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A Zoning By-law Amendment application has been submitted to the City of Toronto for a site at 770 Don Mills Road on the southwest corner with Eglinton Avenue East. The land, owned by the City, is being shepherded through the City's Housing Now program by CreateTO to produce affordable housing units along with new market uints.
The 2.2-hectare site is bounded on the south by the Ontario Science Centre, and the Don Valley Ravine to the west. It is currently used as a surface parking lot for the major attraction, which will not need as much space once the Crosstown LRT's Science Centre station has opened in a year or so's time. As seen in the image above, an elevated portion of the Ontario Line is also planned to come to the intersection, targeted for a 2030 opening. The site, therefore, is seen as a node for intensification.
Among the new developments in the area, the Crosstown Community masterplan to the north of Eglinton is comprised of a series of proposed and under-construction multi-scaled mixed-use buildings and public spaces housing 10,000 new residents across the 60-acre development. To the southeast of Eglinton and Don Mills, recent high-rise developments such as the Sonic condominiums are contributing to a denser urban fabric in the area, while more adjacent proposals are anticipated shortly.
With the goal of creating new affordable housing units on the City-owned lands at 770 Don Mills Road, the Housing Now program proposes to develop the site with mixed-use residential buildings, a new TDSB elementary school, child care space, retail space, a public park, and a new public road providing enhanced connectivity.
Montgomery Sisam Architects and The Planning Partnership have devised a scheme for the site that comprises the three towers on 2 blocks in a horseshoe-shaped building footprint with the central green open to the ravine. The towers are staggered and heights culminate at the major intersection, with the tower closest to Don Mills skewed to align with the street. The base building forms have heights divided intermittently to break up the scale of the masses, and provide colonnades and canopies.
Block 1 comprises Tower A (39 storeys) and Tower B (48 storeys), connected by a podium ranging in heights of 7, 6, and 4 storeys that at once emphasizes a strong street wall as well as provides some articulation to help manage the scale of the site. New retail space (653m²) and childcare uses (1,081m²) are located on the ground floor. Block 1 also includes an east-west pedestrian mid-block connection between the Ontario Science Centre Station and a proposed Public Park on the west side of the site.
In Block 2, Tower C (37 storeys) includes a 3-storey TDSB elementary school within the podium of the building, along with an associated school yard.
The proposed development has been updated from the initial submission on March 19, 2018 with various modifications as per discussions with City staff.
Towers B & C have 837 rental units, 50% of which would be affordable rental. Tower A have 418 condos, not to exceed 1/3 of the total unit count on site. The unit mix is 55% one-bedroom, 35% two bedroom, and 10% three-bedroom. A total of 4,742m² of indoor and outdoor amenity space is available to the residents.
Three levels of underground parking provide space for 644 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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