Tag Archives: RAW Design

Highrise condo cluster could threaten character of leafy low-rise street near Yonge & Wellesley

Dundonald Street Toronto

The lush trees and gardens adorning the front yards of these brick homes on the north side of Dundonald Street could be imperiled by construction of up to four condo highrises …

 

17 Dundonald Street Toronto

… including an 18-storey tower that would incorporate parts of the brick, travertine and glass facade of this Modern-style office building constructed in 1956 at 17 Dundonald …

 

31-37 Dundonald Street Toronto

… a potential 18-storey condo on the site of these three-storey houses at 31-37 Dundonald, currently being offered for sale as a block for redevelopment …

 

22, 40 and 50 Wellesley Street East Toronto

… and two more condo towers, each at least 28 storeys tall, that would loom above Dundonald Street from this location on Wellesley Street East to the immediate south ….

 

40 Wellesley Street East Toronto

… including a 118-meter-tall (32 storeys) condo tower that a developer wishes to build on the site of this 5-storey office building at 40 Wellesley Street East …

 

50 Wellesley Street East condo site

… and a 28-storey condo, now being marketed to prospective purchasers, on the site of what is currently an empty lot at 46-50 Wellesley Street East

 

Dundonald doomed?: A quiet, tree-lined residential street in north downtown’s Church-Wellesley neighbourhood could lose much of its appeal, charm and character — and possibly even much of its lush greenery — if proposals for four condo towers in the area come to fruition.

Only one block long, Dundonald Street runs east-west between Yonge and Church Streets, just one block north of Wellesley Street. It’s among my favourite downtown streets, one I walk several times each week to avoid the noise, steady vehicular traffic and busy sidewalks of Wellesley Street. But my alternative walking route might lose its quiet, pleasant appeal in several years’ time if two highrise condo buildings get built on the south side of Dundonald, along with two more right behind them on the north side of Wellesley Street.

 

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Taking a peek at the Panorama condo tower’s tight proximity to the Gardiner Expressway

Panorama condos Toronto

Looking up at the elevated Gardiner Expressway and the 24-storey Panorama condo tower from the west side of the condo property

 

Panorama condo tower Toronto

The Gardiner dominates views from the condo lobby entrance

 

Panorama Condos Toronto

Another west view of the expressway and the tower

 

Panorama condos Toronto

Visitors drive or walk beneath the Gardiner to reach the condo entrance

 

Towering over traffic:  It seems my March 15 post and photos of the Garrison at the Yards condo project near Fort York piqued quite a bit of curiosity about new condo development that is taking place literally just a few feet from the shoulders of the elevated Gardiner Expressway. Some readers have asked if I could post pictures of other condo towers that stand equally close to the Gardiner, while on Sunday March 18 the Toronto Star published an article headlined: “Toronto condos: How close is too close to the Gardiner?”

Garrison at the Yards isn’t the first building to rise side-by-side with the city’s controversial raised expressway, and it won’t be the last: in just a few years, it will be joined by about a half-dozen more highway-hugging highrises.  All are following in the footsteps of the 24-storey Panorama condo tower which opened a couple of years back. Squeezed onto a wedge-shaped parcel of land between The Gardiner and Lake Shore Boulevard west, Panorama’s location ensures that residents overlook busy traffic routes from virtually all sides of the building.

 

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2