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Scarborough's West Hill area could soon be home to a cascading Bluffs-inspired proposal that draws reference from Danish Architect Bjarke Ingels' KING Toronto development on King Street West. A Zoning By-law Amendment application submitted by MHBC Planning on behalf of Kingston Residences Inc. seeks approval for a prominent 13-storey mixed-use condominium building scheme designed by BDP Quadrangle at 4674 Kingston Road in Toronto's eastern reaches.
The irregular 8,022,5m² property contains a one and two-storey motel complex with surface-level parking located on the north side of the Kingston Road and Beechgrove Drive intersection. Classified as a major arterial road, Kingston Road provides east-west transit leading to Kennedy Station, accessing Line 2 Bloor-Danforth and the GO Transit network. Also a short drive from Highway 401, the site's accessibility and proximity to Colonel Danforth Park have made the area highly desirable for development with notable schemes, including 4630 Kingston Road and 4626 Kingston Road to the west.
Rising to a height of 40.5m, the 13-storey development is mindful of Kingston Road's 36m right-of-way width, stepping back incrementally to limit shadow impacts and provide appropriate transitions to the existing and proposed building typologies that characterize this neighbourhood.
The unorthodoxly shaped site has encouraged BDP Quadrangle to implement a triangulated building footprint that means to respond sensitively to its context with generous setbacks at grade level from the boundary line to enhance the existing street and pedestrian environment. The building mass is skewed toward the southern property line to promote the mid-rise character and built form of other recent and pending redevelopments along this stretch Kingston Road.
An ample 3m setback from this line provides an adequately sized sidewalk that incorporates soft landscaping, pedestrian-scaled lighting, and the introduction of street trees. Substantial offsets from the remaining property lines, most notably the north-western boundary, allow for the integration of a 7.5m wide linear POPS (Privately-Owned Publicly accessible Space) that provides mid-block connections to the adjacent townhouses.
A central undercroft fronting Kingston Road dissects the building at ground level separating the 665m² retail unit from the residential lobby. This vehicular access road serves the two loading bays and a single ramp that leads to the solitary level of underground parking, providing the development with 196 parking spaces and a large portion of the 379 bicycle parking spaces.
Visually, the sloping terraces add depth to the proposal drawing comparisons to the iconic 1970s brutalist University of East Anglia building in Norwich, England, allowing the structure to rise vertically in a contextually sensitive manner. Finished in an array of seemingly metallic cladding panels, metal flashings and railing glass, these staggered elements serve the building with an abundance of outdoor amenity space across all levels. BDP Quadrangle have also ingeniously introduced a serrated façade pattern which naturally orientates the façade and subsequent residential units fronting Kingston Road towards Lake Ontario. Concerns surrounding noise mitigation have also been addressed with the inclusion of upgraded glazing and ventilation and warning clause requirements.
The proposed development consists of 483 residential units comprising 162 studios (34%), 199 one-bedrooms (41%), 73 two-bedrooms (15%), and 49 three-bedrooms (10%) which meets the City of Toronto's requirements for percentages of family-sized unit types. A proposed Gross Floor Area of 31,077m² will give the site a Gross FSI of 3.87.
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: | BDP Quadrangle, MHBC Planning |
