Toronto is populated by neighbourhoods ranging from heavily developed to empty land, filled with potential. Amidst a stretch of vacant lots along Sherbourne Street just south of Dundas Street East, a new building is being proposed at 214 through 230 Sherbourne Street by KingSett Capital. The Hariri Pontarini Architects design of this tower would not only make use of the vacant space, but also stand alongside a heritage building, the William Dineen House.

Looking southwest to the proposal for 214-230 Sherbourne Street, as designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects for KingSett Capital

McCarthy Tétrault LLP, the solicitors for the land owner of 214-226 Sherbourne Street, have submitted an application for an Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-Law Amendment, and Site Plan Review. The area is primed for development, with the land currently unused and the William Dineen House at 230 Sherbourne Street unoccupied. More specifically, the same beneficial interests for 214-226 Sherbourne Street also control 230 Sherbourne Street.

The current area from 214 to 226 Sherbourne Street forms a rectangular shape. For a passerby, it comes across as a consolidated empty lot of land. At 230 Sherbourne Street is the aforementioned heritage site. According to the Heritage Impact Statement, it stands at 2.5 storeys and dates all the way back to 1872, a mere five years after Canada became a country. That vacant building was most recently a rental unit with a single tenant.

Looking southwest to the current site including the heritage building, image retrieved from Google Street View

The proposed building would stand at 154.9m with 47 storeys, with a podium at six-storeys in height, and 619 dwelling units. The structure would co-exist alongside the heritage building and a POPS (Privately-Owned, Publicly accessible Space) of 151m². These features would play a large role in the building’s façade. The building would wrap around the William Dineen House on its south and west sides. The proposed tower would juxtapose the Pointed Gothic style of the red-brick heritage site with rounded modern architecture.

The front design for 214-230 Sherbourne Street, facing southwest and showcasing how the structure would stand alongside the William Dineen House, image from submission to City of Toronto

Drivers would be able to access the two levels of parking garage from Sherbourne Street on the building’s south side. There would be 66 parking spaces, of which 13 would be accessible and 10 would be for visitors. For bicyclists, there would be 620 bicycle parking spaces, of which 62 would be for visitor use and 84 for electric bicycles.

An aerial view looking southwest to the proposal, designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects for KingSett

The intention as per the proposal would be for greater public use of the area, including the POPS and re-use of the William Dineen House for community purposes. The proposed structure would be built with the use and preservation of the heritage building very much in mind, allowing old and new to coexist within meters of each other.

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:

Ferris + Associates Inc., Goldberg Group, Grounded Engineering Inc., Hariri Pontarini Architects, Mulvey & Banani, PCL Construction, RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering