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A proposed redevelopment at 543 Yonge Street is soon going before Toronto's Committee of Adjustment, where a consent application seeks to sever and transfer air rights from the adjacent building to the north, in order to facilitate a cantilever already approved via Zoning By-law Amendment in December, 2025. The proposal itself remains a 68-storey mixed-use residential tower designed by Arcadis for CentreCourt and Choice Properties REIT, rising in Toronto’s Yonge–Wellesley area, just south of Wellesley station.
The development site comprises 543–549 Yonge Street, mid-block on the east side of Yonge between Wellesley Street East and Maitland Street. The rectangular parcel is currently occupied by a 4-storey commercial office building with retail at grade. To its immediate north is 555 Yonge Street, a 9-storey former office building converted to residential condos in the 1990s, at the southeast corner of Yonge and Wellesley. The surrounding area is characterized by a mix of high-rise residential towers, retail storefronts, and institutional uses.
The tower proposal was first introduced in March, 2024 through Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications. Over the following two years, Site and Area Specific Policies came into force tied to Protected Major Transit Station Areas (PMTSAs) for Wellesley and College stations. The original design included a tower that steps back from a street-wall podium, with a pair of west-facing canted sections cantilevered over a podium rooftop terrace.
The December approval covers a redesign that cantilevers the tower to the west and now to the north as well, with the north wall encroaching into the air space above 555 Yonge. The developers have now secured ownership of two ground floor retail spaces at 555 Yonge Street, and the new submission therefore seeks the technical consent required to sever and convey the stratified air parcel that enables 543 Yonge to overhang 555 Yonge. Reciprocal easements registered on title at 555 Yonge Street that provide structural support and access for utilities between the commercial and residential components of that property, remain in force.
The north-side cantilever would cross over 555 Yonge at the 17th floor, extendeing 3.0m by the 20th floor, and continuing straight upward for the remainder of the tower. The developer characterizes this as enabling a more efficient floor-plate and supporting the delivery of larger unit types. Above, the tower would rise to 68 storeys and 232.5m, maintaining the same overall storey count as the 2024 submission but increasing height from 228.85m.
The project comprises 679 condominium units, up from 663 previously proposed; studios have been reduced to 15 suites, while two-bedroom units now total 167 and three-bedroom-plus units 73, a move toward larger formats. Vertical transportation would remain at five elevators, changing the ratio slightly from approximately one per 133 units to about one per 136 units, indicating quite high-speed motors would be required for adequate response times.
Total Gross Floor Area has increased to 45,139m² from 40,465m² in the earlier application, with 44,737m² devoted to residential uses and 402m² allocated to retail at grade along Yonge Street, compared to 356m² previously proposed. The resulting Floor Space Index rises to 32.51 from 31.9 times coverage of the 1,280m² lot. Amenity space has been expanded, increasing from 995m² to 1,019m² indoors and from 663m² to 679m² outdoors, with facilities distributed on floors 2, 3, and 11.
The previous plan included nine visitor parking spaces in stackers at grade, whereas the current design provides two visitor vehicular spaces within a single level of underground garage and continues to omit residential car parking entirely. Bicycle parking increases overall to 758 spaces, including 612 long-term and 136 short-term spaces, plus 10 additional short-term spaces, exceeding the earlier supply of 597 long-term, 133 visitor, and 10 short-term spaces.
The property is approximately 150m, or about a two-minute walk, south of Wellesley station on Yonge Line 1, and is about a 5-minute walk and 350m north of College station. As such, the lands fall within both the Wellesley and College PMTSAs.
The proposal is unfolding within an increasingly vertical stretch of Yonge Street. To the west, 530 Yonge Street is proposed at 68 storeys, while to the southwest, The G2 is planned at 33 and 41 storeys alongside 510 Yonge at 59 storeys. Further north along the corridor, 619 and 646 Yonge are proposed at 70 and 75 storeys respectively. To the east, the 42-storey Yonge at Wellesley Station is under construction, with additional proposals at 34 Maitland (56 storeys) and 33 Maitland (62 storeys). South of the site, 475 Yonge is envisioned as a pair of 75- and 78-storey towers, while 2 Carlton would reach 80 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 Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
EDIOTOR'S NOTE: This story has been republished to reflect that Fitzrovia Real Estate is no longer involved with this project.
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| Related Companies: | Arcadis, Bousfields, EQ Building Performance Inc., ERA Architects, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists |
