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Plans for one of Toronto’s oldest Canadian Tire locations would bring a redesigned mixed-use condominium development to 835 Yonge Street in Yorkville. Designed by Adamson Associates Architects for CT REIT, the development arm of the Canadian Tire Corporation, the proposal retains the previously submitted 41- and 49-storey towers while revising the massing and architectural expression above the retained heritage facade of the old store at the northeast corner of Yonge and Church streets.
The proposal applies to a site comprising 835, 837, and 839 Yonge Street, a few blocks north of Bloor Street. The property is currently occupied by a Canadian Tire store, a Canadian Tire gas bar, a ServiceOntario office, and associated surface parking areas, while retaining a heritage-designated facade dating to 1935 along the Yonge Street frontage. Situated at the northern edge of Downtown Toronto where Yorkville transitions into Rosedale, the site is surrounded by a mix of retail, office, institutional, and residential uses.
Plans to redevelop the property first emerged in 2022, when CT REIT submitted a Zoning By-law Amendment application proposing a pair of mixed-use towers above a shared podium while retaining the heritage-designated Yonge Street facade that had been preserved during the previous expansion of the Canadian Tire store.
The revised proposal retains the overall framework of the 2022 submission, with a pair of mixed-use towers rising from a shared podium across the site. A 49-storey tower reaching 160.2m would occupy the Yonge Street frontage, while a second tower to the southeast would rise 41 storeys, or 136m. Together, the buildings would contain 95,536m² of Gross Floor Area with a Floor Space Index of 8.8 times coverage of the 10,910m² site. Residential uses would account for 82,634m², complemented by significant retail space. Numbers for it are not finalized at this time pending an SPA submission expected late thus month, but it appears it may be reduced from the 17,663m² identified in the 2022 proposal to 16,957m², though that number could be further reduced. Plans are to accommodate a replacement Canadian Tire store along with potential other retailers.
The resubmission introduces notable revisions to the building massing, site organization, and architectural style. The revised massing places greater emphasis on the podium and heritage base. Most significantly, the towers have been pulled farther back from the retained Yonge Street heritage facades, with work overseen by ERA Architects, creating greater visual separation between the historic structures and the new construction, while the exterior expression has been completely revamped; no longer reading as modern, bright-white staggered frames running to the sky, both the podiums and the towers are now clad as if they were carved out of a sedimentary rock cliff face. Canadian Tire logo shapes appear as windows at a couple corners, while the logo has also been incised into the masonry in places, all suggestive of Canadian Tire's place in Canadian life as being bedrock or foundational in nature.
The development's latest residential numbers are that it would deliver 922 condominium units, down from the total 950 proposed in 2022. The suite mix includes 553 one-bedroom units (60%), 272 two-bedroom units (29.5%), and 97 three-bedroom-and-larger units (10.5%). Vertical transportation would be provided through four elevators serving the 49-storey tower and three serving the 41-storey tower, equating to roughly one elevator for every 132 residential units, indicating particularly high-speed motors would be required to provide acceptable wait times when all elevators are operating. Three further elevators would serve the retail component, connecting the garage levels with the Canadian Tire store.
Residents would have access to 1,908m² of indoor amenity space and 1,900m² of outdoor amenity space, figures unchanged from the earlier proposal. Three levels of underground parking would contain 361 vehicular spaces, including 138 residential spaces and 223 visitor and commercial spaces, matching the previous parking supply. Bicycle parking has decread slightly from 1,096 spaces to 1,020 spaces, including 820 resident spaces, 100 residential visitor spaces, 40 retail long-term spaces, and 60 retail short-term spaces.
The site is located approximately 400m north of Bloor–Yonge station in lines 1 and 2 and roughly 450m south of Rosedale station on Yonge Line 1. TTC buses also ply Yonge Street. Cycling infrastructure includes the Yonge Street bikeway north of Bloor Street, nearby connections to the Church Street cycling corridor, and Bloor Street cycle tracks.
The proposal is surrounded by high-rise development projects and proposals. To the southeast, 28-storey Park Road is under construction, while proposals at 38-50 Park Road and Clear Hotel would rise 31 and 42 storeys respectively. West of the site, 906 Yonge Street would rise 23 and 40 storeys. To the southwest, the 41-storey 50 Scollard is completing construction alongside proposals for a 50-storey tower at Yonge and Scollard and a 63-storey tower at 30 Scollard. To the south, the 26-storey Adagio is under construction, while the proposed Cumberland Square would introduce three towers ranging from 51 to 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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| Related Companies: | Adamson Associates Architects, Aercoustics Engineering Ltd, Bousfields, ERA Architects, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists |
