Above is a link to my February 2013 Flickr album of building and construction photos I shot during walks in the downtown area. Click once on the image to view a small-format slideshow of the pictures, or click twice to access the album directly on Flickr and see full-size photos and captions.
Above is a link to my January 2013 Flickr album of building and construction photos I shot during walks in the downtown area. Click once on the image to view a small-format slideshow of the pictures, or click twice to access the album directly on Flickr and see full-size photos and captions.
February 12 2013: A construction crew begins cutting holes where new windows and balconies will be installed …
… on the southeast side of the 26-storey apartment tower at 66 Isabella Street
The work is just the first phase of a project in which a 23-storey addition will be built next to the rental highrise (left) in place of the trees and lawn that have provided an open space at the northwest corner of Church and Isabella Streets for more than 40 years. Meanwhile, city approval is being sought for a 3-storey walk-up condo addition to the south and west sides of the Town Inn Suites at 620 Church (right) in a separate project that would fill in the remaining greenspace on the corner property between Charles and Isabella Streets.
Apartment tower add-on: The area around Church & Isabella Streets has been buzzing — literally — with the sounds of crews preparing a 42-year-old apartment tower for construction of a highrise addition that will contain 12 condo suites and 199 new rental units.
Workers started cutting holes in the south wall of the 66 Isabella Street building this week, the first step in reconfiguring apartments on the tower’s east side before a 23-storey addition is constructed only a few feet away.
The renovation work started last month, slightly more than two years after City planners released a preliminary report outlining issues that the project posed, and recommending that a community consultation meeting be called to get public input into the redevelopment proposal.
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January 21 2012: These trees and the snow-covered lawn will soon disappear given that the City has approved a 23-storey addition to the 66 Isabella Street apartment building at left. The City is now being asked to approve construction of a 3-storey walk-up apartment building just a few feet north of the trees — on the site of the 1-storey podium that sits at the base of the Town Inn Suites (right).
January 21 2012: This development proposal notice has been posted outside the Town Inn Suites podium next to Church Street
This site plan illustration shows how the proposed apartment building structures will wrap around the east, south and west sides of the Town Inn Suites property
January 21 2012: These trees on the west side of the Town Inn Suites, seen here looking south from Charles Street, will have to be destroyed to permit construction of one of the proposed walk-up apartment buildings
New infill trend?: I’ve heard some downtown Toronto residents joke that surface parking lots should be declared an endangered species before they all get redeveloped into highrise condominium complexes. But parking lots aren’t the only pieces of prime real estate beginning to disappear from downtown streetscapes. Spacious private lawns and gardens surrounding apartment towers built 30 to 50 years ago are also now being targetted by developers for lucrative apartment and condo infill construction projects.
On October 24 2011, Toronto City Council approved a developer’s proposal to build a 43-storey rental tower at Isabella and Sherbourne Streets, on the site of a 3-tower apartment and retail complex constructed on the western edge of the St James Town neighbourhood in the late 1970s. As I reported in an October 3 2011 post, the new tower will rise from the location of what is currently a No Frills grocery store as part of a major building overhaul that will redevelop the retail podium for the rental towers, as well as add townhouses to the east side of the complex along Bleecker Street. (The developer has not yet announced when construction will commence.)
Similar redevelopment plans are in the works just a few blocks west along Isabella, at the northwest corner of Church Street. On January 10 of this year, Toronto and East York Community Council (TEYCC) approved a developer’s proposal to construct a 23-storey addition to a 40-year-old apartment building at 66 Isabella Street. The proposal will be considered by Toronto City Council on February 6; however, Councillors are expected to rubber-stamp the plan now that it has already been given the nod by TEYCC.
Developments increase city’s supply of rental housing
In a December 13 2011 report, city planners had recommended that the addition to the east side of the existing 26-floor highrise be approved because it was an “appropriate … mixed-use development on an underutilized site and adds to the supply of purpose-built rental housing.” Many neighbourhood residents, on the other hand, were upset that the redevelopment would eliminate a stand of mature shade trees as well as a large private lawn — a treasured green space in an urban neighbourhood that City politicians and planners admit is sorely lacking in public parks. As I reported in a January 5 2012 post, many residents of 66 Isabella were angry not only because that they would lose their popular yard, but also since dozens of their neighbour tenants would be displaced during construction of the highrise addition. Two Saturdays ago, they protested the development plan by organizing a “lawn occupation” that drew several dozen participants and attracted wide media attention (a photo and report on the event was published in the online edition of the Toronto Star on January 7).
Now, the bealeaguered residents and neighbours of 66 Isabella have yet another infill development proposal to deal with — right next door. In an application filed with the City on December 22 2011, a developer is seeking approval to build two 3-storey walk-up apartment buildings on green space surrounding the Town Inn Suites, a 26-storey hotel tower that is literally a twin to 66 Isabella, and stands only several dozen metres to its northeast. One of the rental buildings would wrap around the southeast corner of the hotel’s one-storey podium, which presently houses a swimming pool and outdoor sundeck. The second rental building would be constructed on the west side of the Town Inn Suites, currently the location of a tree-shaded side yard as well as the entrance/exit ramp to the hotel’s underground parking garage. The two apartment buildings would contain a total of 43 units.
Downtown residents fear loss of greenery
During conversations with a number of neighbourhood residents in recent days, people have told me they fear that the infill projects at Church & Isabella, along with the redevelopment proposal for Isabella & Sherbourne, could have a domino effect, encouraging more apartment building owners to seek to replace ground space on their properties with low- and high-rise additions. Lush gardens and tree-shaded lawns that presently beautify dozens of downtown rental buildings would be at risk if more property owners sense the potential for increased rental income and profits, and jump on the redevelopment bandwagon. “In just a few years, it might be rare to see trees and gardens downtown,” one worried neighbour told me. ” We could lose most of our greenery to look-a-like glass towers and building additions that extend right to the edge of the property line,” she said ruefully.
Below is a series of photos I shot this afternoon, showing the Town Inn Suites property that is proposed for redevelopment into low-rise apartments.
This private yard at the northwest corner of Church & Isabella Streets will disappear when construction starts on a 23-storey addition to the building at left
Looking toward the Town Inn Suites from the northwest corner of Church & Isabella Streets. The yard space and the 1-storey podium for the hotel are both slated for redevelopment into separate apartment housing projects.
Looking from the east side of Church Street toward the hotel podium that would be redeveloped into a 3-storey walk-up apartment building
The 46-storey Casa condominium tower soars skyward just half a block west of the proposed apartment development site, in this view from Church Street. Another condo skyscraper, Chaz.Yorkville, is currently under construction right next door to Casa, and will block much of this view of Casa once it is built. The City approved 39 storeys for Chaz.Yorkville; however, its developer subsequently sought zoning changes that would permit it to build 47 floors. It has since appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board because the city didn’t reach a decision on its request within the timeframe prescribed by provincial planning law.
The 1-storey podium is a hotel amenity space that includes a swimming pool as well as outdoor terraces and sundecks
A street-level view of the podium, from its southeast corner
A development proposal sign on the east side of the hotel podium
A view of the podium, looking southwest along the Church Street sidewalk. The apartment building at 66 Isabella Street rises in the background.
The Town Inn Suites main entrance at 620 Church Street. The hotel, which has 200 suites, will remain as part of the proposed new development.
The north side of the Town Inn Suites, looking west from the corner of Church and Charles Streets. Repairs to the building exterior are underway.
A development proposal sign at the southwest corner of Church & Charles
The north side of the Town Inn Suites along Charles Street. A city planner last summer said that the developer initially had been planning to build a row of townhouses along this side of the property. Now, two apartment buildings are being proposed on the south and west sides of the hotel instead.
This yard on the west side of the hotel is the proposed site for one of the new apartment buildings. That’s 66 Isabella in the background.
A view of the “back” of Town Inn Suites from Charles Street to the northwest
This ramp leads from Charles Street into the hotel’s underground parking garage. The ramp would be relocated and accessed from the laneway to the right once the new low-rise apartment building is constructed.
The underground garage has parking for 163 vehicles
The addition to 66 Isabella will block this view of the sky from Charles Street, while the proposed 3-storey apartment building will dominate the foreground
January 5 2012: Neighbourhood residents are planning to gather Saturday at this private green space on the northwest corner of Church and Isabella Streets to protest a proposal to build a 23-storey residential tower on the site
This notice was posted today on the private facebook group page for the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association (CWNA)
Occupy Isabella: Following on the heels of last autumn’s Occupy movement, a group of downtown residents is planning to gather at the northwest corner of Church and Isabella Streets for five hours on Saturday to protest a developer’s plans to construct a 23-storey residential highrise on the site.
As I reported in a December 14 2011 post, some residents in the Church-Wellesley area are angry that the city appears set to approve construction of a highrise addition to the 40-year-old apartment building at 66 Isabella Street. The addition — which would include 199 rental units plus 12 condominium suites in a 19-storey tower rising from a 4-storey podium — would be built on a 1,778-square-meter piece of property where a lawn and eight mature shade trees provide a private “park” atop the apartment building’s two-level underground parking garage. People in the neighbourhood are dismayed by the tower proposal because it would eliminate a sizeable, treasured green space in an area that city planners and politicians admit is sorely lacking in adequate public parkland.
Neighbourhood ‘green therapy’ jeopardized
“At present the lawn represents ‘green therapy’ for a wide community from as far away as Sherbourne Street and Bloor. Neighbourhood residents frequently choose to pass this corner on their way to and from work in order to enjoy the last bit of green space in an otherwise sterile landscape of steel, glass and pavement,” explains a notice posted on the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association facebook page today. (The CWNA’s facebook page is a “closed group” page accessible only by members who have been admitted to the group by moderators; currently, 350 people are signed up.)
Dog owners at 66 Isabella are disappointed they will lose a place to socialize while their pets enjoy the private “playground,” while tenants in 50 apartments on the east side of the building are upset that they will be forced to relocate for at least six months while their units are reconfigured to permit construction of the tower addition. “Many are seniors and have called it home for 30 plus years. Residents of the other 150 units who are already suffering deafening noise from the continuous construction of high rises on Charles Street will be exposed to another 18 months to two years of the same for 12 hours a day. Many of these residents are seniors, shift workers, home office workers or parents of small children,” the protest organizers state in the media release on the CWNA facebook page.
The organizers are calling for people to join residents of 66 Isabella in a “lawn occupation” being held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday to protest the apparently imminent destruction of the lawn and trees. “The City of Toronto and East York Community Council meet next Tuesday, January 10, to decide the project’s fate. If Mohican Holdings (owners of 66 Isabella) get approval the destruction of the lawn and trees will be almost immediate,” the organizers state.
$450,000 for local streetscape and park improvements
The fate of the green space is indeed on the agenda for the January 10 meeting of Toronto and East York Community Council, at which time the TEYCC will consider approving zoning amendments that would permit construction of the 23-storey tower addition. Passage of the amendments was recommended by city planners in a December 13 2011 background report about the tower proposal. “The proposed zoning by-law amendment application is appropriate for the development of this site as it provides for a mixed-use development on an underutilized site and adds to the supply of purpose-built rental housing. The site is within the downtown core along Church Street and near the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. There is already a mix of residential and commercial uses along Church Street and the proposed 23-storey addition to the east side of the existing building is an appropriate and compatible land use,” the planning report notes.
However, the planners recommended that the property owner be required to pay the city “$450,000 to be used toward local streetscape and park improvements” before it can obtain its “first above-grade building permit for the development.”
A view of the 66 Isabella private green space, looking to the northeast from Isabella Street this afternoon
December 14 2011: This city notice, posted on the grounds of the 40-year-old rental apartment tower at 66 Isabella Street several days ago …
… suggests that days are numbered for these eight trees and this open expanse of private green lawn at the northwest corner of Church & Isabella Streets …
… which soon could be ripped up to make way for construction of a 23-storey addition to the apartment building rising behind the trees at left
Kiss the trees goodbye?: Church-Wellesley area residents are alarmed that the city appears poised to approve construction of a 23-storey addition to a rental apartment tower at the northwest corner of Church and Isabella Streets. Neighbours are upset not only since the construction will destroy eight mature trees and eliminate a large open green space in a downtown area that city planning staff admit is severely lacking in parkland, but also because they worry that the condo and rental unit addition to the 66 Isabella Street apartment tower could spark a wave of highrise development proposals for low-rise residential streets in the nearby Church & Wellesley village. And they fear for the fate of elderly tenants who will be displaced from their apartments on the east side of the apartment building, where suite layouts will have to be drastically reconfigured to accommodate hallways linking the addition to the existing structure.
32-storey addition initially proposed
The application for zoning amendments to allow construction of a highrise addition to 66 Isabella Street was filed with the city in late September 2010. Originally (and as I reported in a March 19 2011 post), the applicant proposed a 32-storey addition that would rise 95 meters (including mechanical penthouse), standing significantly taller than the 26-storey building to which it would be attached. The new wing would feature a 4-storey podium facing Isabella Street, with a 28-storey tower soaring above, with stepbacks at the 5th, 17th and 27th floors. The addition would include four condominium townhouses overlooking Isabella Street, 12 condominium suites on the top two floors of the tower, and retail stores along the Church Street flank of the complex. By adding 212 new suites, the addition would effectively more than double the number of residential units in the building. Most notably, the development would replace a large tree-shaded private yard which extends above the apartment building’s two levels of underground parking.
Private green space enjoyed by passersby
Although the lawn is private property, and signs advise that the yard is for the exclusive use of 66 Isabella residents only, people living, working and passing through the neighbourhood have long enjoyed its presence, particularly for its calm, cooling summer greenery and colourful fall foliage. But the greenery could be gone within weeks: a city notice was posted on the property last weekend, advising that an application to destroy the trees “to permit the construction of a 23 storey addition” has been filed.
Though it now appears that the property developer has reduced the height of the proposed addition by 9 storeys, area residents remain dismayed at the prospect of any kind of development on the corner, and are disappointed by indications that the project will get the go-ahead from City Hall.
At a public meeting of the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association (CWNA) at the 519 Church Street Community Centre on Monday night, several area residents pleaded for people to strenuously oppose the proposal when it goes before the Toronto East York Community Council (TEYCC) for a statutory public meeting, which one Church Street resident said he has been told will take place on January 10. A man who identified himself as Morley urged the neighbourhood association to do whatever it can to “try to get [the project] killed.” If approved by the city, the addition to 66 Isabella will not only “kill the green space and stick a big huge block of building” in its place, he said, but will in turn spur further highrise development that will ruin “the character of the neighbourhood.”
City needs new rental accommodation
Another resident, who said he lives in the 48-unit Church-Isabella Co-Op across Church Street from the development site, said he has spoken to local City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam about the project, and is disappointed she isn’t supporting residents who object to the addition. He acknowledged, however, that the city desperately needs additional new rental accommodation, like the units proposed for the 66 Isabella addition, and said the project appears likely to get the nod from TEYCC no matter how strongly neighbourhood residents object. A woman told the meeting she was concerned for the welfare of senior citizens who have lived in apartments on the east side of 66 Isabella for decades, but will be forced to find new accommodation when construction commences. While several people at the meeting said they think losing the green space will be regrettable, they did concur with one man who said “we’re not anti-development, but we’re against development that takes away from the neighbourhood.”
As city planners noted in a November 15 2010 preliminary report, the original proposal for the tower addition offered to replace the 1,778 square meter (19,000 square feet) of ground-level green space with a 1,378 square meter (14,833 square foot) outdoor amenity area “on the private roof of the 4-storey podium and at the rear of the building at grade level.” It looks like area residents will have to wait until construction is complete in several years’ time to decide whether the building addition and its new amenity space adds to or takes away from the neighbourhood.
Two towers, two seasons: Photos taken November 1 2010 and January 29 2011 show the tree-shaded lawn where a developer has proposed building a 32-storey addition to the 26-storey apartment tower at 66 Isabella Street (left). At right is the 26-storey Town Inn Suites hotel at 620 Church St.
Big addition: A 26-storey rental apartment building at 66 Isabella Street could get a 32-floor addition to its east flank if the City approves an unusual mixed-use residential development proposal for the north end of the Church Wellesley Village area.
The site of the proposed new tower is a tree-shaded private lawn at the northwest corner of Church and Isabella Streets. The 66 Isabella apartments, built in 1970, stand at the west side of the lawn, while a “twin” tower built in 1972, the Town Inn Suites hotel, rises on the property’s north side. There are presently 200 apartment units in 66 Isabella. The proposed tower addition would contain 212 more units, which would include 196 rental apartments, four condominium townhouses at ground level on Isabella Street, 12 condominium suites on the top two floors, and 481 square meters of retail space at ground level along Church Street.
Addition would eliminate private greenspace
The development would eliminate one of the last open patches of green space in a neighbourhood that is already teeming with recently-completed condo towers; construction of two more highrises is either already underway nearby or expected to start soon, while at least two more tall condo buildings are in the proposal stage for the immediate area.
Construction of the addition to 66 Isabella also would require the removal of 11 trees, a prospect that alarms some area residents since trees have already become few and far between on Church Street.
The fate of those trees is just one many concerns that city planning staff raised in a November 15 2010 background report to the Toronto and East York Community Council (TEYCC). Other significant issues cited by planners include the project’s height and density, the building’s mass (particularly its length along Isabella Street), neighbourhood traffic and parking, impact on nearby buildings, and more.
In December, the TEYCC ordered city staff to hold a public consultation meeting to get feedback from area residents; that event took place at the beginning of February. There’s been no word since on any subsequent developments regarding this project. Below are some photos I’ve taken of the 66 Isabella site in recent months along with illustrations, from the planning department report, of the north and south elevations of the proposed tower.
Apartment and condo tower development proposal notice
Illustration showing the location for the proposed tower
November 1 2010: Church Street view of the site for the proposed tower addition
November 1 2010: Isabella Street view of the site on which the 32-storey addition would be built. Four condo townhouses would be constructed at street level here.
November 1 2010: Church Street view of the proposed development site, looking southwest toward 66 Isabella (right) as well as another rental apartment building that is situated on the south side of Isabella Street (left)
November 1 2010: View of the site from outside the Town Inn entrance. The white apartment building is the 14-storey Gramercy House at 59 Isabella Street.
January 24 2011: Church Street view of the site, looking west. The tall building at center rear is the 46-storey Casa condominium on Charles Street East.
January 29 2011: Southwest view of the 66 Isabella Street apartment building. The 26-storey tower was built in 1970 and has 200 rental units.
A semicircular driveway in front of the tower entrance would be eliminated and replaced with a pedestrian-only walkway and amenity space under the building redevelopment plan proposed to the city.
January 29 2011: The tall glass tower at right is X Condominium, situated at the northwest corner of Charles Street East and Ted Rogers Way (aka Jarvis Street). A taller sister tower, X2 Condos, is currently under construction on the south side of Charles Street just west of Jarvis Street.
January 29 2011: The proposed building addition would block this Isabella Street view toward the Town Inn Suites hotel (center) and the midrise concrete and glass condo building at 73 Charles Street East (right).
February 28 2011: Charles Street East view of the proposed development site. If built, the addition would block this view of the sky between the two towers.