown, metal panel in dark grey, and grey aluminum mullion.
The proposed development would provide a total of 207 vehicular parking spaces, mostly within a 5-level underground parkade. This includes replacement spaces for existing tenants. A total of 214 bicycle spaces are proposed.
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, EQ Building Performance Inc., Grounded Engineering Inc., o2 Planning and Design, Tribute Communities, Turner Fleischer Architects |
