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An increase in scale is being proposed at 281 Front Street East on the southeast corner with Parliament Street, where revised plans have been submitted for a pair of mixed-use towers. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects for BRL Realty, the latest proposal in Toronto's Corktown neighbourhood would rise 50 and 54 storeys, replacing a previously circulated concept for 44- and 46-storey towers. The site is located steps from the under construction Distillery District station on the Ontario Line 3.
The site has remained undeveloped since the demolition of a former City-owned building in 2017 that housed Toronto Public Library administrative functions. Located at the meeting point of several downtown districts, the property sits between Corktown to the north, the St Lawrence neighbourhood to the west, the Distillery District to the south, and the Canary District to the east. The surrounding area contains a mix of residential, office, institutional, commercial, entertainment, and cultural uses, where significant residential intensification is occurring.
The lands have been the subject of two redevelopment concepts over recent years. Previous plans from 2020 were advanced for a 38.5m-tall data centre expansion associated with the neighbouring Equinix facility to the south.
In 2025, site owner BRL Realty changed strategies and brought forward a pre-application proposal for a pair of residential towers rising 44 and 46 storeys, or 145.5m and 152m respectively, replacing the data centre concept with a transit-oriented, predominantly residential mixed-use development.
Now, Colliers Development Services has submitted Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to the City of Toronto on behalf of the developer. The revised proposal would redevelop the site with a mixed-use building composed of a shared four-storey podium and two north-south-oriented residential towers. The east tower would rise 50 storeys (163.5m) along Front Street, while the west one would stand 54 storeys (175.5m) at Front and Parliament.
The proposal boasts 80,025m² of Gross Floor Area (GFA), including 79,360m² of residential space and 665m² of retail uses at grade, yielding a Floor Space Index of 20.7 times coverage of the 3,868m² lot. This marks a substantial increase from the previous proposal’s 64,975m² of GFA and FSI of 16.83 times coverage. The count has also grown from 898 to 1,016 residential units, consisting of 196 one-bedrooms, 708 two-bedrooms, and 112 three-bedrooms. Four elevators in the shorter tower with 488 units and five elevators in the taller tower with 528 units yields ratio of roughly one elevator per 122 units in the shorter tower and one per 106 in the taller one; high speed motors would be necessary for adequate response times, with faster motors required in the shorter tower to provide comparable service.
The towers would stand 25m apart and feature floor-plates of approximately 820m². Indoor and outdoor amenity space would total 3,706m², including 2,032m² indoors and 1,674m² outdoors. Below grade, a four-level garage would accommodate 280 parking spaces, including 268 resident and 12 visitor spaces, an increase from the previously proposed 259 spaces. Bicycle parking would rise from 990 to 1,119 spaces, comprising 915 long-term and 204 short-term spaces. The site plan retains a central POPS (Privately Owned Publicly-accessible Space) fronting Front Street between the two towers, although its size has been reduced from 526m² to 498m².
The site is within the Corktown Protected Major Transit Station Area and is approximately 150m from the future Distillery District station on the Ontario Line 3. Existing TTC service is available immediately adjacent to the site, while the 504 King streetcar operates approximately 200m to the north. Cycling infrastructure includes protected facilities on Mill Street and The Esplanade located about 150m south of the site, while the Adelaide Street East and Richmond Street East cycle tracks are situated roughly 250m and 370m to the north.
The proposal joins a growing cluster of high-rise developments close to the future station. To the northwest, the 32-storey Bauhaus Condos is completing construction, with King East Centre proposed at 39 storeys. East of the site, plans have been filed for the 31-storey Curio by Hilton Distillery District hotel, while to the south, the 46-storey No. 31 Condos is completing construction, and the adjacent 31R Parliament Street proposal would add a 49-storey tower. To the west, the Corktown Transit Oriented Community would introduce two towers of 46 and 54 storeys on its North Site, while the South Site proposes three towers ranging from 22 to 58 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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