Development News

Chef Paul Boehmer's long-awaited pseudo-eponymous restaurant B�hmer has opened on Ossington just north of Queen, and was given its first major reviews, both very positive, in the Star and the Globe this past week.

The 4,000-square foot restaurant, 20 feet wide and 120 feet long (including the kitchen) on a single level is a gut renovation of the auto shop that occupied the spot before. Designed by Roy Banse in collaboration with Boehmer, with furniture by the Brothers Dressler, the restaurant is the latest and one of the last such spots to open on the booming strip after city council placed a moratorium on new licenses.

"I'm six-foot-seven, I had it built around myself," says Boehmer, describing the 14 foot ceilings and wide open spaces filled with a single long harvest table. He says he was going after "a very communal feeling, where people could be interactive with their food and each other."

The restaurant also features the Fritz Lounge, space devoted to the artwork of the chef's late father, Fritz, who died in 1992.

The Star reported the reno cost $750,000, a figure Boehmer told Yonge Street was inaccurate.

Boehmer expects the shop he's planned, with an espresso bar and offering local cheese, fresh juice and what he describes as "a little butchery" to be ready to open in the same building, but in a separate, next door space (with the same address) sometime this summer.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Paul Boehmer

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Though it won't launch till May 29, 12 Degrees, a new condo planned for Beverly and Queen, is already getting some interest on and offline, due to its design, its low-rise stature and, of course, its location.

At 11-storeys, the 90-unit building is part of a new wave of development in the city, urban infill that joins communities rather than building new ones.

It's the first project for the BS�R Group, a collection of young builders headed by Tyler Herschberg and Tarek Sobhi, with various sorts of previous experience.

"We're not looking to create the next Liberty Village," says Hershberg. "We're looking to put proper density and intensification into areas where people want to live."

The site is an odd collection of properties, all bought from the same Swiss family, including some rental housing, some commercial property and a couple of laneways.

The demolition schedule depends on the pace of sales, but since it's a relatively small-scale building, Hershberg expects it to be completed roughly 18 months after they begin construction.

The building takes its name from the fact that above the podium, the first layer of four storeys in this corkscrewing building, designed by Core Architects with interiors by it-firm Munge Leung, will be shifted 12 degrees off the building's north-south axis.

12 Degrees will also feature a full-size roof-top pool.

Units will go from the $300s to just over a million for a three-bedroom.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tyler Herschberg


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This Saturday, Tridel will be launching its next project, an uncharacteristically mid-rise 9-storey building called Blythwood at Huntington at Bayview and Lawrence.

With 120 suites, "it's definitely a high-end luxury building," says Tridel spokesman Samson Fung.

The suites will range from 900 square feet up to just under 3,000 and will cost from the mid-$500s to about $2.5 million.

According to Fung, the building will follow previous Tridel projects in going for LEED certification Fung says they're fairly confident they'll get at least silver, "but we're going to go for gold."

Designed by Kirkor Architects, the building is the first of two that will ultimately make up what Tridel is calling the Huntington community. The other will be named Sherwood at Huntington.

Fung says that, depending on sales, construction will probably begin next year, with an occupancy goal of early 2013.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Samson Fung


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Mississauga is getting its biggest LCBO next week, a 16,000 square foot location with 11,000 square feet of selling space at Eglinton and Glen Erin Drive at the Erin Mills Town Centre.

"Mississauga is a growing area," says LCBO spokesman Chris Layton. "We're trying to go to more freestanding locations with better visibility. It affords more space, an adequate levels of parking, And in the case of Eglinton, we expect quite a bit of walk-in traffic."

The store will have 3,000 different products for sale, including 800 under the Vintages rubric.

The latest of a string of large-format stores to go up around the GTA, the Mississauga location has cost about $1.4 million to construct.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Chris Layton


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The first of the Distillery District's two new condo towers, built on the site of the only building in the district to be demolished, a 1926 rack house, poured its first concrete this week, on schedule at about 8 months ahead of its neighbour.

Clear Spirit will be a 40-storey tower, designed by Architects Alliance. Due for occupancy in mid-2012, it will add between 700,000 and 800,000 square feet of residential space to the district when paired with the other tower, called Gooderham for the family behind the original distillery.

"There will probably be one more restaurant," says James Goad, one of the motivating spirits behind the Distillery District and a principal of the Cityscape Development Corporation. "For the most part, it will fit the creative model [of the district], but we're also trying to provide some services for our little community here."

The tower will be characterized by deeper than average balconies, between 6 and 7 feet as opposed to the more usual 4. It will have about 10 three-bedroom units, around 1,600 square feet each, and will be seeking LEED certification.

Goad says that these are the last two buildings that will go up in the district proper, though the company owns lands adjoining the district that they have future plans for, including a (probably) low-rise building to the south.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: James Goad

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Yonge Street stands to get a major overhaul just south of Bloor thanks to a large new condo development set to launch in June.

MOD Developments has received the permission from and the blessings of Heritage Toronto to pull together the properties at 5 St Joseph and half a block's worth of retail on Yonge south of St Joseph into a development called 5 St Joseph, designed by Hariri Pontarini.

The tower will be 45 storeys, retaining the 1905 fa�ade on St Joseph, an address long known for the cavalcade of clubs that have operated out of the space, from Colby's in the 80s, The Playground in the 90s, and, most recently, Katrina's.

With its undulating balconies and its sheer height, 5 St. Joseph will add another architectural chapter to this short street that's been marked by every era since the late Victorian.

But it's the Yonge Street side that may end up having the greatest effect on the area, and the city at large.

"I would love to put in the kind of uses, relating to food, that you see on Church Street, like Cumbrae's and Pusateri," says MOD Developments' president and CEO Gary Switzer, formerly of Great Gulf Homes, of the five buildings he's bought and will completely renovate and restore. "Yonge Street has a little Sobey's up the street, but with the number of people living in the area, it could support a good fruit store."

When it is suggested that the reason Yonge Street doesn't have a fruit store is that the rents are too high to make one feasible, Switzer says that he has the "flexibility" to modulate rents to attract the sorts of businesses he'd like to see there, and that would best serve the future residents of 5 St. Joseph.

"I've walked those blocks so many times," he says, "and the buildings themselves are quite nice individually, but because the retail is so bland and unappealing, it's not like  you have any landmarks that you can say, 'Let's eat over here," or "Let's go over there.' I think it's getting better, but I think it needs a lot of work."

Construction and restoration are expected to begin in June, 2011, with occupancy set for three years later.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gary Switzer

CORRECTION: Graywood Developments Ltd. is also a development partner for 5 St. Joseph.

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The Entertainment District is getting a new condo.

To be launched in June, 8 Mercer at the northwest corner of Mercer and John and designed by BBB Architects, will be 33 storeys and house 337 units ranging in size from 519 square feet to 1,786 square feet for a total of 265,000 extra square feet of residential space for the area. Prices will range from the mid-$300s to about $1.8 million.

"They've used a lot of brick in the fa�ade," says Richmond Hill-based developer Beaverhall Homes spokesman Nestor Repetski of the BBB design. "It has very large terraces and substantial balconies, so it looks absolutely residential; some buildings, because of the balance of glass, you can't tell, Is it residential? Is it commercial?"

Beaverhall expects to begin construction on the building � the site is currently a parking lot � in the fall or early winter for a November, 2013 completion.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Nestor Repetski

CORRECTION: Graywood Developments Ltd. is a development partner for 8 Mercer. They were omitted in the first edition of this story.

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Everything but the landscaping has been completed on the new Mini Cooper headquarters and dealership at 20 Sunlight Park Road just southeast of Eastern Avenue and the DVP.

Designed by RAW with several environmental concerns in mind, the project is a series of black cubes set on a triangular lot, highlighted by linear yellow trim.

"It was an empty parking lot before," says RAW principal Roland Rom Colthoff, "really a gap between the Broadview loft building and BMW Toronto.... we wanted a building that was animated and eye-catching, and I think we got that."

At 20,000 square feet and costing $6 million, the new buildings represent a major re-investment in Toronto for the BMW-owned Mini brand, replacing their hip but quite small first location on King Street West.

The dealership opened on April 1, and the landscaping is set to be completed this month.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Roland Rom Colthoff

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One of the GTA's largest LCBOs is opening in Oakville on Friday at 9:30am.

Under construction for sometime, with teaser signs up, the store will open in the Olde Oakville Marketplace on Cornwall Road, and at 16,200 square feet (11,200 square feet of retail space), with 2,100 products and 1,500 Vintages options, it will be only marginally smaller than Toronto's Summerhill, Queens Quay and Bayview Village flagships.

Costing approximately $2 million, it will be Oakville's sixth LCBO.

"We're seeing great growth in that community," says LCBO spokesman Chris Layton. "It will be one of the largest Vintages sections in the LCBO network, and it'll be a destination not only in Oakville, but Mississauga and beyond."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Chris Layton


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The last phases of the project to widen Morningside Avenue to increase traffic capacity has been completed, including relocating and upgrading hydro poles and installing Bell and Rogers cables.

The city project, in collaboration with Toronto Hydro, also included two railway passes, which required Toronto Hydro to put their cables and casings for telecommunications cables underground.

"Moving the poles was the first phase," says Toronto Hydro spokeswoman Denise Atallah, "allowing for the road to be widened with a bike lane and new sidewalks." At the railway passes, she says, "we couldn't bring the equipment over the CP Rail line, so we had to underground everything, which involved trenching, putting in ducts for new cables, and creating joint ducts for partners like Rogers and Bell."

The project, which began in 2007, got power flowing by December, 2009, and recently got Bell and Rogers signals moving, cost Toronto Hydro $2.4 million, part of their $275-million investment in upgrading the city's electric distribution this year.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source; Denise Atallah



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The filling in of the relatively empty space between the Distillery District and the rest of the city is taking another step on Saturday, as Streetcar Developments launches its Trinity Lofts at 2 Eastern at Trinity Street.

The 8-storey plan for 81 lofts and 2 townhouses is set to begin construction this fall for a July, 2012 occupancy. As Streetcar VP Jeanhy Shim points out, this is exactly when the new 18-acre West Don Lands park, currently under construction just to the east, is also scheduled to be completed.

"This is a happening area," Shim says. "There are huge changes coming to this area, and it's happening, it's not just pipe dreams."

The brick building, designed by Giannone Petricone to follow Eastern Avenue's curve, will have 54,000 square feet of residential space, including ground floor retail.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jeanhy Shim

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The real estate website BuzzBuzzHome released its latest monthly list of the 10 Toronto condo developments that have been getting the most hits from its 40,000 monthly visitors.

Released on Monday, the list is topped by 12 Degrees, a new development by the BS�R Group slated for 15 Beverley at Queen that has yet to launch.

"There's been a tonne of interest," says one of the site's owners, Matthew Slutsky, "so they're going to get a fair bit of interest when they do launch."

Though he's not willing to draw too many conclusions about the city's condo market from the lists, he does say it seems mostly to be driven by newness and location. Effective marketing also seems to play a role, as evidenced by the fact that on one of their first lists this past January, the Trump Tower, by then already a 4-year-old project, made the list. "They had just launched a social media campaign," Slutsky says.

Pears on Avenue was second on the list, followed by Art Condominiums.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Matthew Slutsky


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Permits are expected this week for demolition to begin at 2 Ossington, the future site of SMV Architects' two-storey retail and condo building on the northwest corner of Queen and Ossington.

"It's going to add a pretty dramatic presence on the street," says architect Craig Bonham. "The way the building has been conceived is that it is primarily glass at the ground level, very much a retail showcase" for as few as one and as many as six retail tenants.

Another feature will be one of Toronto's first parking stackers, a six-car elevator accessed through a double-wide garage door that minimizes the space needed for cars.

There will be five residential units, from 900 to 1,600 square feet, for a total of about 5,700 square feet of added residential space for the quickly growing neighbourhood. The retail space will total slightly less, about 4,300 square feet.

Bonham expects demolition to begin as soon as the permit is issued, and for construction to start shortly thereafter, with a possible occupancy date of fall, 2010.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Craig Bonham

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Northern Forest Hilliers are getting an LCBO to call their own on May 4, when the next store opens at 333 Eglinton West at Avenue, during an exceptionally active growth period for the Board.

The smallish, standalone shop will have 1,900 square feet of shopping area with 700 sorts of beer and liquor, including a Vintages section about 200 strong.

"What it's designed to do is bring service to the retail strip that previously didn't have service," says LCBO spokesman Chris Layton. At the moment, the closest shops are the one attached to the Loblaws at St Clair and Bathurst, the Yonge and Eglinton location, and the store at Yonge and Davisville.

The construction costs for the new store are estimated at $500,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Chris Layton

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The rail bridges are being lowered onto the newly installed frame on the way towards the completion of the $40-million Dufferin Street straightening project, currently scheduled for a July completion.

The roadbed north of the underpass is also being graded in preparation for laying the surface.

"This is a tremendous improvement that will dramatically improve the busiest bus route in the city, improve access for pedestrians and cyclists, beautify the neighbourhood by increasing green space and house a unique public art installation," says Councillor Gord Perks, whose ward will be significantly effected by the project.

Designed by Delcan, the project will also include new street rails and storm sewers.

The chief practical improvement will likely be an easing of the congestion caused by the former jog in the road.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gord Perks


Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or renovating, even a cool new house in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].