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Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications have been filed by Shelborne Capital with the City of Toronto seeking the replacement of two low-rise apartment buildings at 1675 Eglinton Avenue West, east of Dufferin Street, with a 37-storey residential tower, bringing an additional 341 housing units to the neighbourhood.
The 2,109 m² site is located within the Little Jamaica neighbourhood, on the south side of Eglinton, mid-block between Northcliffe Boulevard and Glenhome Avenue. It is currently occupied by two 4-storey residential apartment buildings, containing a total of 75 rental units, and 22 surface parking spaces. Immediately east and west of the subject site are 2-storey mixed-use buildings with retail, as well as the St Thomas Aquinas Church. The site is within walking distance of two stations on the soon-to-open Eglinton Line 5 Crosstown LRT, being 190m to the west of Oakwood station and 240m to the east of Fairbank station.
If successful, the application would permit the demolition of the existing buildings on the site and the redevelopment with a 37-storey mixed-use building, inclusive of a 4-storey base building. Designed by KIRKOR Architects and Planners, the proposal includes 416 residential dwelling units, including 75 rental replacement units. By the numbers, it consists of a total GFA of 25,830 m², resulting in a net density of 12.25 times the area of the lot.
The proposal is being developed on a standalone basis but has been designed in relation to a concurrently filed redevelopment of the lands to the immediate west, which are under a related ownership (1711-1741 Eglinton Avenue West).
In recent years, a number of development applications have been proposed and approved along Eglinton Avenue, representing an evolving context that reflects the importance of the corridor. In proximity to the subject site, this includes an approved 38-storey building at the northwest corner of Vaughan Road and Northcliffe Boulevard, an approved 38-storey building to the southwest of Vaughan Road and Northcliffe Boulevard and an approved 41-storey building on the south side of Eglinton West, one property east of Dufferin Street.
The base building at 1675 Eglinton West is proposed to be 4 storeys in height, stepping down to a single-storey element at the southeast corner of the site, where the building interfaces with the property to the east. In terms of programming, the ground floor includes 324 m² of retail space along Eglinton, plus the residential lobby which is accessed via a private driveway from Eglinton, along the west building face. Residential dwelling units begin on Level 2.
The proposed tower element (Levels 5-37) is slender and rectangular in shape, with an east-west dimension of 22m and a north-south dimension of 32.5m, and with its setbacks, results in a floor plate of 715 m², which is within the 750m² recommended by the Tall Building Design Guidelines.
The building would house a total of 416 dwelling units, including 75 rental replacement units. With four elevators in total, there would be one elevator for every 104 units, which indicates just slightly longer than optimal wait times for residents. Nearly three quarters of the units are proposed as studios or 1-bedroom: the overall proposed unit mix includes 40 studio units (9%), 269 one-bedroom units (65%), 63 two-bedroom units (15%) and 44 three-bedroom units (11%). [The proposed rental replacement units will be of a similar size, bedroom type and rent level as those they are replacing.]
A total of 1,699m² of residential amenity space is proposed, including 863 m² of indoor amenity space and 836m² of outdoor amenity space, representing an overall ratio of 4.08m of amenity space per unit. The entirety of Level 5 is proposed to be indoor amenity space (601m²), surrounded by wrap-around outdoor amenity space (482m²) on all four sides. The balance of amenity space is proposed at grade and on levels 2 and 6.
Three levels of underground parking would provide 89 vehicular parking spaces (83 for residents, 6 for visitors), and 474 bicycle parking spaces.
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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