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On the southwest corner of Queen Street East and Sherbourne Street in Toronto's Old Town, Dash Developments have submitted a Zoning By-law Amendment application to the City to facilitate the redevelopment of the site with a 31-storey mixed-use condominium building of 340 units.
The 1,460m² site is bounded by Queen Street East to the north, Sherbourne Street to the east, Britain Street to the south, and Stonecutters Lane to the west. The neighbourhood, both east and west of the site, has a distinct fine-grained commercial character, with clusters of 19th century buildings forming sections of continuous streetwall.
The site currently contains four low-rise buildings, the most prominent is the three-storey brick Canada House Hotel at 229 Queen East which is listed on the City of Toronto’s Heritage Register. It was built 1897 as Kormann House Hotel by architect John Wilson Siddall, who made significant contributions to the City’s built fabric. Across the street is Moss Park, where the City has the intention to update the recreation centre, and where a planned station on the Ontario Line is located.
For this corner lot, IBI Group have designed a 31-storey mixed-use residential-retail building, with a 23-storey tower element atop of an 8-storey podium on one side and a 3-storey base element in other areas. The street facing façades of the existing heritage properties at 229 Queen Street East and 122 Sherbourne Street would be conserved and incorporated into the 3-storey base building. The total gross floor area for the proposed development is 23,307m², for a density of 16 FSI.
The existing building at 225 Queen Street East would be demolished and replaced with a 3-storey building element, with stone cladding to differentiate the new construction from the retained heritage façade to the east, which are treated with red brick.
Fronting the majority of Queen and Sherbourne streets would be 512m² of retail GFA, some of that space at double-height. The main residential lobby entrance would be discreetly located at the southeast corner.
The fourth floor is dedicated to residential amenity space. A step back from the podium results in a 599m² north-facing terrace overlooking Queen Street East and the park, directly accessible from the contiguous 861m² indoor amenity area. The large terrace wraps the western edge of the building and above the retained heritage façade at 122 Sherbourne Street.
The base building is treated with brick and stone as described above, while the upper portions of the podium have the same architectural vernacular as the tower; white metal panels that break up the tower into 'boxes' of varying sizes. The use of inset glass curtain wall and glass projecting balconies contrast the white frames of the 'boxes' resulting in a strongly-defined vertical and horizontal elements that stand out from the smaller white 'boxes'.
The design comprises 340 dwelling units in a mix of 23 studios (7%), 150 one-bedrooms (44%), 132 two-bedrooms (39%), and 35 three-bedrooms (10%).
Three underground parking levels would accommodate 60 vehicle spaces, accessed via the garage ramp from Britain Street to the rear. Stonecutters Lane would be widened, to accommodate access to the loading space. A total of 340 bicycle spaces for residents and visitors would be located on levels 1 and 2.
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: | Aercoustics Engineering Ltd, Arcadis, Bousfields, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners, Tarra Engineering & Structural Consultants Inc |
