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A proposed development by the Sorbara Group at 410 Sherbourne for a new 39-storey residential condo building would bring 456 units to the Cabbagetown–South St James Town neighbourhood of Downtown Toronto. The tower would replace the Phoenix Concert Theatre, a music venue that has played a significant role in Toronto’s diverse music scenes and communities for over 70 years.
The half-acre subject site is located on the west side of Sherbourne Street, mid-block between Carlton Street and Wellesley Street East. It is currently home to a four-storey medical office building and the two-storey auditorium with a musical past: while it's been known as the Phoenix Concert Theatre since 1991, before that it was Club Harmonie (1951- early 1980s) and The Diamond Club (1984-1991). While the Heritage Impact Statement by ERA found that “the site does not have physical/design or contextual value”, it has an “intangible historical/associative value, through its direct association with three significant historical tenancies which represent different eras of the site’s history.”
The largely residential neighbourhood consists of a mix of low and high-rise built form. The adjacent property to the south is a three-storey semi-detached dwelling, and to the north, a rooming house that is listed on the City of Toronto’s Heritage Register and is formerly known as the St Leonard Hotel.
Across the street are a series of historic homes recognized by the Cabbagetown Northwest Heritage Conservation District, which now host a mix of office and residential uses, including supportive housing. Subject to approval are also two proposed developments: 26-storey mixed-use residential building (Housing Now) on a parking lot, and a 49-storey mixed-use tower at 383-387 Sherbourne Street.
To replace the extant buildings at this site, Sorbara engaged Graziani + Corazza Architects to design a 39-storey residential tower with retail at grade. The building’s podium massing references adjacent building forms and ranges in height from one-storey at its rear, four-storey at its north end and atop the driveway entrance, and an eight-storey massing in other areas. The total GFA is 30,419m², for a site density of 13.26 (FSI).
Next to the small residential lobby fronting Sherbourne Street, 281m² is proposed to be used either for retail or for community purposes with programmable space to address the needs of the local artistic community and honour the site’s history of live music performance. The use of this space is proposed to be facilitated by way of the community benefits process and considered an in-kind benefit.
Driveway access is provided at the building’s southeast corner, leading to the loading area and underground parking. The second through eighth storeys of the podium are held aloft over this driveway entrance, which is otherwise unenclosed, providing pedestrian connectivity through the site to Maribeth and Homewood Avenues.
The podium volume is clad in red-brick masonry and features punched window openings arranged in a rectilinear grid pattern, and is detailed in glass and opaque white panels above. The fourth and fifth floors are fully glazed, further differentiating the podium and tower volumes. The tower is clad in glass, red-brick masonry, and the white panels, with window openings and balconies arranged in vertical columns.
The development would yield a total of 456 dwelling units in the following mix: 4 studios (1%), 299 one-bedrooms (65%), 121 two-bedrooms (27%), and 32 three-bedrooms (7%).
The design provides 917m² of indoor amenity space and an equal amount of outdoor space. The shared interior spaces and adjacent exterior terraces — located the ground level, 2nd, and 9th levels — form a contiguous space for residents.
A two level underground garage would provide 94 parking spaces.
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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| Related Companies: | Counterpoint Engineering, Ferris + Associates Inc., Graziani + Corazza Architects, RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering, WND Associates Ltd |
