Rendering: BuzzBuzzHome
Location: 4050 Yonge Street, Toronto
Builder: Gupta Group
Architect: IBI Group
Second time’s the charm for Gupta Group, which recently submitted revised plans for their development lot at 4050 Yonge Street in York Mills. The former proposal from 2015, called Yonge Park Plaza, imagined a seven-storey office condominiums building, complete with retail space and a hotel component with easy access to the York Mills TTC subway station. Now, the revamped concept takes on a taller, more residential approach to the 3.2-acre site on the north-west corner of Wilson Avenue and Yonge Street.
The new 4050 Yonge Street plan includes two towers — the East structure, a 21-storey mixed-use building with a restaurant, retail and office space, and 312 hotel suites, and the West building, a 35-storey, 290-unit condominium tower. In the residential building, 69 one-bedroom units, 120 two-bedroom units and 101 three-bedroom units would be included above 766 underground parking spaces. A six-storey podium joins the buildings at the base, along with a TTC lobby that would allow for direct connection into the subway and local GO bus station.
In building this overhauled project, which would replace a paid parking lot, the developers hope to stimulate intensification and provide development close to major transit stations.
“After several years of considering only non-residential uses for the Site and the realistic potential for development, the Application presents a new vision for the Site that truly creates a mixed-use development that is located adjacent to a major transit station,” states Devine Park LLP in the application’s cover letter.
Photo: Google Maps
The development site in question is subject to section 90 of Chapter 7 Site and Area Specific Policies, which restricts structures on the corner lot to a maximum building height of 163 metres above sea level, so as not to block sightlines across the valley from top-of-bank to top-of-bank. However, analysis included in the application by the urban planners at Bousfields suggests that the height restrictions reflect previous policies that are not aligned with current provincial priorities of land intensification.
“The proposal will not result in any unacceptable built form impacts and meets the City’s current principles for good urban design,” wrote Bousfields in the project’s Planning and Urban Design Rationale.
Gupta Group has previously sold similar high-rise projects in the city, including The Rosedale on Bloor Condos and Dundas Square Gardens. In September 2018, the Markham-based developer cancelled their two-tower condominium project in Vaughan, The Icona, citing financial reasons. A year later, Gupta Group reapplied to build a similar project on the former site of the cancelled condos.
