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Gairloch Developments has resubmitted a proposal for a residential project in the Toronto neighbourhood of Leaside, after acquiring additional adjacent properties. Addressing comments by City staff, the revised design proposes a 9-storey mid-rise, single-use development, bringing over 200 condo units to 1718 Bayview Avenue. UrbanToronto last covered this story in June, 2020.
The long site is located on the west side of Bayview Avenue, between Eglinton Avenue East and Soudan Avenue, an area largely defined by low-rise residential. The site is a consolidation of over a dozen properties, each containing a 2-storey semi-detached dwelling. The Leaside station on the Crosstown LRT, which is currently under construction, is situated only 100 metres to the north.
Since the original Zoning By-law Amendment submission last summer, the owner has acquired five more properties, four to the south and one to the north, expanding the subject lands from 1718 through 1734 to 1710 through 1736 Bayview Avenue. While the frontage on Bayview has increased from 65.7 metres to 103.8 metres long, the overall site area has increased from 2,504 m² to 3,974 m², and the building’s gross floor area (GFA) has increased from 10,879 m² to 16,931 m², with a total density of 4.26 FSI.
The BDP Quadrangle-designed building employs a mid-rise typology where the building mass steps back along the Bayview Avenue frontage, and at the rear, abutting the neighbourhood’s low-rise, the building steps back under an angular plane, terracing down to transition in height to those houses. Within the revised design, the at-grade retail fronting onto Bayview has been replaced by 12 two-storey live-work units; to the rear, are now 10 two-storey townhouse units instead of 5.
An at-grade mid-block connection is introduced, providing access to the residential lobby, passenger drop off area, underground parking ramp and loading areas. With increased setbacks and a change in façade materials, the recess is designed to articulate—or break-up—the building massing to ensure the façade does not appear overly long or monolithic.
Other architectural revisions include new inset balconies for suites without terraces; glazing on the 9th floor to reduce the massing; and, additional glazing at grade which gives appearance of the upper mass touching the ground lightly.
Interior amenity space at grade provides animation to Bayview and provides ‘eyes on the lane’ at the rear. Exterior amenity space is distributed along the rear and provides a variety of uses.
The proposal includes 84 one-bedroom units (39%), 99 two-bedroom units (46%), 21 three-bedroom units (10%) and 12 live-work units (6%).
Unlike the majority of buildings that place mechanical penthouses atop the uppermost residential floor, the project proposes all mechanical rooms on the ground floor and within below-grade parking levels, dedicating its roof to a green roof. The garage provides parking for 134 vehicles.
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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