Rendering: BuzzBuzzHome
When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again goes the old saying. One downtown Toronto condominium project is taking this advice to heart with a design revamp.
A Zoning By-Law Amendment was recently put forward on behalf of developers First Capital and Greybrook Realty Partners to build a mixed-use 29-storey tower at 33 Avenue Road. The latest submission is only one of many design proposals that have been put forward over the last decade for the site near Yorkville’s Avenue Road and Bloor Street West intersection.
In January 2012, Empire Communities submitted the first rezoning application for a 38-storey, mixed-use condo tower. Two years later, with the help of First Capital, Empire Communities planned to expand the project into a wave-like 40-storey building, according to reporting from Urban Toronto. This was followed by a site plan application submitted in March 2016 to allow for redevelopment of the western segment of the site at 33-45 Avenue Road and 140-148 Yorkville Avenue, according to the application’s design rationale.
Photo: Google Maps
Empire appealed their rezoning application to the Ontario Municipal Board in October 2015 and August 2016, referring to the site plan application. The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal approved the site for a 29-storey condo building in 2018, but withheld its final order pending satisfaction of preconditions, including perfection of zoning by-laws. Empire Communities later sold the proposed development site to the current owners.
The proposed building site has expanded farther than the original application, which now encompasses 33-47 Avenue Road and 136-150 Yorkville Avenue in a 2,935-square metre rectangular lot on the northeast side of Avenue Road. The site is currently home to commercial and retail businesses, semi-detached and row houses, and 33 Avenue Road, otherwise known as York Square, which is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.
The current application, designed by BBB Architects and Giannone Petricone Associates, retains most of the vegatative features imagined in the previous designs. Trees are included on the open terraces on most floors, while a seven-storey podium at the base of the tower houses retail space from the ground to the third floor, 4,454 square-metres of which will be included. Of the 100 total residential suites, only 88 two-bedroom and 12 three-bedroom layouts will be available. The building is not set to contain any studio or one-bedroom units. Underground, 220 residential parking spaces will be available, only 10 of which will be reserved for visitors.
There’s a lot of development currently underway in the neighbourhood already. On the same street, Yorkville Private Estates is selling luxury condo suites, as is Avenue 151 Yorkville, located slightly north near Davenport Road.
