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Capital Developments has submitted a significantly revised proposal for 88 Isabella Street in Toronto’s Church-Wellesley neighbourhood, replacing the previously approved 62-storey condominium tower with a 50-storey purpose-built rental building. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the resubmitted proposal retains the rental replacement housing component on the site.
The proposal is located at the northeast corner of Isabella and Al Sparrow Lane, approximately 40m east of Church Street. The site, previously occupied by a now demolished 14-storey rental apartment building, is now vacant pending the redevelopment. The property is surrounded by a mix of townhouses, houses, apartment and condominium towers, and institutional uses, with a growing concentration of high-rise redevelopment proposals reshaping the area.
The redevelopment was first proposed in April, 2022 as a 62-storey condominium tower containing 751 residential units, including 82 rental replacement units. The application underwent a series of revisions through the City’s review process. Now in a markedly different housing market, the resubmission introduces a tweaked redesign.
The revised proposal retains the overall site organization while substantially reducing the scale of the building. The development would comprise a tower rising to 50 storeys from a six-storey podium, reaching a height of 166.99m, down from the previously proposed 62 storeys and 199.22m.
The building would contain 508 purpose-built rental units, a reduction of 241 homes from the previous 749-unit proposal. Vertical circulation would be served by four elevators, equating to approximately one elevator for every 127 residential units, indicating high-speed motors would be required for adequate response times when all elevators are operational.
The rental program consists of 426 new market-rate rental units alongside 82 rental replacement units. The revised unit mix would include 16 studio, 322 one-bedroom, 127 two-bedroom, and 43 three-bedroom units, compared to the previous proposal’s 89 studios, 444 one-bedrooms, 150 two-bedrooms, and 66 three-bedroom units.
Residential Gross Floor Area has been reduced from 42,887m² to 35,428m², while the Floor Space Index has decreased from 20.71 to 17.11 times coverage of the 2,071m² lot. Indoor amenity area would total 1,062m², complemented by 824m² of outdoor amenities.
Three levels of underground parking are proposed, accommodating 105 vehicular parking spaces, consisting of 96 residential spaces and nine visitor spaces. This represents an increase from the previous proposal’s 81 total spaces. Bicycle parking has been scaled back, with 509 spaces proposed, including 458 long-term and 51 short-term spaces, compared to 750 bicycle spaces in the previous plan.
The site is located approximately 500m from the Bloor-Yonge interchange station, about 600m from Wellesley station, and roughly 750m from Sherbourne station. Surface transit is provided by bus routes along Sherbourne, Yonge, and Wellesley streets. Cyclists are accommodated by protected bicycle lanes on nearby Bloor, Wellesley, and Sherbourne streets.
The proposal one of several intensification proposals across the Church-Wellesley area. To the southeast, 2 Cawthra Square is proposed at 63 storeys. To the east, proposals include 45 storeys at 10 Huntley Street, 58 storeys at Jarvis & Earl Place, and 63 storeys at 5 Huntley Street. Northeast of the site, 30 Huntley Street would introduce towers of 56 and 60 storeys. Immediately east, Capital Developments is also proposing a 69-storey tower at 90 Isabella Street, while immediately southwest, 81-83 Isabella Street is planned at 70 storeys. To the northwest, the 47-storey The Charles at Church is completing, while nearby is a proposed 56-storey tower at 625 Church Street. Further west, 48 Isabella Street is proposed at 69 storeys, while to the southwest, 55 Isabella Street would rise 75 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.
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