The City of Toronto has received a Zoning By-law Amendment application seeking approval for an infill development which would include two new 6-storey buildings to the west of an existing Tower-in-the-Park style apartment building at 4500 Jane Street in North York. The project by Starlight Investments would contain 142 purpose built rental units across the two IBI Group-designed buildings.

Looking northeast to 4500 Jane Street, designed by IBI Group for Starlight Developments

The site is located at the northwest corner of Jane and Milo Park Gate in the Black Creek Neighbourhood of North York. The site is served by three surface bus routes and is located 1 kilometre from the future Finch West LRT transit station at Jane and Finch. The site is located a short drive from the Highway 400, and is a short distance from the Pioneer Village Line 1 Subway Station. York University is also a short distance from the site, and the neighbourhood includes many small parks, green space, and a forested area with trails.

4500 Jane Street Site Boundary, Image courtesy UT Forum contributor Northern Light via Google Maps

The surrounding area context consists of high rise apartment buildings along with lower density residential in nearby neighbourhoods to the east and west of Jane Street. There are some commercial areas at Jane and Finch, as well as Jane and Shoreham Drive. The site is located in a designated apartment neighbourhood according to the City of Toronto Official plan, and the site is currently zoned for higher density land uses making the proposal fit well within these existing designations.

4500 Jane Neighbourhood Context, Image by IBI Group

The existing building on site is 14 storeys and occupies only 10% of the lot area, however with the inclusion of the new buildings in this proposal the lot coverage would increase to about 34%. A significant area of the site is currently landscaped open space.

The existing building consists of about 15,475m² of gross floor area whereas the two new buildings will create 13,710m²​​​​​​​ of new gross floor area. The resulting density with all of the three buildings on site will be 2.05 times the area of the 14,207m² lot. The subject site has a frontage of about 129m on Jane street, as well as 82m on Milo Park Gate and 136m on Gosford Boulevard.

Proposed Buildings in Context, Image by IBI Group

Currently there are 183 parking spaces on site, of which 59 are surface level and 124 underground. The underground parking space would be reconfigured for a total of 203 residential parking spaces in a single level garage with two new surface parking lots consisting of 50 parking spaces for visitors. 115 bicycle parking spaces are proposed to be added to the site.

The proposal includes more amenity space than is required, with the inclusion of 655m² of indoor and 697m²​​​​​​​ of outdoor amenity space in various parts of the proposed buildings as well as 1,717m² of amenity space on the grounds of the site between all three buildings.

Of the 142 new units included in the proposal, 6 are studios (4%), 67 are one bedrooms (48%), 31 are two bedrooms (22%) and 38 three bedrooms (27%). 21 of the three bedroom units are townhouses.    

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.

* * *

UrbanToronto has a new way you can track projects through the planning process on a daily basis. Sign up for a free trial of our New Development Insider here.

Related Companies:  Arcadis, Bousfields, Counterpoint Engineering, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, Land Art Design Landscape Architects Inc, Starlight Investments