Here’s what a developer wants to build at Yonge and Gerrard
What it is: A pair of condo towers, linked by an elevated bridge. They’d be 73 and 62 storeys in height, and they’d sit atop a nine-storey podium full of office and retail space. The development would span nearly half a block on the east side of Yonge Street, south of Gerrard.
Pedigree: The developer is KingSett Capital, which already owns a bunch of property in and around Toronto, including a 50 per cent share of Aura at College Park, one of the tallest residential buildings in the city. The designer is Quadrangle Architects, a firm whose work is as rectilinear as its name implies.
Most promising feature: The street-level podium would incorporate the facades of two heritage-listed buildings at 385 and 363 Yonge, which may mollify preservationists. For condo buyers, though, this place has something else to offer: atop the office space in the podium, there would be a row of two-storey, townhouse-style residences. Finding that kind of lifestyle so far above the ground is a rarity in Toronto (and the price will probably reflect that).
Risk factor: At 257 metres, this proposal is pushing the boundaries of what’s considered an acceptable height for a residential tower in the financial core. (Aura is 273 metres.)
Likely opposition: Strip club patrons. One of the existing businesses in this development’s footprint is Remingtons, the last club in Toronto with exclusively male performers. If it’s forced to shut down, it will likely never return: the city’s strict licensing regime effectively bans new strip bars in the core.
The odds: KingSett has only just applied for zoning approval, so it’s too early to say what will end up happening here. But it’s Yonge Street, so it’s safe to assume they’ll end up building something tall.
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