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A 29-storey rental and condo tower is poised to replace an 1959 apartment building where the Annex meets the University of Toronto. Tenblock have filed Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA) and Site Plan Approval (SPA) applications to permit the redevelopment of 145 St George Street with a new tower, replacing the 130 rental units in the existing building while adding an additional 211 residential condo units.
The site is located on the northeast corner of St George Street and Prince Arthur Avenue, just north of Bloor Street West, and steps from the St George Subway Station. A half acre in area, the site is currently home to a 12-storey purpose-built rental apartment building, constructed in 1959, with parking below.
For this corner site, architects—Alliance have conceived a building designed in the modernist tradition of the 1960s apartment towers found throughout the area. These towers tend to have a straight-forward design with clean lines and rectangular, repetitive floor-plates and projecting balconies. Some architects from this era, most notably Uno Pri, used the design of the balconies to create interesting sculptural forms.
In this tradition, the proposed building is tall and slender, a simple, rectangular form behind projecting balconies with rounded corners adding visual interest. There is 7-storey base element that wraps the tower to the north and the east, and the tower (750 m² floor plate) rises without a base on the west and the south. The proposed building has a total gross floor area of 23,076 m² and a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 10.1 times the area of the lot.
A 10m setback along St George creates a 317 m² POPS (Privately-Owned Publicly-accessible Space) that partially wraps the southwest corner of the site. Its plan features articulated hardscaping, plantings, seating, and public art. The POPS would be contiguous with the outdoor amenity along the north side yard to integrate the landscaped and amenity spaces seamlessly and to animate the streetscape and public realm.
Providing green space along both frontages complements the existing landscaping of the neighbourhood. Five residential dwelling units fronting Prince Arthur Avenue are lined with small garden terraces.
A windowed lobby wall of 6.5 metre-high panes provides enhanced visibility from and into the residential lobby. A series of pre-finished metal fins (in front of a glazed curtain wall) establishes a rhythm that is continued on the lower levels.
The project brings a total of 341 residential units, including the 130 replacement rental dwelling units. The breakdown includes 72 studios (21%), 196 one-bedrooms (57%), 50 two-bedrooms (15%), and 23 three-bedrooms (7%).
Proposed is 685 m² of indoor amenity space and 513 m² of outdoor amenity space. Half of the eighth floor is dedicated to indoor amenity space, which opens to a large outdoor terrace wrapping the building’s north and east elevations.
Two levels of below grade parking would accommodate 94 cars and 345 bicycles.
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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