Wellesley-Sherbourne | www.TheTorontoBlog.com

This artistic illustration of the 38-storey condo tower planned for 159 Wellesley Street East appears on a development proposal sign posted on the property

May 31 2011: This is how the 159 Wellesley Street East condo tower site presently looks when viewed from the same perspective as the artistic illustration (above). The building at right is Wellesley Central Place, a long-term care facility.

Development proposal sign on security fencing around 159 Wellesley Street East

Corner condo: Another condo tower has been proposed for the northeast downtown residential neighbourhood at Wellesley & Sherbourne Streets. This latest development proposal — a 326-unit, 38 -storey building with street-level retail space and four levels of underground parking — would rise on the southwest corner of Wellesley and Sherbourne, the former site of a Beaver gas station and Baker’s Dozen donut shop. It would be similar in height to two recently-constructed condo towers right across the street: Verve, just one block west at the corner of Wellesley Street and Homewood Avenue, and 500 Sherbourne, one block north at the corner of Sherbourne Street and Lourdes Lane. The site sits kitty-corner to St James Town, a densely-populated neighbourhood with nearly 20 rental apartment highrise buildings, and is just two blocks west of the popular Cabbagetown residential district.

Area residents expected that a condo tower would be proposed for the site when for sale signs were posted on the gas station/donut shop location last year. Demolition of the buildings and facilities for those two businesses took place during April and May; the vacant lot that remains has been closed off by security fencing ever since. Neighbours have been wondering if the three-storey building next door on Sherbourne Street — currently home to a Domino’s pizzeria, a restaurant and a convenience store, plus two floors of rental apartments upstairs — also will be demolished to make way for the condo tower. That building is not part of the condo development — yet. However, city planners have suggested that the condo developer look into purchasing that property to create a larger site that would be more appropriate for a tower 38 floors tall. The planning department hasn’t yet announced the date on which a public meeting will be held to get feedback on the condo proposal.

I published photos of the 159 Wellesley Street East site and other buildings in the immediate area, along with pictures of the gas bar and donut shop demolition, in my April 19 2011 post. Below are several more photos showing the final stages of demolition and the vacant property that now awaits building approval from the city.

April 22 2011: A view of the 159 Wellesley East condo tower development site from outside Wellesley Central Place, the long-term care facility on the northwest corner of Wellesley and Sherbourne

April 22 2011: Most of the former Beaver gas station has been demolished but, at this point, the underground gas tanks haven’t yet been pulled out

April 22 2011: Looking south at 159 Wellesley Street East from across the street

April 22 2011: Site demolition at 159 Wellesley Street East is nearly complete

April 22 2011: The three-storey apartment and retail building next door is visible in this view from Wellesley Street.

The building next door — with street level businesses at 462, 464 and 466 Sherbourne Street, and two floors of rental apartments upstairs — is not part of the condo development for now. But city planners have urged the condo developer to try to acquire this property to create a larger site for its proposed tower.

April 22 2011: A pile of rubble is all that remains of the Baker’s Dozen Donut shop that once sat on this location next to the gas station

April 29 2011: The underground gas tanks for the former Beaver gas station have now been removed from the property

April 29 2011: The tanks had been located under the site’s northeast corner

April 29 2011: Looking south at what used to be a busy Beaver gas station

May 9 2011: Northeast view towards St James Town of what is now just an odd-shaped vacant lot at 159 Wellesley Street East

May 9 2011: Looking east across the vacant 159 Wellesley Street East property

May 31 2011: A view of the condo development site, looking south on Sherbourne

Area residents expect that a condo highrise will be proposed for the southwest corner of Wellesley and Sherbourne Streets, seen here on November 11 2010.

March 22 2011: The 159 Wellesley Street East site viewed from Sherbourne Street. At left rear is the rental apartment building at 155 Wellesley St. E.; at right rear is the green and white 40-storey Verve condo tower.

August 29 2010: The boarded up gas bar and donut shop at 159 Wellesley Street East, viewed from the north side of Wellesley Street

April 19 2011: Demolition of the former Bakers Dozen donut shop

Corner condo? A condo highrise project is apparently in the works for an oddly-shaped parcel of land formerly occupied by a gas station and donut shop at the southwest corner of Sherbourne and Wellesley Streets.The site, at 159 Wellesley Street East, had been occupied for well over a decade by a Beaver Gas Bar and a Baker’s Dozen donut shop. After the two businesses ceased operations when their leases expired early last summer, the site was fenced off and “for sale” signs were posted on the property. The signs came down a few months ago, and word on the street was that the land recently sold for more than $2 million. Today, a small work crew was busy demolishing the donut shop.

I do know that a developer has discussed potential plans for the site with City planning staff; however, no formal development proposals have been filed yet. Nevertheless, area residents fully expect that the developer will apply sometime this year for rezoning approval to build a condo tower. This northeast downtown neighbourhood, already home to numerous apartment and condo towers built between the 1960s and mid 1980s, has been a hotbed for residential construction in recent years. Two major condo highrise complexes, Verve and 500 Sherbourne, as well as a lowrise loft condo, Steam Plant Lofts, have opened across the street from 159 Wellesley on the site of the former Wellesley and Princess Margaret hospitals. Just one block to the east, the Star of Downtown midrise condo tower and townhouse complex opened two years ago, while residents recently started moving into the new James Cooper Mansion condo complex four blocks north, at Sherbourne and Linden Streets. Five more residential towers have been proposed for the area, including a rental tower one block north on Sherbourne, and four condo skyscrapers for a North St James Town location between Sherbourne and Parliament Streets, at Bloor Street.

I live nearby, and would welcome a condo on the Wellesley-Sherbourne corner — especially if the developer were to propose building a stunning, unique design that takes full advantage of the property’s unusual shape (the north side of the lot follows the curve on Sherbourne Street). It would further enhance a popular residential area which has already improved considerably with the addition of the other new condo towers and townhouses I mentioned above. I definitely won’t miss the donut shop and its sleazy clientele, and I’m glad I no longer have to dodge the taxi cabs and other vehicles that used to barrel across the sidewalk as drivers rushed to and from the gas pumps. Heck, if I had a dollar for every time I was nearly struck or sideswiped by a car while I walked past the Beaver Gas Bar, I could probably make a down payment on a condo in the building that might go up there.

Below are recent photos of the 159 Wellesley site, as well as other buildings in the immediate vicinity.

March 22 2011: Former gas bar and donut shop viewed from the northwest corner of Sherbourne and Wellesley Streets

March 22 2011: The Bakers Dozen donut shop at 159 Wellesley St. E.

March 22 2011: The former gas bar viewed from the north side of Wellesley St.

March 22 2011: An apartment building at 477 Sherbourne Street

March 22 2011: The Rosar-Morrison funeral home at 467 Sherbourne, directly across the street from the former gas bar and donut shop

March 22 2011: The St James Town community centre and library on the northeast corner of Wellesley and Sherbourne Streets. At rear are several of the apartment towers of the St James Town neighbourhood including 200 Wellesley St. E., scene of a spectacular highrise fire last September.

March 22 2011: Looking north on Sherbourne Street from Wellesley Street

March 22 2011: Northwest view from Sherbourne Street toward the 159 Wellesley Street East potential condo site. At left is the Verve condo tower; at right is the 500 Sherbourne condo tower.