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Developer Gupta Group has proposed a 33-storey hotel and residential mixed-use development in Toronto's historic St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood that incorporates the existing heritage buildings located at 179 – 185 King Street East. IBI Group and heritage consultants ERA Architects seek to retain the heritage attributes of the existing 3-4 storey building with a Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Control Application prepared by the Goldberg Group.
Located on the southwest corner of King Street East and George Street, the site falls within the St. Lawrence Heritage Conservation District, one of Toronto's oldest neighbourhoods defined by historic landmark buildings like the St. James Cathedral, Flatiron Building and St Lawrence Market. The City of Toronto's Downtown Secondary Plan identifies the site as 'Mixed Use Area - 2 Intermediate,' which stipulates: "development will be encouraged to provide for a diverse range of uses, including retail, service, office, institutional and residential uses."
Currently, the 1,175m² rectangular plot is occupied by four 3-storey brick warehouse buildings constructed between 1833 and 1855 listed on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register and designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act.
Being located on King Street East, a major arterial road, the site is well served by existing frequent transit services. TTC Streetcar routes 504 King and 503 Kingston Road provide lateral east-west connectivity and can be accessed via a short 20m walk west of the site. 550m to the west, King Station on Line 1 Yonge-University can be reached via these streetcar services. Its locality to King Station means the plot falls within a Protected Major Transit Station Area as defined by the City Planning Division.
The listed heritage facades fronting King Street East and George Street will be retained within the 2-storey proposed podium, aligning with the scale of the adjoining properties to maintain a cohesive street front. Occupying the entirety of the site, the footprint of the existing buildings will be retained, offering no setback to any of the elevations. Measuring in at 123m tall, the staggered tower abuts the western plot line and appears centred on the eastern elevation, while the tower's footprint incrementally widens and lengthens from levels 3 through 6 giving the structure a seemingly top-heavy design.
By electing to juxtapose the traditional red brickwork and stucco vernacular of the St. Lawrence neighbourhood, IBI Group have devised a striking glass-clad tower with warm white metal panelling that articulates the glazing and frames the views for the residential units behind. Dark grey mullions reference the district's abundant commercial warehouses and industrial buildings.
A combined Gross Floor Area (GFA) of 19,323m² includes 11,743m² of residential Gross Floor Area (located from floors 15 to 33) and 7,578m² of non-residential Gross Floor Area (primarily hotel suites situated between floors 5 to 14). The 190 residential and 140 hotel units are accessed via a dedicated residential and hotel lobby fronting King Street East to the north. The proposed GFA also includes four levels of underground parking, giving the site a Floor Space Index of 16.74. The underground parking, accessed via a ramp leading from George Street towards the site's southern boundary, provides 36 parking spaces, 33 for the hotel and 3 for residential visitors, along with 190 bicycle parking spaces.
The development consists of 190 residential units comprising 133 one-bedroom units (70%), 38 two-bedroom units (20%), 19 three-bedroom units (10%) and 140 hotel suites. These share a third-floor amenity space on level 3 and have their own dedicated indoor and outdoor amenity space at their corresponding levels.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, 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: | Arcadis, Goldberg Group, Gupta Group, HGC Noise Vibration Acoustics, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners |
