An existing 15-storey office building on Toronto's University Avenue could soon get a massive vertical extension that would see 49 new residential levels constructed atop.

University Avenue has been on a years-long transition from a ceremonial boulevard to a dense skyscraper canyon, and another tall building was proposed along this stretch at 522 University Avenue back in 2022.

The plan from iA Financial Group proposed to tear down the office builing on site and replace it with a 62-storey mixed-use skyscraper, though this plan has been significantly altered in the latest June 2024 presentation to the City's Design Review Panel.

Changes come following the City's exploration of the building's cultural heritage value and the subsequent decision to designate the property under the Ontario Heritage Act.

And while the current structure may read as a nondescript concrete box to some, it actually holds an important place in Toronto's architectural history. The existing National Life Building on site today was completed in 1972 with a design by John B. Parkin Associates, a firm responsible for some of the most celebrated Toronto buildings of the 1960s and 70s.

New skyscraper proposed to replace a beloved Toronto office towerhttps://t.co/cOBAmWDkYc #Toronto

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 31, 2022

Now, instead of tearing down the entire structure as previously proposed, iA has formulated a new plan with WZMH Architects that preserves the minimalist design of the building in a creative way, which will now act as the podium for a combined 64-storey tower.

New plans call for the retention or reconstruction of the majority of the structure, with 60 per cent of the original building to live on alongside a partially-rebuilt base that will be engineered to support 49 new levels above.

While the previous plan sought to erase what exists today, the current plan reads as a love letter to the current building, extending its design language vertically.

Toronto's Design Review Panel seemed to appreciate the change in direction, with several members lauding the design for its restrained elegance.