Jennifer Keesmaat’s company wants to replace a crusty gas station with mass timber rentals
The eight-storey tower will bring Dufferin Grove some much-needed missing middle housing
Jennifer Keesmaat wants to bring a buzzy new apartment project to Dufferin Grove. Through her company, Collecdev Markee, Toronto’s former chief planner has proposed an eight-storey mass timber rental tower at the northeast corner of College and Lansdowne. The building would bring an injection of missing middle housing to a neighbourhood dominated by single-family homes and post-industrial warehouses.
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Since city hall launched the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods initiative in 2023, Collecdev Markee has moved to meet gentle density demand. The proposed site, at 1280 to 1286 College Street, is one of five current developments under its missing middle banner, all of them prefabricated and offering affordable housing options.
Designed by Batay-Csorba Architects, the tower would include 77 one- and two-bedroom units plus 86 bicycle parking spaces (and no parking for motorists). It’s set to replace the once-charming yet outdated Classic Coin Car Wash.
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Though local NIMBYs are sure to protest the apartment’s construction, the area’s robust transit makes a strong case for the development. Two streetcar lines run past the site, and both Dundas West station and the Bloor GO station are short bus rides away. The latter station also serves the UP Express and is expected to see expanded Barrie line service by 2027.
Toronto is seeing more mass timber buildings pop up these days, and for good reason. The novel building tech offers a cost- and carbon-conscious way to get beautiful buildings off the ground faster.
Zakiya Kassam is a writer and fact checker whose work has appeared in Post City Magazines, This Magazine and Now Toronto. She was previously the associate editor at Storeys.
