Toronto's worst-reviewed hotel to be replaced by sparkling new apartments

A Parkdale hotel that has received a number of one-star reviews around the internet citing things like rooms filled with leftover drug paraphernalia and premises that smell like decomposing bodies is being torn down for a mid-rise apartment development.

A proposal has been submitted for the site at 1521 Queen Street West, which has been the West Queen West Hotel for many years, to turn it into an 8-storey residential building with ground-floor retail space from Toronto Developer BSaR Group and Core Architects.

The top three floors will feature terraces

Of the project's 78 proposed units, 40 will be one-bedroom, 26 will be two-bedroom, five will be three-bedroom, and seven will be studio apartments.

Suites on the top three floors of the building between Roncesvalles and Lansdowne avenues will feature terraces thanks to a stepped exterior design, while additional apartments on all floors of the building's south-facing side will have balconies.

There will be very minimal parking on-site (only 3 car-share spaces), but lots of room for the storage of 84 bikes.

Units at the back of the building will also have outdoor space

At only 5,923 m², the brick-and-glass building is fairly modest compared to many new construction projects in the city,  but it certainly suits the neighbourhood far better than a larger development would and is an upgrade from an unkempt hotel with doors that don't lock.

Regardless of the size though, another new condo building in the neighbourhood certainly won't mitigate residents' recent concerns about gentrification.