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SVEC Group is seeking rezoning to replace office space on the eastern portion of York Mills Centre with a new mixed-use podium supporting 40- and 55-storey towers with condominium suites, market-rate rentals, and retail. Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects for 20 and 36 York Mills Road, the project would be directly connected to York Mills station, and is the tallest proposal in an area of limited development activity in northern Toronto. The renderings do not represent the project’s eventual architectural expression, but are placeholders meant to illustrate the proposed massing.
The 8,723m² site forms part of a 2.63-hectare property spanning 10, 20, and 36 York Mills Road and 4025 and 4101 Yonge Street at the northeast corner of the two streets. The existing complex comprises four conjoined mid-rise office buildings and a central retail component with shopping, services, dining, and fitness uses that integrates the subway station and bus terminal. The redevelopment portion of the site contains two conjoined five-to-seven-storey office and service-commercial buildings, including a daycare. Nestled below the residential tablelands of the St Andrews neighbourhood, it sits in Hoggs Hollow in the Don River valley. Mid-rise office and residential buildings line and York Mills Road nearby.
A 2021 site plan application was limited to reconfiguring the TTC entrance and adding a passenger pick-up and drop-off area. Now, Bousfields has submitted Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to the City of Toronto on behalf of the developer.
The plan would demolish 36 York Mills Road and all but 482m² of 20 York Mills Road, retaining that portion as an internal link to the existing retail complex. A shared eight-storey podium would support the 40-storey, 138.55m tower to the east and the 55-storey, 182.2m tower to the west. The project’s Gross Floor Area of 85,220m² would comprise 82,336m² of residential and 2,884m² of retail space, yielding a Floor Space Index of 9.77 times coverage of the development site, but an FSI of just 3.24 times coverage when considered across all of the York Mills Centre complex. The east tower would contain 267 market-rate rentals, while the west tower would have 636 condominiums, for 903 homes overall: 60 studios, 426 one-bedrooms, 326 two-bedrooms, and 91 three-bedrooms.
A seven-storey streetwall would line York Mills Road. The staggered towers would differ in height and form; the east tower would stand approximately 50.1m from the nearest identified York Ridge Road home, compared with 61.8m for the west tower, while a 30m separation would divide the towers. The east tower’s floorplate would be roughly 750m²; the other would average about 800m² through its sculpted lower section before narrowing to approximately 771m² above the 20th floor.
The ground floor would contain retail and commercial units. Level 2 would add retail connected internally to 4025 Yonge Street, a residential lobby, an eight-vehicle pick-up and drop-off loop, and the east tower’s amenity spaces. Parking would occupy the central and eastern portions of floors 3 through 5, screened from York Mills Road and lined with residential units to the east, while the west tower would have amenity areas on floors 6 and 9. The project proposes 1,967m² of indoor and 1,994m² of outdoor amenity space. Nine residential elevators (four in one tower and five in the other) would provide approximately one lift per 100 homes, joined by two retail elevators.
The site is within lands governed by Toronto’s Ravine and Natural Feature Protection By-law and therefore within the Natural Heritage System, a TRCA-regulated area. Although the building would remain largely within the existing developed footprint, parts of the driveway, loading access, retaining wall, and drainage works would extend beyond it. An Official Plan Amendment is therefore required to reduce the prescribed setback from the valley’s long-term stable toe-of-slope.
The plans include two reconstructed underground garage levels and three new above-grade levels. There would be 612 vehicular parking spaces, entailing 479 residential and 133 visitor spots. The site would also have 692 bicycle spaces: 616 long-term and 64 short-term residential spaces, plus four long-term and eight short-term retail spaces. Another 10 public spaces would line York Mills Road.
The development would retain internal access to Yonge Line 1 and the on-site TTC and GO bus terminals, with the subway platforms, terminals, and access routes continuing to operate. Surface service multiple TTC routes, while GO buses connect toward Guelph, Brampton, and Oshawa. Cycling infrastructure is more limited: multi-use trails run through Joey Miller Park and York Mills Valley Park southwest of Yonge and York Mills.
Nearby development remains limited. An 11-storey project is proposed at 4155 Yonge Street to the north, while Yonge City Square Residences is under construction to the west with 14- and 32-storey towers.
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: | Bousfields, Counterpoint Engineering, Hariri Pontarini Architects, MHBC Planning, Quasar Consulting Group |
