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Developers take on a juggling act when proposing new builds. Always looking to maximize what can be built on a site, they must also contend with how their project will impact such things as privacy and light for neighbouring buildings, especially when they are at close quarters in tightly packed areas. In that regard, Tribute Communities and Greybrook Realty Partners have resubmitted their Zoning By-law Amendment application for a site spanning 148 through 158 Avenue Road and 220 through 234 Davenport Road, to respond to requests by the City of Toronto for changes to their 2021 proposal in the northeastern corner of The Annex neighbourhood.
On the cusp of the Yorkville neighbourhood, with the surroundings a mix of residential, commercial, and recreational buildings, the 148 Avenue Road site on the northwest corner of Davenport Road and Avenue Road, is currently home to multiple commercial units. With some heritage exterior preservation planned, the Heritage Impact Study included in the submission notes the historic house-form buildings in the area, and concludes that that the proposal conserves the site and its adjacent units’ cultural heritage value. The new design by Chris Dikeakos Architects and CGL Architects Inc (above) adds curves to and finer lines to reduce the boxiness of the earlier design (below).
The revised design takes the City’s comments on the initial proposal into account. While maintaining 35 storeys, the height of the mechanical penthouse has been reduced, dropping the total from 114.76m to 112.97m. More significantly, the floor-plate has reduced from 789m² to 750m². This changes the proposed total number of units from 355 to 333. With three elevators included in the design, this would mean one elevator for every 111 units, somewhat above the 1 elevator per 100 unit ratio, but better than the previous ratio of 1 elevator per 118.33 units.
The residential gross floor area changes from 25,211m² to 24,138m², with the non-residential gross floor area going from 375m² to 491m².
The podium continues to still be three storeys to align with the surrounding two and three-storey buildings. The revised ground floor has an expanded plaza of 90m², as well as a larger plaza of 127m² in area at the southwest corner that would also be a POPS (Privately-Owned Publicly accessible Space).
The proposed indoor amenity space on the ground, first, and fourth floors drops from 607m² to 500m². Meanwhile, the outdoor amenities have gained space, going from 488m² to 508m².
The submission notes how all of these changes are meant to benefit the neighbouring properties, such as the floor-plate would now have “cut outs” in each corner that help improve south view for the existing tower just to the north, while the increased setbacks of the podium from the curb help lessen the proposal's impact on views, lighting, and privacy concerns.
These changes also include a reduction to the number of proposed vehicular parking spaces from 204 to 176, with 132 being for long-term residential use, and 35 being shared spaces for residential and commercial visitors. Conversely, the design has increased the number of bicycle parking spots from 320 to 334.
The resubmission has juggled spaces and numbers to address concerns with lighting, shadows, views, and privacy, while striving to maintain the general design. The changes would also result in more plaza and public space. Overall, the juggling act has resulted in a design that aims to better suit the neighbourhood.
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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