A notoriously busy drive-thru Starbucks across from a busy Toronto shopping mall is now on the chopping block, proposed to be replaced by a towering new development that would loom over the city's northern border.

An application filed at the end of March on behalf of developer Osmington Gerofsky Development Corp outlines a plan to transform the site of the current Starbucks location at 6355 Yonge Street, just across the street from Centerpoint Mall, with a 50-storey condo tower that would rise far taller than anything existing in the neighbourhood today.

The developer has signed on TACT Architecture to design the project, combining a 43-storey tower in a grid-like package with a seven-storey base below that breaks down to an almost Tetris-like geometry.

The loss of the existing drive-thru coffee joint, known for its notoriously long lines, would make way for quite the boost in density if approved.

However, the plan indeed retains a retail presence along Yonge Street in the form of a proposed 228-square-metre retail space – slightly larger than the current 208-square-metre Starbucks, though renderings hint that a replacement coffee shop could be a possibility.

Retail only represents 0.6 per cent of the total proposal, though, with the majority of the building, a proposed 37,183 square metres or 99.4 per cent, would be dedicated to residential uses.

A total of 610 new condominium units are planned for this space, broken down into a mix of 29 studios, 365 one-bedrooms, 153 two-bedrooms, and 32 three-bedroom units.

Residents of these units would have access to an underground parking garage with 102 spaces, compared to 478 bicycle parking spaces on the ground and mezzanine levels.

You wouldn't be out of line for thinking a tall tower with over four times the bike parking than vehicle spots sounds out of place for the far northern reaches of Yonge and Steeles, where the car remains the dominant mode of transportation.

This assessment may be true for the Yonge and Steeles of today, but this neck of the woods is primed for some extreme change in the years to come.

A new subway station is planned to serve the area as part of Metrolinx's forthcoming Yonge North Subway Extension, and a push for transit-oriented communities has already resulted in a handful of high-density plans proposed for the blocks surrounding the new stop.