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This week, Broccolini submitted Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to the City of Toronto for a multi-building development at Huntley and Selby streets near Bloor Street and Mount Pleasant Road in Downtown Toronto. The plans propose two residential towers with a wide range of housing options including replacement rental units, affordable apartments, and market rate apartments, along with community spaces, neighbourhood retail, retained heritage buildings, and public realm enhancements including parkland and open spaces.
Going by the name HuntleySelby in the architectural plans, the development has a gross floor area of 77,266m² with 76,253m² of it being dedicated to residential space, and the remainder being devoted to a mix of retail, community space, and daycare. The resulting FSI of the development would be 15.35 on the gross site area of 5,034m².
The site is currently home to multiple properties, including 21 low-rise residential buildings ranging from detached houses to low-rise apartment blocks, as well as a single commercial hostel. Directly north of the site is Greenwin Square, a large mixed-use complex featuring a grocery store and other retail, with a 20-storey office tower and a 27-storey rental apartment tower along Huntley Street. To the west of Greenwin Square, across Huntley Street, is Mount Pleasant Road. To the east of Greenwin Square is a condominium and hotel development called The Rosedale on Bloor which is currently under construction.
The HuntleySelby towers, designed by IBI Group, would stand 48 and 59 storeys (163 and 195.35 metres tall respectively), on top of a shared 3-to 4-storey podium. The buildings would include a total of 1,297 units broken down into 275 studio (21.2%),178 one-bedroom (13.7%), 425 one-bedroom plus den (32.8%), 279 two-bedroom (21.5%), and 140 three-bedroom (10.8%). Of the 1,297 units, 56 would be rental replacement units, 76 would be affordable rental units, and 1165 would be market units. 95 of the smaller units are designed so that two adjacent units could be purchased together if desired to be converted into a larger unit with more bedrooms.
Although none of the existing buildings are currently listed or designated on the City’s Heritage Register, 15 of them are proposed to be retained to greater or lesser degrees and integrated into the new development in accordance with the recommendations of ERA Architects: some retentions will just be facades, most will continue to the ridgeline, and there will be some full-building retention.
At the southwest corner of the site, a new 460m² a gh3-designed public park would be realized, and animated with retail and community space adjacent to it. The community is to be consulted to find out what current residents would like to see within the space.
In addition to the park, a variety of shared outdoor terraces will be provided within each residential building as well as terrace and ground level space for the proposed daycare.
Two versions of the architectural plans are included in the submission, one which simply widens the existing alley between the buildings (shown in the first rendering in the story) and — while landscaping it — mostly uses it to provide access to the parking garage and servicing area, while a preferred development scheme reroutes access to the parking and servicing to a new driveway off of Selby Street while closing the laneway to convert it to a courtyard between the two major buildings.
The preferred development scheme would depend upon the City closing the alley and selling it to the developer, and would also allow for a bridge to be built across part of the courtyard, sheltering it while providing dramatic space for residential amenities above.
Broccolini proposes to significant space within the podium to be used as community facilities, proposing to have them owned and managed by a non-profit Community Trust.
The development would provide a total of 192 vehicular parking spaces, with 150 spaces reserved for residents, 4 car-share spaces, and 38 spaces used for commercial or visitor use. Spaces for 1,558 bikes would be broken down into 1,402 for residents, 156 for visitors, and 11 bike-share spaces.
The neighbourhood is a diverse and dense part of the City Toronto within the city’s downtown core and with good transit access, being an approximate 3-minute walk from Sherbourne subway station. It is also within an 8-to-9 minute walk from the Bloor-Yonge subway station, which offers access to north-south trains as well, while a bus routes on Sherbourne is also within walking distance of the site.
You can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, 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: | Arcadis, Bousfields, Broccolini, gh3, Grounded Engineering Inc., MCW Consultants Ltd |
