The Ossington strip is getting a condo mid-rise, whether it wants one or not

After more than two years of opposition by neighbourhood residents, the inevitable has happened: the Ontario Municipal Board has given its go-ahead to 109OZ, a six-storey, 87-unit condo building planned for the site of a former auto-repair centre on the Ossington strip, near Argyle Street. The OMB’s decision preempts any attempt by city council to scale back the project, meaning Ossington dwellers have little choice but to get used to it. The developer made some minor concessions in order to win the board’s approval, including reducing the building’s proposed overall height from 21.5 meters to 20 and capping the size of each of its ground-floor retail units at 500 square metres.

Jessica Wilson, president of the Ossington Community Association, tells the Star that her group is “not crazy about the decision at the end of the day.” But this type of thing has to be expected: Ossington is a burgeoning business strip sandwiched between two streetcar lines, after all. Call us when the building is 30 storeys and the anchor tenant is a Walmart.