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There are a lot of transit projects underway in Toronto, with most headlines focusing on the massive undertaking of the Ontario Line or the scandal-plagued Eglinton LRT. But not to be overlooked, the Finch West LRT is nearly complete and may actually beat out Eglinton to become Toronto's newest transit line. While the development activity seen on Finch has not quite matched the fever pitch along Eglinton, it is still seeing its fair share of new proposals to increase the density along the major transit corridor.
One such proposal is at 3434 Weston Road, located just south of Finch and the future Emery LRT station. Here, Pinemount Developments and Elysium Investments are proposing two towers of 35 and 39 storeys designed by Icon Architects. The project would contain a total of 832 residential units with retail at grade.
Currently, the site is occupied by a one-storey strip mall containing several restaurants and retail tenants along with surface parking. The existing buildings will be demolished in their entirety to make way for the new development.
The two towers sit atop a shared 7-storey podium which includes roughly 1200 m² of commercial space spread across four grade-level retail units. The podium will contain three levels of above-grade parking in addition to two underground parking levels. Interestingly, the above-grade parking is wrapped with residential units on the north, east, and south sides of the second and third floors, meaning that the parking garage will be hidden from public view when the building is seen from the street.
The base of the podium is wrapped with a 3-storey angular glass facade on the east and south elevations. The renderings illustrate it as a highly reflective silver-coloured glass surface faceted at various angles, creating a sculptural base for the building reminiscent of origami that reflects a fragmented image of life on the street passing by. The faceted glass is supported by angled columns at the ground floor, creating a branch-like effect that has become a signature feature for Icon's projects.
Contrasting the angularity of the base, the towers rise above with a rectilinear grid of windows. The monotony of window wall is broken up by a hierarchy of fins and mullions with variations in spacing and thickness that create irregular patterns across the facades.
Amenity spaces are located on the fourth floor, with 1664m² of outdoor amenity space spread across a sprawling roof terrace. The unit mix includes 75 studios (9%), 335 one-bedrooms (40%), 340 two-bedrooms (41%), and 82 three-bedrooms (10%). Each tower will contain a bank of three elevators, averaging out to 139 units per elevator, though this number may be slightly higher in the taller north tower.
The project has been submitted for rezoning and is currently awaiting approval from the City to proceed.
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, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, Icon Architects |
