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Following today’s earlier coverage of the reworked plans for the western portion of Quayside in Toronto's East Bayfront area, we look at the Site Plan Approval application for the revised Building 2. While architects—Alliance was both the Design Architect and the Architect of Record in the initial plan, the new submission has Allies and Morrison as Design Architect while maintaining architects—Alliance as Architect of Record.
The tower is proposed by Quayside Impact Limited Partnership (QLIP), led by Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf, in partnership with Waterfront Toronto. Positioned in the northeast corner of the 2.8-hectare block that includes 257 through 291 Lake Shore Boulevard East, 200 Queens Quay East, and 2 Small Street, the tower would advance as part of Quayside's first construction phase. The lands are currently occupied by low-rise commercial and office buildings. The latest submission slightly reduces the tower's height from the initial plan and shifts it from condominium suites to market-rate rentals.
In June, 2023, QLIP filed applications for seven mixed-use buildings across four blocks, including five towers, a mass timber mid-rise, and the central Community Forest, supported by Waterfront Toronto’s subdivision plan. The following year, City Council approved the By-law for Blocks 1 and 2, including a 55-storey version of Building 2.
Now, Urban Strategies Inc. has submitted the Site Plan Approval application to the City of Toronto on behalf of the developers. The revised tower would rise to a height of 183.9m, reduced slightly from 188m. It would now contain 576 rental units, down from 638 condominiums. Previously planned to include 155 affordable housing units, the affordable housing would now be located in Buildings 1B and 1C. A POPS (Privately Owned Publicly-accessible Space) in the centre of the block is planned as a Community Forest
Gross Floor Area has been decreased from 41,678m² to 40,887m², with 37,636m² residential, 3,060m² institutional, and 192m² retail. Amenity space has expanded from 740m² indoors and 322m² outdoors in the previous plan to 1,076m² indoors and 875m² outdoors, spread across the fourth and 53rd floors.
Plans still include five residential elevators, plus two serving the Community Hub. Previously resulting in a ratio of approximately one cab per 128 units, it is now improved to one per 115 units, though still necessitating high-speed motors for adequate service. A three-level underground garage would provide 149 residential parking spaces. For cyclists, provisions include 260 long-term and 116 short-term residential spaces, as well as 10 long-term and 18 short-term non-residential spots.
A Community Hub, previously planned for the base of Building 1B, would now occupy Building 2's levels two and three, along with a ground floor entrance on Small Street. It would include a 62-space daycare, wellness and health facilities, community kitchens, flexible education rooms, and co-working areas, capped by an outdoor terrace. A café at grade would further animate the public realm. The tower's design is angled to frame the Small Street frontage and open pedestrian connections into the Community Forest, while podium-level setbacks activate the Queens Quay edge with retail.
Along with Building 2, the western portion of Quayside will be comprised of two condominium towers Buildings 1A1 and 1A2 at 50 and 57 storeys, Building 1B, a 66-storey rental tower, and three 12-storey affordable rental mid-rises Buildings 1C1, 1C2, and 1C3, all surrounding a Community Forest on land bounded by Lake Shore Boulevard East, Small Street, Queens Quay East, and Bonnycastle Street.
The site is beside the Gardiner Expressway which can be accessed via ramps at Jarvis Street. The site can be reached by TTC buses from Union Station via Queens Quay, or from Bloor-Danforth Line 2 via Sherbourne Street, while the planned Waterfront East LRT wold improve its transit access once funded and built.
Development momentum in East Bayfront continues in and around the Quayside site. To the east, 307 Lake Shore East calls for 49 storeys, and 351 Lake Shore East plans towers of 41 and 49 storeys. Quayside’s Blocks 3 and 4 plan four more towers spanning 12 to 72 storeys. To the south, Tridel and Hines’ Bayside community stands with Aqualina and Aquavista at 13 storeys, Aquabella at 14 storeys, and Aqualuna at 18 storeys. To the west, construction is completing on the 21-storey Quay House and underway on Pinnacle Lakeside’s first phase (towers from 15 to 54 storeys), with a 43-storey second phase planned.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database files, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversations in the associated Project Forum threads or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Related Companies: | Arcadis, architects—Alliance, Dream Unlimited, Great Gulf, Grounded Engineering Inc., RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering, Urban Strategies Inc., Vortex Fire Consulting Inc. |
