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Last year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) estimated 3.5 million new homes would be needed to contend with the country’s housing crisis. Looking to meet the moment, a proposal for a condominium in northern Toronto's Downsview area has been significantly revised. Bousfields has resubmitted a Zoning By-law Amendment application on behalf of the landowner to bring considerably more residential units to 3374 Keele Street, just north of the intersection with Sheppard Avenue West.
The site is about 210m north of the intersection on the west side of the street. The lands are approximately 2,500m² in area and are currently vacant. UrbanToronto previously looked at 3374 Keele Street when the initial proposal was submitted near the end of 2020. Since then, CMHC declared the crisis and the Province of Ontario released Bill 23 to try and build 1.5 million homes in 10 years. This project has changed to try and step up and face these challenges.
Originally, Kirkor Architects Planners designed a 12-storey building with 158 units. Now, those numbers have jumped significantly to a 29-storey condominium and 296 residential units. The proposal has gone from about 12,018m² of residential gross floor area to 20,761m². With three elevators planned, one elevator for 98.66 units is provided, on the good side of the one elevator per 100 units threshold.
The resubmission features a podium-tower design. The eight-storey podium would feature a five-storey street wall along Keele Street. There would be 1,275m² of amenities for the many residential units, located on the ground, second, and ninth floors, with 614m² being outdoors.
The proposal utilizes a series of setbacks and step-backs, including a 3.0m setback for the front yard at-grade and a step-back of 3.0m for the sixth floor and 1.5m at the ninth floor. These are intended to create a downward transition to mid-rise residences to the west and the eastward open land, allowing the larger building to better fit into the area.
With the City of Toronto’s Official Plan and a climate action strategy encouraging modes of travel other than vehicles, the number of parking spaces has only increased from 104 to 149. The three levels of underground parking are designed to include 119 spots for residents. The number of bicycle spaces has increased from 182 to 224, of which 203 would be for long-term use.
The huge influx of residents would be supported by various transit options. The site is within walking distance of six bus routes, as well as 1.8km from the Downsview Park TTC and GO stations.
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, Ferris + Associates Inc., Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, KIRKOR Architects and Planners |
