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Toronto is grappling with finding a balance between rapid growth and preserving its rich historical heritage: developers would typically like a clean slate to work with when redeveloping properties, but the City wants to see at least heritage-designated exterior walls of the buildings that stand on the site now to be incorporated into the new builds. The trick is to find an expression for the new work that looks new, but which complements the heritage structures. This tension is seen with the proposed tower at 576 Sherbourne, on the southwest corner with Linden Street a few blocks south of Bloor.
Alterra Group of Companies has submitted an Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications for the project that would impact several heritage buildings. The site is mostly rectangular with frontage of approximately 48.59m along Sherbourne Street, and also encompasses 566 Sherbourne Street and 29 through 37 Linden Street. There are 10 semi- and single-detached buildings onsite, ranging from 2 to 3 storeys.
The proposal brings a confluence of the City’s past, present, and future to the site. The Heritage Impact Study included in the application gives an overview of the buildings dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the proposed tower would strive to preserve portions of these existing buildings with restored facades.
Arcadis - the Amsterdam-based global firm that acquired Toronto-based IBI Group in Fall 2022 — have designed a 59-storey tower standing at 190.9m. It would bring 688 new residential units to the site, including 18 rental replacement dwellings. With six elevators included in the architectural drawings, this would mean 1 elevator for every 114.66 units, placing 576 Sherbourne above the 1 elevator per 100 suite threshold, indicating that waits for elevators could be longer than desirable.
The proposal features a 2- to 4-storey podium which is designed to retain and restore existing building frontages, with the 4-storey element along Sherbourne and Linden streets and a 2-storey element in the back. The retained elements would be kept in-situ during construction, with various new-build sections setback from the heritage fronts of between 0.93m and 1.89m to give prominence at ground level to the heritage elements. This would provide at least 3.4m for pedestrians along Sherbourne Street.
The podium has further step-backs at the third and fourth floors, to allow for space for the retained elements and give a visual distinction between them and the tower element. The latter would begin at the fifth floor, with outdoor amenity space on top of the podium. There would be amenities at the ground, second, third, and fifth floors of the podium. The tower's exterior expression is mostly glass, but with frames applied in a somewhat randomized pattern and coloured to accentuate the red brick exteriors of most of the heritage buildings below.
Some history would be lost to time – the Heritage Impact Study notes that 33 Linden Street has been heavily altered over time, having originally matched 31 Linden Street and constructed in the late 1800s. Without its original features, the building would be removed as part of this project.
The primary entrance for pedestrians and vehicles would be on Linden Street, to be co-located with the driveway for the neighbouring school. The design calls for two levels of underground garage with 85 parking spaces, of which 8 would be for visitors. In addition, there would be 620 bicycle parking spots, with 70 for short-term use. The building would be a short walk from Sherbourne subway station.
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: | Alterra Group of Companies, Arcadis, Cohen & Master Tree and Shrub Services Ltd, DBS Developments, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, WND Associates Ltd |
