City
Will new condo transform Yonge-Dundas Square?
Yonge-Dundas Square could be about to get its first mixed-use residential towers if Toronto and East York Community Council gives the go-ahead later this month. The 39-storey cluster of towers will sit between Victoria Street and O'Keefe Lane and provide one of the clearest views of Toronto's most famous intersection.
The project involves renovating two designated heritage properties on the south side of the square and demolishing a third between Victoria Street and O'Keefe Lane. The new towers would rise behind the remaining structures, known as the Hermant Buildings, and provide a mix of retail and office space at grade and residential units nearer the top.
The Hermant Buildings, two art-deco inspired former factories, were built in 1913 and 1929 and will house office space. The smaller of the pair, located roughly midway between Victoria and Yonge streets, was briefly the tallest in Toronto though it stands at just nine floors.
Both were owned by Percy Hermant, founder of the Imperial Optical Company which was once the largest glasses and eyewear manufacturer in Canada. The business operated out of the buildings and carried the company's logo on its Dundas Street side for many years.
The pair are cited for the detailed exterior and decorative metalwork that will be restored under the construction conditions outlined by the city. The Section 37 agreements on the table would also provide public artwork and cash for new green spaces in the neighbourhood.
The new structure will comprise several towers of different height towers, the tallest of which will feature a penthouse apartment with panoramic views of the city. Smaller 38- and 40-storey buildings will be built on the same site with entrances on Victoria Street.
"It has a huge profile, obviously it'll be visible from the square, so it has quite a cachet in that regard." says David Dow, principal of Diamond Schmitt Architects. "We've really tried to create a building that has a bit of a different look than many of the all-glass buildings out there. The pre-cast vertical panels on it will create a different look."
The design is a joint venture by Diamond and Schmitt and Page + Steele IBI Group on behalf the owner of the heritage buildings. "It's a project that's been in the works for quite a while so we're pretty enthused by it now," adds Dow. "We've got the working drawings complete and once the approvals are in place we're hoping to see things move quickly."
Here are some quick stats:
Height: 39 floors, 122.5 metres
Residential units: 362
Parking spaces: 70
Total gross floor area: 30,980 square metres
Total residential space: 21,800 sq. m.
Total office space: 8,150 sq. m.
Total retail space: 230 sq. m.
The rental units will be the latest to arrive in the area between Queen and Dundas since the giant Massey Condos were announced this time last year. Do you think more residential units on this section of Yonge will improve the neighbourhood? What do you think of the plans to keep the heritage buildings?
The site plan will go before Toronto and East York Community Council later this month with recommendations from the city planning division that the project be given the green light. If it's approved, the developers will be able to start construction immediately.
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Images: Diamond and Schmitt Architects and PAGE + STEELE IBI Group, Derek Flack/blogTO, City of Toronto and City of Toronto Archives
Discussion
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Just like Yonge-Dundas Square!
there's a lot of beautiful ones we should keep obviously but the Hermant Buildings are not on that list.
It'll transform it from a soulless, poorly-conceived facsimile of a genuine international center city public (really private though) square into a soulless, poorly-conceived facsimile of a genuine international center city public (really private though) square with cookie cutter uninspired condos jutting up against it.
Hardly any city in the world is immune from this, and in fact every North American city that exists has this problem. This is not unique to Toronto. Stop it.
It might also be noted that Toronto is somewhat spoiled by all of the condo construction and pretty much any other city on the continent (except perhaps Vancouver) would be drooling over the prospect of such a building at such a location no matter what the style.
As to living at Yonge-Dundas, there is a market for everything. There are recent condo building in Times Square in New York too, go figure.
Diamond and Schmitt and Page + Steele in a JV? Wow, what an odd arranged marriage that must be. Let's hope that DS handles the envelope and public details while P+S does the units.
A drab boring city living in the past seems to be their agenda. Everything they see is a bland boring glass box.
This is hilarious! Who 'drools' over cheap, POS buildings? Who feels 'spoiled' by the proliferation of condos? Maybe teenaged development nerds, skyscraper freaks or skyline dorks - the types who spend their free time taking photos of construction sites and posting them online for all their little buddies to masturbate over? But what about the other 99.9% of the population - the women, the adult men who don't rely on the girth and height of their 'ahem' skyline in order to feel 'manly' lol
If there are people who would actually drool over the 'prospect' of this.. thing.. lol... I hope they get help they need, and keep their drooling asses the fuck away from me!
How about all the people who work in the trades and construction who would be out of work if it weren't for this huge construction boom?
Or people living in the sprawling cities in the US where everyone leaves downtown after 5 PM and no one wants to live there?
I really don't understand all the hating on condos. We're really lucky to live in a city with a booming, intensifying downtown.
http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2011/03/new-39-storey-mixed-use-building-coming-21-dundas-square
Look at the renderings. I think that the insistence on preserving these heritage buildings has made the builder sacrifice finish on the new building. It's a shame. To me, I question the heritage value of these buildings.
Mona Lisa spiral towers from Mississauga.
They would be ore iconic yonge dundas
And seriously, if you're going to drool over this mundane, could-be-anywhere, piece of crap, you must be drooling full time, every time you pass any nondescript cheapo building in any city, or anywhere in the GTA.
I'll bet there were a lot of drooolers in Miami back in 2007. Ask them if they're still drooling.
First and foremost condos are housing. Entertaining and inspiring passers by is secondary. There are actually very few places in the world where the majority of housing is beautiful with very high quality materials - Manhattan is one example. Sure, in Toronto there are some beautiful buildings like the new Four Seasons, Shangri La, L Tower, etc., and that's great. But these are incredibly expensive and condos shouldn't just be for the ultra rich. They're an accessible form of home ownership compared to single family houses which are out of reach in the GTA for almost anyone.
This building is a fine looking building, and it fits in nicely in a city (based on the rendering here anyway - I'd be curious to see its base and other details), even if it wouldn't in an architecture gallery.
As for the condo market, there are some key differences between Toronto now and Miami circa 2007 - they're not comparable. Will there be a market correction? Maybe. But that's not a reason to hate the condo boom, and I think basically everyone working in the construction industry would agree. People who are looking to purchase a home in the city would also agree.
How sad this architect thinks vertical strip of pre-cast makes this building somehow unique and interesting. This city really needs to raise the bar - incredibly banel, lacking in imagination, creativity and innovation.
Rinse, repeat. This city sucks.
JMac is not entirely correct -- there are many, many shoddy buildings in Manhattan, especially residential, but that's not the point. As he notes, mo' buildings equals mo' housing, and mo' housing equals mo' city. It would not take long for me to google search a dozen cities where they practically throw a parade at the prospect of a single residential building being built in their barren downtowns. And I'm not talking Buffalo or Detroit, I'm talking real cities. For example, the fact that downtown Dallas tripled its entire residential population from 2,198 in 2000 to 6,069 in 2010 was cause for a major newspaper article there -- over what would be a rounding error at CityPlace. That's the drool. But anyone who has ever spent time in other cities would realize this, it's so obvious.
As I said, Toronto is spoiled. Big picture, it's great to see these condos continuing to pop up. Fine tune the urbanity of the buildings, sure, but on the whole this will be looked back on as a great golden period for the development of the city.