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Plans have been filed for a 19-storey student rental residence at 333 College Street, designed by Rafael + Bigauskas Architects for Parallax Investment Corporation, in Toronto’s Kensington Market area. The application is a significant boost from the 12-storey mixed-use building approved in 2017, and reflects the growing demand for student housing near post-secondary institutions.
On the south side of College between Augusta and Spadina, as well as 333 College Street, the site includes the rear portion of 303 Augusta Avenue. The property is currently occupied by a one-storey commercial building, surface parking, and a covered garage accessed from College. The area sits at the northern edge of Kensington-Chinatown, with College Street lined by retail and service uses.
The site has seen several iterations over the past decade, beginning with a 2014 submission that included Augusta Avenue frontage but was later revised in a scaled-down design. Following a series of community consultations and resubmissions, City Council approved a 12-storey, 39m mixed-use building designed by Superkül in 2017. Now, the developer has submitted Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications, noting that a Site Plan Approval application is being submitted concurrently.
The proposal calls for a structure rising to 69.2m. In total, the building would deliver 18,442m² of Gross Floor Area, translating to a Floor Space Index of 9.41 times coverage of the 1,960m² site. Nearly all of this is dedicated to residential use, with 18,404m² for housing and 38m² of retail space fronting College. A total of 629 rental units (746 beds) are proposed, predominantly in studio layouts (512 units, 68%), complemented by 117 two-bedroom units (15%).
Amenity areas entail 1,257m² indoors and 125m² outdoors, located on the first four floors. Vertical circulation would be served by four elevators, equating to roughly one per 157 units, a ratio necessitating high-speed motors for adequate service. Below grade, a single underground level would accommodate 316 long-term and 33 short-term bicycle parking spaces, with four pick-up and drop-off vehicular spaces at grade. No long-term motor vehicle parking is planned.
The site fronts the 506 Carlton streetcar and is about 200m from the 510 Spadina streetcar stops at College and Spadina. Spadina station on Line 1 is about 1.3km to the north, while Queen’s Park Station lies roughly one kilometre to the east, each within a 10- to 15-minute walk or streetcar rides. For cyclists, College Street’s separated cycle tracks run directly past the property.
Low- and mid-rise projects are immediately adjacent, with taller buildings emerging. To the west, proposals include 452 Bathurst at 6 storeys and 419 College at 13 storeys. Southeast, work is underway on the 14-storey 315 Spadina. Larger projects cluster to the east, including the Scott Mission redevelopment at 10 storeys, Ronald McDonald House at 18 storeys, and high-rise proposals such as 243 and 191 College at 30 and 31 storeys, respectively. Near Queen’s Park station, additions at 700 University Avenue would bring its towers to 24 and 57 storeys, alongside a proposal for 149 College Street at 60 storeys.
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 Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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