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Minto Communities GTA's resubmitted Site Plan Approval application for 6 Noble Street in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood refines plans for a building that over the course of years has been significantly reduced in storey-count from its original 2016 proposal. Located northwest of Dufferin Street and Queen Street West, the site is positioned close to TTC surface routes.
The resubmitted design by Sweeny &Co Architects is for an 8-storey mixed-use condominium, reaching a height of 33m. Situated at the northwest corner of Noble Street and Queen Street West, this plan fits within a rezoning envelop established with the City over the last few years, during which time the 14-storey building original submission from 2016, revised to 12 storeys in 2017, with more reductions in the interim, was eventually settled at this new size.
The land owner submitted a settlement offer in June, 2018 that replaced most of the proposed at-grade retail with seven townhouse units. In the latest plans, these two-storey units in the northwest corner are to feature an exterior wooden frame reminiscent of the gabled Victorian-era homes of the neighbourhood.
The building is to replace the existing single-storey commercial building onsite with 132 residential units. This comes at a time when Parkdale is grappling with a housing and affordability crisis. The building's unit mix would offer a range of unit sizes, with a predominant focus on smaller 1-bedroom and 1-bedroom plus den configurations. The proposal also includes 57m² of retail space at grade along Noble Street.
The building's ground floor will be animated to activate the Noble Street frontages, including colourful motifs throughout the amenities and passageway for bicycles. The streetscape to the north would incorporate brick pavers and curbed planters to enhance the main lobby.
Inside, residents would be able to access 256m² of indoor amenity space and an additional 303m² of outdoor amenity space. The latter is set to include a gym, party room, and an outdoor space located on the east side to mitigate noise and wind. The building would feature two elevators, resulting in one elevator for every 66 units.
Below grade, the design proposes 61 parking spaces spread across two underground levels, with six spaces being for visitors. It also calls for 136 bicycle parking spaces, with 115 for long-term and 12 for short-term use.
The location provides options for cyclists; the quiet on-street route along Brock Street is set to connect to a planned extension of the West Toronto Rail Path along Metrolinx's Kitchener rail corridor (labeled as CNR Tracks on the image below). Upcoming bike lanes on Gladstone Avenue and Lansdowne Avenue will further enhance connectivity.
The site is about a kilometre northwest of the future Exhibition Place station on the Ontario Line 3, now being built beside and the existing Exhibition GO station.
This project joins several applications in the area looking to address the neighbourhood's housing needs. Among them, on the east side of Noble Street, 1266 Queen West would stand 25 storeys and provide 381 units, while CreateTO has proposed the Parkdale Hub, a 10-storey mixed-use affordable housing rental building with 100 units, located at 1313 Queen Street West about 300m from 6 Noble Street, in response to the affordability and housing challenges.
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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