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Mattamy Homes has gained approval from the Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB) for a 13-storey mid-rise residential development in Toronto’s High Park neighbourhood. Located at 1660 Bloor Street West, between Dundas Street West and Keele Street, the project named Westbend Residences will leverage a design from BDP Quadrangle to deliver 174 units within a generally rectangular massing that is designed to integrate into the existing built context of the West-End strip.
The 1,638m² site enjoys a frontage along a section of Bloor that is currently characterized by a mix of residential and commercial uses. Replacing a low-rise building that formerly held auto service businesses and a retail shop, the local built form has predominantly been made up of low-rise buildings with commercial units at grade, but the area has seen gradual development in the form of mid-rise residential buildings, bringing density to a neighbourhood that is served well by higher order transit. With Keele and Dundas West subway stations both located within 500m, and with Bloor GO and UP Express station just steps from Dundas West, future residents of the building will benefit from its proximity to rapid transit.
The design of Westbend Residences begins with a base building that climbs 4 storeys, creating a human-scaled street-wall that is built right to the southern property line along the Bloor frontage. Above the base building, a more slender tower volume is created by step-backs at the east, west, and south elevations, and rises consistently until another step-back occurs at the 13th level, where an amenity terrace has been programmed. The design uses contrasting materials to break up the base building and the tower visually, with a white brick precast panelling selected to clad the base building, and dark grey aluminium panelling used to clad the tower.
The architectural plans show some very active programming for the development’s grade level, with the standard loading and vehicle access and residential lobby only taking up a fraction of the ground floor’s area. Making use of the high volume of pedestrian activity seen on Bloor, the development will have space for three retail units, amounting to a total of 315m² of retail space available, all with entrances along Bloor. The main entrance to the building is accessed at the southeast corner of the site, and features a double height ceiling that is accented by panelled glass walls on both the south and east walls, allowing light to fill the space.
Moving up to the top of the building, the 13th level houses indoor and outdoor amenity spaces with a view, and that make up the majority of the development’s 805m² of amenity area. Indoors, a dining room and lounge area is situated to offer a gathering space for residents to host guests. A marble island and patterned tiling decorate the kitchen while large windows on the south wall bring light into the space.
The outdoor terrace space offers similar accommodations for dining and guests, while benefiting from the terrace views at the 13th storey; looking southwest, one would see the expansive greenery of Toronto's beloved High Park. The terrace wraps around the east, west, and south elevations of the stepped-back tower, and also provides areas for fitness activities.
Westbend's unit mix features a majority of single-bedroom units, accounting for almost 67% of the total, while layouts range from studio to 3-bedroom. Interior renderings offer a glimpse of some of the potential finishings that can be applied, with the below example showing one of the possible kitchen layouts with natural wood finishes; a range of materials are available.
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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