A Toronto condo tower proposal just tripled in height

A proposal to build a 50-storey condo tower on Yonge Street south of St. Clair Avenue is a sign of the times for the Toronto development scene.

"Why is that?" you may ask. Well, the answer is because that proposal is roughly three times as tall as a plan proposed for the site at 1365 Yonge Street just five years earlier.

Originate Developments plans to construct the massive condo tower on a stretch of Yonge that was razed in 2020-2021, and was formerly home to Olivia Chow's mayoral campaign office during the 2014 municipal election.

An earlier proposal for the site dating back to mid-2018, led by previous owner Welltower Inc. Canada, planned a 17-storey retirement residence.

However, the proposal pipeline for the area has shifted towards taller buildings in the years since this initial submission, and the new owners have opted to reach for the skies with a reimagined plan.

For its updated proposal, Originate has retained the designers of the former pitch, Turner Fleischer Architects, and the similarities between the previous retirement residence — which featured a tower set above a brick-clad base — and current condo tower plans are apparent in renderings.

The building would bring 655 new condominium units to the neighbourhood, residents of which would have access to a pair of outdoor amenity decks. One of these would be located atop the 50th-floor roof, almost 208 metres above street level.

This height, combined with the site's location near the former Lake Iroquois shoreline, will give residents a commanding view of the downtown skyline to the south and the growing midtown skyline to the north.

Locals may dismay over the added height and plan to include a massive five-level underground garage with over 200 parking spaces for residents — which could further fuel local concerns over gridlock.

Residents of this upcoming development may also encounter traffic in elevator lobbies, especially during the morning and evening weekday rush, as only three elevators are proposed to serve the tower's hundreds of units.