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A prime western Toronto waterfront site, across Lake Shore Boulevard from the foot of Mimico Avenue and backing onto waterfront parks, could be the home for a new mixed-use residential development. Potentially kickstarting investment in the Mimico Secondary Plan Area of Etobicoke, in November, Winzen submitted Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications for the site to the City of Toronto, proposing a rental and condominium complex of 471 suites. If approved, it would set a precedent for future development on the lake side of Lake Shore Boulevard in Mimico from a land use, urban design, and city-building perspective for this potential western extension of the growing Humber Bay Shores skyline.
The 0.5-hectare site is located on the southeast side of Lake Shore, mid-block between Superior and Primrose avenues, 750m east of the Mimico GO Station and 600m southwest of the Humber Bay Shores area. Comprised of 4 contiguous parcels, the irregularly shaped site spans 53m of frontage on Lake Shore, in addition to considerable frontage along both Amos Waites Park and the Mimico Waterfront Trail, which themselves front onto Lake Ontario. The site at present is occupied by several low-rise buildings including a medical office, rental apartments, storefronts, and a semi-detached dwelling.
The proposal seeks to redevelop and revitalize this “underutilized and relatively derelict site” with a structure of 10 and 31 storeys, and to “reurbanize and reanimate the site in a manner that is in keeping with both the emerging built form context and the envisioned urban structure for the area.” The proposal aims to leverage the site’s location along and access to Lake Ontario as well as its proximity to existing transit, planned higher order transit at the planned Park Lawn TTC/GO Transit Hub, and potential future transit priority treatments along Lake Shore Boulevard West.
According to the planning rationale, this is “the first major development proposal within the Secondary Plan Area since the adoption of the document by City Council in 2013, and in this regard will ‘kick-start’ development and reinvestment in the Secondary Plan Area while also providing population support to local businesses and bolstering transit ridership along Lake Shore Boulevard West, optimizing existing routes and infrastructure.” The 2013 Mimico Secondary Plan, however, prescribes buildings with a maximum of 14 storeys.
The proposal suggests that a portion of land from Amos Waites Park to be used for a new public road running from Lake Shore adjacent to the building and then curving northeast to parallel the lake. “The road would provide additional public road frontage to Amos Waites Park, allowing the park to be publicly accessible on three sides:" Lake Shore Boulevard West, the new public street, and the Mimico Waterfront Park Trail frontage. The proponents suggest a land swap near the lake end of their property to append to Amos Waites Park in order to replace lands that would need to be removed from the park to realize their proposal for the new road.
Sweeny &Co have designed an ‘L’-shaped slender residential/mixed-use building at 10 storeys and 31 storeys/109.6m in height. The total gross floor area would be 32,792m², resulting in a density of 6.59 FSI
The ground floor includes 345m² of retail space located fronting on Lake Shore, and dual residential lobbies (one for the mid-rise element and the other for the tower) fronting on the proposed new road. The lobbies are also accessible from a proposed mid-building driveway area, sheltered by a cantilever. Amenity space at the lake end is meant to ensure an active frontage along the entirety of the new street.
A mezzanine level would accommodate 468 bicycle parking spaces and afford double-heights to the retail and amenity space, lobbies, and servicing areas below. At and above Level 2, the building would comprise a mix of condominium and rental replacement units, and interior and exterior common amenity spaces.
The building would house 471 residential dwelling units, in a mix of 11 studios (2%), 258 one-bedrooms (55%), 155 two-bedrooms (33%) and 47 three-bedrooms (10%). 22 of the 471 residential units would be rental replacement units (11 studio, 11 one-bedroom).
A total of 1,948m² of amenity space is proposed, in near equal indoor and outdoor amounts. Both outdoor amenity spaces are located contiguous with and directly accessible from an indoor amenity space.
Three levels of below-grade parking, accessed by ramps off of the driveway and future public road, would provide 259 parking spaces (235 resident; 24 visitors). The internalization of the servicing and loading functions would screen them from the public realm, and specifically from Amos Waites Park.
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, LEA Consulting, RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering, Sweeny &Co Architects Inc. |
