Stunning condo tower would become new landmark along Toronto highway

Motorists along the continent's busiest stretch of highway could soon have a new landmark along their commute, with an impressive new residential development in the works for a site at 2 Tippett Road.

Urban Capital has signed on award-winning Montreal-based firm ACDF Architecture to design a stunning new tower that would rise next to the Highway 401 and Allen Road interchange, just steps away from Wilson subway station on the TTC's Line 1.

Plans call for the demolition of a largely vacant four-storey office building to make way for the new 34-storey tower, which would occupy the footprint of the current building as well as its surrounding surface parking lot.

The public got a first tease of the project back in late 2023, when ACDF shared an Instagram post hinting at the firm's first project in the 416, though details about it were kept hushed until an official submission landed this summer.

ACDF has received acclaim nationally and abroad, including multiple Governor General of Canada Medals, and it looks like the firm will be making quite the splash with its first commission in Toronto.

The project's most distinctive feature would come in the form of an undulating pattern of balconies projecting and receding from the tower facades in a hypnotic flow.

The irregular site hugs a northbound on-ramp connecting Highway 401 with Allen Road, meaning the proposed tower would become a recognizable landmark for motorists travelling the busiest highway in North America.

A total of 417 residential units are proposed, with the majority (410) planned as condominiums and the remaining (seven) to be provided as affordable rental units. No retail is provided, with the plan proposed entirely as residential space.

One key feature of the proposal is a pedestrian pathway along the curved edge of the site that will be handy for residents travelling to and from the nearby subway station.

Much of the residents' commuting needs would be met by this transit link, though the plan does include a four-level underground parking garage with spaces for 195 cars, along with 320 bicycle spaces for residents' local trips.

The current structure on the property is among the last remaining survivors of the low- and mid-rise commercial buildings that once lined Tippett Road. The street and adjacent blocks have undergone a rapid transformation in the past decade, with the area now populated by mid-ride buildings and thousands of residents.

Only the office building at the 2 Tippett site and a nearby low-rise commercial building converted to a condo presentation centre at 6 Tippett remain, while every other property on the block has undergone redevelopment between the 2010s and the present day.

While previous developments in the vicinity have all been planned as mid-rises, the site's location within one of the new provincially-mandated Major Transit Station Areas, which encourage high-density development, will likely result in this project being the biggest kid on the block.