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Earlier this week, Graywood Developments took another step in the process of realizing a project that has been in their pipeline for years, assembling their marketing package for the imminent launch of Centricity Condos. Following the approval of a zoning application submitted in 2020, Graywood has been hard at work refining their plans for the 53-storey tower, and developing a strategy that activates the value of the Downtown Toronto site, occupying the northeast corner of Church and Dundas streets.
The design of Centricity, from Turner Fleischer Architects, aims to integrate itself with the surrounding context with a respect for simplicity, considering the eclectic built form of the area. One of the main stylistic features is a formal nod to the famous brutalist building located just east of the site, at 222 Jarvis Street (the former Sears Building), which is alluded to in the inverted-stack massing of Centricity’s podium.
The tower maintains a minimal character in terms of finishings, emerging from the podium at the eighth storey and rising with a cladding of dark bronze metal panelling that covers all four elevations. Populating both the north and south elevations are trapezoidal balconies that appear in rows of two, each with a divider in the middle creating a total of four private balconies per elevation.
Outdoor and indoor amenities are programmed on floors six and seven, the two uppermost levels of the podium, utilizing the podium’s roof to offer a wraparound terrace that encircles the entire level, created by the step-back of the tower. Indoor amenities, split between the two floors, include standard spaces like a fitness area and kids play area, as well as specialized offerings like a content creator studio and meditation room.
With an offering of 594 new dwelling units — a mix of studio to 3-bedroom layouts, skewing towards single-bedroom plans, which account for 37% of the total units — Centricity hopes to be a part of the movement towards new ideas for planning and development in the most challenging urban topographies.
The plan for the redevelopment of the 1,346m² site, known municipally as 241 Church Street, has always been framed around utilizing the wealth of infrastructure enjoyed by the area around Toronto Metropolitan University (until recently, known as Ryerson University). Located just 300m east of Dundas subway station on Yonge Line 1, the site also benefits from the 505 Dundas streetcar.
In a clever retrospective way, the developers have inverted the historically auto-oriented narrative of the site, formerly occupied by a gas station, framing the new development as one of the most bike-friendly buildings in the city. In the area, north-south bike lanes can be found on Bay and Sherbourne streets, and east-west ones on Shuter and Gerrard streets, connecting cyclists to the broader network, and facilitating safe and efficient movement through the Downtown Core with no carbon emissions.
The building encourages a bicycle-first lifestyle through the reduction of vehicle parking to a ratio of 0.1 parking spaces per unit. What is put forward as a viable alternative is cycle infrastructure, with a total of 596 parking spaces available for bikes, with 17 short term spaces available right at grade level.
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: | Bousfields, EQ Building Performance Inc., Grounded Engineering Inc., New Release Condo, Platinum Condo Deals, Turner Fleischer Architects |
