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A plan to densify a Tower-in-the-Park style apartment complex on the southwest corner of Steeles Avenue West and Jane Street in Toronto's Black Creek neighbourhood has been submitted by N.H.D. Developments Ltd. Applications for Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Approval to permit the addition at 4001 Steeles Avenue West of three towers with heights of 35 through 45 storeys would add 1,621 new condominium suites to the site if approved as proposed.
The site is bound by a townhome site to the west, Steeles Avenue to the north, Jane Street to the east, and Hullmar Drive to the south. It is currently occupied by a pair of Y-shaped 14- and 17-storey rental apartment buildings and a 1-storey commercial plaza with surface parking. Both Pioneer Village Station and Highway 407 Station are a 12-minute walk away, east and north respectively, providing access to the Yonge-University subway line (Line 1).
Located in the former City of North York, the site lies at the northern edge of the Black Creek neighbourhood. The Toronto boundary with the City of Vaughan is located immediately across the road on the north side of Steeles. The neighbourhood is a predominantly a mix of low-rise and high-rise residential, while employment lands after found to the west along Highway 400 and across Steeles in Vaughan. The high-rises are located along major arterial roads, and along peripheries of natural areas. Across Jane Street to the east and Steels to the north is Black Creek Pioneer Village. The Black Creek Community Farm — comprised of greenhouses, surrounding active farmland, and pedestrian trails — fronts Jane Street to the southeast of the proposal.
Designed by Graziani + Corazza Architects, the proposed development consists of buildings expressed in a tower and podium form, yielding a GFA of 109,193m² and resulting in a density of 2.64 FSI.
Fronting Steeles, ‘Building A’ is oriented east-west and is located at the north edge of the site, and consists of an 8-storey podium and two 45-storey towers (Towers A1 and A2) separated by 30m, each with a floor-plate of 800m². A 1.5 metre step-back is provided at the 7th storey, creating a 6-storey street-wall which is consistent with the building across the street to the north. The 6-storey street-wall wraps the podium elevation to the east, framing the outdoor amenity space provided at the northeast corner of the site.
‘Building B’ is oriented north-south on the east portion of the site. Rising to 35 storeys, it provides a podium and streetwall height consistent with Building A. The tower also has a floorplate of 800m², and provides a separation distance of 30 metres from Tower A2, and 28 metres from the existing apartment building to the southwest. Building B provides a downward height transition across the site to the Y-shaped buildings at 5000 Jane Street and 4001 Steeles Avenue West.
The ground floor of the base buildings includes indoor amenity rooms along their main frontages, with a small residential lobby. Residential units begin on the 2nd floor and are generally homogenous across the floors.
Collectively Buildings A and B include a total of 1,621 residential units. The overall proposed unit mix includes 4 studios (0%), 1,079 one-bedroom (67%), 396 two-bedroom (24%), and 142 three-bedroom (9%) units. Residents would have access to a total of 6,524m² of amenity space equally distributed between indoor and outdoor.
A new northwest-southeast road running through the subject site in between the proposed buildings and the existing buildings would connect to the existing surface parking lots, and lead to and from the driveway entrances on Hullmar Drive. The road also leads northeast toward the roundabout driveway for the proposed buildings, accommodating passenger pick-up and drop-off, and access to a three-level underground garage within the centre of the subject site. The garage would accommodate 722 spaces (639 resident, 83 visitor).
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, Ferris + Associates Inc., Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, Graziani + Corazza Architects, Grounded Engineering Inc., RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering |
