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At the end of August, 2021, Bousfields Inc. submitted Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to the City of Toronto on behalf of Limen Developments for a mixed use development designed by TACT Architecture at 189-195 Old Weston Road. The site is located at the southeast corner of Old Weston Road and Westport Avenue in the Carleton Village neighbourhood of Toronto, nestled just north of The Junction and east of the Stockyards District.
The site is an irregularly shaped parcel of land of approximately 1 hectare located east of the shared Metrolinx and CP Rail lines, a couple of blocks south of St Clair West Avenue, east of Old Weston Road, and north of Dundas and Dupont Streets, with the Bloor-Danforth subway line located a little further south. The development would replace the former Andrew Merrilees property. Merrilees was a well known Canadian rail fan who also owned a railway supply company located at the address, where railway equipment was made until 2016 when the property was sold for redevelopment and the remaining historical artifacts on the site were gifted to the Toronto Railway Museum. Since its sale, the property has been left largely untouched, and is currently being used as construction and equipment storage by Limen; in particular, sections of cranes are stored here when not in use.
The area is in the process of evolving as a result of the future planned St Clair West-Old Weston GO and SmartTrack station, which is approximately 700 metres to the north. As such, the site is located within the Keele St Clair Local Area Study (“KSC Study”). The existing neighbourhood to the east and north mainly consists of a mix of low-rise housing including semi-detached houses and infill townhomes, while there are some low-rise, light industrial buildings immediately adjacent.
The proposed development calls for a stand-alone 4-storey arts collective and retail building, focused on providing space for artist studios, exhibitions, and other work space at the southeast corner of Old Weston Road and Westport Avenue. It also calls for a new pedestrian connection to facilitate a linkage from the west side of the rail corridor to the east. Along the eastern half of the property a residential condo is proposed, consisting of 8-storey and 20-storey buildings atop of a 3-storey podium, and providing a total of 346 residential units, with a mix of residential unit types, including 212 one-bedrooms (61%), 86 two-bedrooms (25%) and 48 three-bedrooms (14%).
The development features a stepped podium design to provide for transition toward the neighbourhood-designated lands along Westport to the north, as well as the neighbourhood lots to the south. This redevelopment would result in a total gross floor area of 27,731m², including 1,156m² of arts collective space, 319m² of retail space, and 346 residential units, including 20 of which would be affordable units. Its FSI would be 2.71.
A total of 3,075m² of amenity space is proposed, including 581m² of indoor amenity space and 2,495m² of outdoor amenity space. The indoor amenity space is located on the ground floor and the 4th floor of the residential building. Approximately 1,293m² of outdoor amenity space is provided on the roof of the 4-storey base component. The remaining outdoor space is located at grade.
The 3-level podium is shaped like a V with the right arm extending twice the length. The south end of the V is used as an above-grade parking structure, accessed via a central driveway aisle. The garage structure abuts the rail corridor to the west, and 2-storey industrial buildings to the east. The garage would offer a total of 235 residential parking spaces, 200 for residents and for 35 visitors, while 8 outdoor spaces are proposed for the arts collective building.
The development also proposes a total of 422 bicycle parking spaces, of which 365 spaces are for residents and 57 spaces are for visitors.
Various bus routes pass close by on Davenport Road and Keele Street, as well as the nearby streetcar that runs east-west along St Clair Avenue making stops at both St Clair West and St Clair subway stations.
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: | Bousfields, RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering |
