Downtown Toronto continues to see ever denser residential intensification as developers increasingly turn up the vertical. A new application for a previously proposed building at 295 Jarvis Street sees a large size increase for the proposed tower. Bousfields has submitted new applications for Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment for the landowner, 462226 Ontario Limited. Approval by the City would result in a major influx in residents to the area.

Looking northeast to 295 Jarvis Street, as designed by IBI Group for the landowner

The site is located half way between Dundas Street East and Gerrard Street East on the east side of Jarvis Street. The rectangular lot of land currently contains a rooming house standing at 3.5 storeys dating back to the 1850s, which would be removed as part of the proposal. The proposal includes a Heritage Impact Statement concluding that the development would not have a negative heritage impact on the area.

Looking northeast to 295 Jarvis Street, image retrieved from Google Street View

The land is situated in Toronto's Garden District. The neighbourhood has a diversity of residences and establishments, from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) to St Michael’s Hospital. The area has become more oriented to pedestrians as it develops, with commuters having a short walk to both Dundas and College subway stations, as well as streetcars on Carlton Street and Dundas Street East.

An aerial view of 295 Jarvis Street and the surrounding area, image from Google Maps

The previous proposal was for a 36-storey building, but the new application has a 66% increase to 60 storeys, or 199.40m in height. The IBI Group-designed mixed-use building would bring 618 residential units to the area, and have 44,530m² of gross floor area. This is in stark contrast to the 351 units and 23,507m² gross floor area of the original design. The original four-storey podium has also increased in size to have nine storeys.

The proposal's podium includes two cantilevers over the lowest levels. The ground level would include residential service uses, with a mezzanine level above providing some void space that would result in double-height ceilings for various spaces at ground level. Levels two and three would feature amenity spaces, as would level 10, detailed below, with outdoor amenity terraces on those same levels.

Looking east to 295 Jarvis Street, as designed by IBI Group for the landowner

Level 10 is inset to provide a distinction between the podium and tower elements and be setback about 4m from the north and south, as well as 8m from the west. The floor would feature 289m² of indoor amenity space and 358m² of terrace space. The slender tower would start at floor eleven.

In keeping with the focus on pedestrians, the tower would only have 12 vehicle parking spaces, all for visitors, in a stacker system. There would be 697 bicycle parking spots, with 570 being for residents. In addition to the nearby TTC subway and streetcar options, the site is located about 660m northwest of the future Moss Park Station on the under construction Ontario Line 3.

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, Bousfields, EQ Building Performance Inc., Figure3, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners, Land Art Design Landscape Architects Inc