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A Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) — Ontario Regulation 10/24 — that preserves air space for the safe operation of air ambulance services for St Michael's Hospital and The Hospital for Sick Children, has impacted multiple developments in certain areas across the downtown core. While the need to house more people in Toronto pushes proposals ever higher, enlargement of the protected air space to allow emergency air transport of patients means that several proposals are now being trimmed in height. Of them, the most drastic drop is to 295 Jarvis Street. Designed by Arcadis for CentreCourt, a settlement offer to the City in May, 2024 scales the proposal down from 60 storeys to 36.
Originally proposed in 2018 as a 36-storey (112.45m) tower comprising 351 units, a resubmission in 2022 ambitiously elevated the plan to a 60-storey (199.4m) structure (below) with 618 units. The latest iteration's return to 36 storeys with a revised height of 125.22m, would bring the new unit count to 414.
Currently, the site in the Garden District is occupied by a rooming house that dates to the 1850s. Positioned on a rectangular lot spanning 911m², this 3.5-storey structure is nestled midway between Dundas and Gerrard streets. While the existing building is slated for demolition, with the settlement offer includes a redesign of the new building's podium that would improve compatibility with neighbouring heritage buildings.
The design’s total Gross Floor Area (GFA) of 30,346m² would result in a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 33.3. As part of the settlement offer, the proposal now includes 33 rental replacement units on the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors, totalling approximately 1,270m² in area. These would all be bachelor units, accessible through the main lobby and given full access to building amenities.
There would be four residential elevators, resulting in approximately one elevator for every 104 units, indicating about average wait times. In addition, the design calls for an additional elevator from the underground garage as high as third-floor amenity spaces.
Residents would have access to 621m² of indoor and 414m² of outdoor amenities. Amidst two levels of underground garage, the plans accommodate 373 long-term and 83 short-term bicycle spaces for residents, along with 10 additional short-term spots. The number of visitor parking spaces has been reduced from 12 to 6, of which two would be equipped for electric vehicles. As before, the plans eschew any residential parking spots in keeping with the transit-oriented nature of the site.
The site is a 10-minute walk to Dundas station or a 14-minute walk to College station on Yonge Line 1, while TTC streetcars with stops at Jarvis ply Dundas and Carlton streets. The future Moss Park station on Ontario Line 3, currently under-construction, will be about a 660m walk south from the building.
Other proposals impacted by the MZO include 412 Church Street, situated to the northwest, where a proposed 45-storey mixed-use tower has been scaled down to 33 storeys, while to the southeast, 225 Queen Street East has had its 45-storey plan decreased to 37 storeys. Additionally, dual rental towers at 191 Sherbourne Street have been revised down from 47 and 49 storeys to 42 storeys each.
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 |
