A 45-storey condo tower with retail and institutional space is being proposed for the property currently occupied by the two low-rise buildings at 70 and 72 Carlton Street, seen here from the intersection of Church & Carlton Streets …
… but it is unclear if the development site includes this surface parking lot behind the two buildings, at the corner of Church & Wood Streets. The lot is seen here from Wood Street, looking toward Maple Leaf Gardens on Church Street.
New neighbour for the Gardens: Details are sketchy, but a proposal to build a 45-storey mixed use tower at the northeast corner of Church & Carlton Streets — directly across the street from Maple Leaf Gardens — has been filed with the City’s planning department.
An undated entry on the development projects page of the City of Toronto website says that applications have been filed for site plan control, zoning bylaw amendment and rental housing demolition for property at 70 Carlton Street. The site would be redeveloped with “a 38 storey tower atop of a 7 storey podium separated by a two-storey reveal comprising of 35149m2 of residential space 845m2 of retail space and 17m2 of institutional/other space. There will be a total of 202 parking spaces,” the website entry states.
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One more condo, one less gay bar. What an incredibly exciting city Toronto is turning out to be. Can’t wait until Church and Wellesley turns into Bay and wellesley.
So sad to see the vibrancy of this city being destroyed by these condos. If we are lucky the retail at this event will likely be another Starbucks and Perhaps even a dry cleaner. What a joke this city is becoming.
Can’t understand the comments about what a dull city Toronto is becoming.
The city has never been so alive, so exciting so hip. 100,000 people have moved in the core in the past three years alone. New bars, restaurants, cafes and shops are opening every day. Office towers going up without major tenants haven’t seen that since the 60’s. 10,000s of new jobs. Yonge street is peeling away the layers of seediness and removing it dowdy face. Up and coming new and newly discovered neighborhoods abound.
Is the problem that this new spirit is being spurred on by the 30 somethings, are you so old that you use the past as a weapon to not move forward in life. Jealous that younger adults are moving into the future, going places you don’t know about and refuse to find and see. Church Street is in a time warp, sure the shops have changed, but it looks the same as it had when I arrived 25 years ago. So what is the complaint about it changing it has not, and there are enough fuddy duddies to keep it that way for sometime yet
Stay bitter, you only hurt yourself I am enjoying the renaissance Toronto is going through. There is a l ot more to come.
Well said
Why not just leave those couple of puny buildings alone and take up all of the space where the parking lot is now?
I don’t really object to this project or new construction in general. It’s the lack of design distinction that is sad. All these glass boxes look pretty much the same. Scores of towers have gone up in the past decade and the only really amazing one is in…………….Mississauga.
As for the age of the new residents. You will find that many of them are retirees. And many units are bought on spec by foreign investors and are sitting empty. Younger, poorer people are being displaced, same as in Manhattan.
Ok so their is a planned development at this site, great, the developer should be held to a standard that is not just another glass tower. They are ugly, the residents are usually renters who pile their belonging in front of the windows and make the build look worst then something comparable to Regent park or St. James town.( ex. 22 Wellesley E.) The buildings were the head offices for Warner Bros. Films in Canada. It is obvious when you look at the windows across the front and side that it once had a history. How about a building with a decor that might reflect the true history of the building, yes Maple Leaf sports used the build for a few years and let it deteriorate and removed the beautiful 20’s\ 30’s decor, but that does not mean it has to lose it’s history.
There are a number of problems with this idea, and yes I am old queen!
One, a good true modern building is beyond the scope of profitability for developers…they are in this to make money, not build something iconic. Two, as mentioned above this is not going to affordable housing either, which further deteriorates the fabric of a mixed neibourhood of young and old, gay, straight and transgender. Third, it removes a historical building that could be revived to its former glory. Fourth, another gay bar disappears due to the lack of affordable buildings in a nieibourhood that once was flush with a wonderful nightlife for all ages. Finally, I am curious what kind of shadow this building will create over the elementary school play ground? This affects the very young and the trees that have survived to date. Given how many condos are being developed at this very moment in Toronoto I believe I can safely say this one is not needed in one of the few city in the world that actual has a long history of having an actual gay village!
Well said, Noel. Totally agree with your observations. I am glad somebody has mentioned the tower’s negative impact on the school yard. Not even to mention the poor birds hitting the glass… congestion.
@Steve C and Ian K, you guys probably have some vested interest in this development otherwise you would see all its negatives and would be against it!
NO to another ugly glass tower!