Development News

A new developer is building its first residential project, auspiciously designed by three-time Governor General's Award-winning architect Stephen Teeple, across the street from Bayview Village Park.

Teeple, best known in Toronto for his Graduate House (1999) on the northeast corner of Harbord and Spadina (on which he collaborated with Morphosis), is introducing his characteristic linearity into a part of town developer Symmetry's vice president describes as architecturally neglected.

"Most developers tend to play it safe and go with brick and stucco," says Sayf Hassan. "We have so many of the same -- it's not even architecture, it's pseudo-architecture, Victorian and Georgian homes -- up here, you do need variety."

The Linea townhouses, only two of the 11 of which remain unsold (and priced at $999,000), will have limestone cladding, zinc roofs, wood panelling around the windows, and each will be equipped with a private elevator.

Hassan says he has his eye on his second residential project, which he says he'll be announcing in about a month, once the current $4-$4.5-million project has begun construction.

"We're always on the lookout for great infill projects," he says, "because I think that's the way development is going."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Symmetry, Sayf Hassan

Amid all the condo towers popping up all over Yorkville over the past couple of years, developer Ken Zuckerman decided it was time for an elegant mid-rise to come out of the fray, but still not too far from the action. "It's 100 yards away from Yorkville," Zuckerman says, "but it could be 10 miles."

The site of Hazelton36 is the old St. Basil's Separate School at 34-38 Hazelton Avenue, less than a block north of Yorkville Avenue. Built in the 1920s, the building's fa�ade will remain, incorporated into the new 6-storey structure, according to Zuckerman, known around town for the well-received residential development at 113 Dupont.

Though the project was just announced and Zuckerman, who owns Zinc Construction, winner of an Ontario Association of Architects award for a home on Bishop Street in Yorkville, has not yet announced the architect, designers or unit prices, he will say that the suites will have 11- and 12-foot ceilings and will range from 1,700 to 6,000 square feet.

"They'll be condominiums of some scale," Zuckerman says, "but the building will be neatly camouflaged with terrace setbacks, so you won't really be able to see the building from the street when you're on it. We'll retain that residential feel."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ken Zuckerman

One of Toronto's first gourmet pizza places has expanded into the Annex. John's Italian Caffe, one of the two original Baldwin Street restaurants, has opened its third location at 1048 Bathurst Street, between Bloor and Dupont, in the old Telepizza space.

"We've always been catering and delivering to the Annex," says Marco Henao, brother of John's owner, Julian Henao, who bought it seven years ago from founder John Lostracco. The Bathurst location, which is Marco's baby, is distinguished from the other two locations by its Italian-Latin American fusion menu. (The Henaos are Colombians raised in Venezuela and Canada.)

"We consider this one to be the restaurant," Henao says, "the Baldwin is the caf�, and the College location is just the pizzeria."

The 300 square foot space cost about $220,000 to renovate, and will soon, pending approvals and the arrival of spring, have a back patio.
According to Henao, he and his brother have spoken with the landlord and have plans to buy the building in the next few years and expand onto the second floor.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Marco Henao

If you've walked down the north side of Bloor Street between Avenue and Bay in the past couple of months and looked up, you will have noticed 101 Bloor West, a mid-size office tower with Cole Haan and Royal de Versailles as its ground-floor retail tenants, has been completely empty.

If  you thought it was destined to be another condo conversion, you would have been right, for a few months. But after a New York developer decided the market had turned, it was sold to Kingsett Capital, the company that owns 155 Cumberland across the street. According to leasing agent Michael Spence at CBRE, Kingsett considered turning it into a condo briefly, but then decided "it's more of an office play," and turned to CBRE to lease it out.

Construction started this weekend, with a large crane blocking Bloor, preparing the building for the two new tenants, the Ministry of Youth and Child Services and the Ontario College of Teachers, the latter of which is moving down from its current offices at 121 Bloor West.

According to Jeff Friedman, CBRE's lead on the deal, the papers were signed in June, and the tenants have recently taken possession.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: CBRE, Michael Spence

You could see it as a test of just how far Dupont has come. Though it's been developing over the past decade, making the transition from industrial hinterland to North Annex, with businesses like Nancy's Cheese, Ezra's Pound and Frangipane bakery apparently flourishing, the step-down restaurant spot at 328 Dupont, owned by Wynn Family Properties, has not been so lucky.

The owners of Diverso by Ferraro hope the time has come for a mid-range restaurant on a strip known until know for its relative highs (Bistro Tournesol, Indian Rice Factory) and its beloved lows (AAA and Vesta Lunch).

The second location for the company (the first has been on Eglinton just west of Avenue for 16 years), the owners made an extra effort with the renovations to distinguish themselves from a long line of failed restaurants, the latest of which was called Trattoria 328.

The cosmetic renovation was done by Hirschberg Design Group on a budget of about $50,000. "If this thing works well, then they're going to make a serious commitment to the neighbourhood," says Martin Hirschberg of the design that incorporates the prominent piping that's part of the building's infrastructure. "This space is really for them to find out how it's going to work in the new neighbourhood. So we wanted to do something that was kind of light and kind of fun, not too serious, kind of a bit campy, to make it inviting to the area."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Diverso by Ferraro, Hirschberg Design Group, Martin Hirschberg

If you can't take it down, then pretty it up.

The Gardiner Expressway's been an albatross around the neck of the city's waterfront development for generations. Needed as a traffic artery, it bifurcates the city, separating the rest of Toronto both physically and psychically from one of its most potentially attractive features.
But Waterfront Toronto today announced a way to have overhead highways and play with them, too. Thanks to Vancouver planning, urban design and landscape architecture firm Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg, $5.3 million and a winning 2015 Pan Am Games bid to speed everything up, the West Don Lands are about to get the city's first (and the nation's largest) underpass park.

It will be located under the Eastern Avenue overpass, near where it meets Richmond and Adelaide streets between Cherry Street and Bayview Avenue, a few blocks north of the main part of the Gardiner. The park will be put together with various sustainable elements such as LED lighting, recycled rubber ground surfaces and re-used cobblestones from underneath a nearby part of Eastern Avenue. Complete with half basketball courts, a caf�, community gardens and playground, the 1.05 hectare park will provide the first meaningful, enjoyable connection between both sides of the overpass.

Set near the site of the Pan Am Games athletes village, the park is an early step in the reclamation of the formerly industrial West Don Lands, a project that also includes the River City private sector housing community that will begin construction later this year, and the Don River Park, a 7 hectare community centrepiece scheduled to break ground this summer.

"The design takes full advantage of the existing site's eccentricities and its free-for-the-taking weather protection," says lead designer Greg Smallenberg in a press release today, "transforming something that might otherwise be incidental into a delightful urban patch."

Work on Underpass Park is slated to start in May or June, with a Spring, 2011 completion.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Samantha Gileno, Waterfront Toronto

There's no doubt that Toronto is in the middle of another one of its big-thinking phases. The last one, which spanned the 60s and 70s, bequeathed us things like St James Town, Alexandra Park, and scores of slab buildings reaching out to the airport and beyond. Projects like the Lawrence Heights revitalization, whose draft plan was announced last week by Mayor Miller and Toronto Community Housing (TCH), will determine whether this phase's legacy, which also includes CityPlace, the Regent Park reconstruction and Concord Adex's planned $2-billion Park Place development of 42 acres along Sheppard between Bessarion and Leslie stations, leaves the city a better place or not.

The plan, which aims to begin demolition of the 1,208 social housing units in the 100-acre area by next year, will add between 4,300 and 4,800 market-price units, in addition to replacing the demolished social housing units. All of the approximately 3,500 people who currently lives in one of those units will have the right to live in the new community, with their moving costs covered by TCH.

As with most of the city's newdevelopments, Lawrence Heights will be a green project.

"Revitalization is about much more than just replacing housing that is in poor repair," says Keiko Nakamura, CEO of Toronto Community Housing, in a press release. "We're using the opportunity to incorporate green technology into new buildings and work with partners to improve parks, schools and transit and increase local jobs, training and community services. It will also mean the community has access to shops and services."
 
Writer: Bert Archer

Source: TorontoCommunity Housing

The Royal Bank has opened a branch in Regent Park. According to them, it's the first ever financial institution in this long beleaguered and now hopefully revitalized neighbourhood, built in the1940s as Canada's first social housing project.

Doors first opened for business in this 3,700 square foot bank on January 18, and it officially launched earlier this week. It will employ 9 people, of whom four live in Regent Park.

"We made a very concerted effort to hire from the community," says Melinda Henderson, a communications manager with the bank.

The branch, located on the ground floor of the new One Cole condominium building at the corner of Dundas and Parliament,will also be powered by Bullfrog, a 100 per cent green energy provider.
 
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: RBC

A seven-tower development by Tridel, which began construction this month, will be the first community in the country to seek LEED certification as a whole under the new LEED Neighbourhood Development (ND) program.

According to developer Tridel, Metrogate, in Scarborough-Agincourt near Kennedy and the 401 (next to the Delta hotel), will consist of six residential buildings, one office building, and a series of townhouses. Solaris I and II are currently under construction. Each will be 39 storeys, with 435 units in the first, and 445 in the second. They'll be ready to occupy later this year or early next.

The site is 17 acres, once occupied by the Toronto Sufferance Transit Terminal and originally to be developed by Canderel Property Management, will consist, when finished, of 1,776,000 square feet of residential and office space, with about 2,100 condos. The site will also ultimately house a 1.65 acre park and two day care facilities.

The four basic requirements for LEED ND designation are smart location and linkage, design, green construction and innovation. On this site, Tridel reused all the concrete from the demolition of the transit terminal as subsurface road material, and the community is built on a site that's been flagged for future subway and GO expansion.
 
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tridel

Correction: The original version of this story listed Solaris I as just beginning construction and Solaris II breaking ground in August. They are both currently under construction. Yonge Street was provided with incorrect information.

300 Front, the latest project by architectsAlliance co-founder Rudy Wallman, begins construction this month.

Consisting of a 49-storey tower and a 15-storey loft building, the project at the corner of John Street will have a total of 683 units, with gardens on street level at the southeast corner of the property, which has been a parking lot for some time.

"Its main selling feature is that it's at the heart of the entertainment district," says Tridel spokesman Samson Fung,"and it's one of the highest in the area, so we expect it to appeal to affluent, younger buyers." The building is approximately 70 per cent sold, according to Fung.

The gardens were designed by Montreal landscape architect Claude Cormier. "To give the building a signature presence, we inscribed its address � 300 � directly into the design," he says of the design on his website. "The roadways and sidewalks of the site make up the digits, clearly visible from the high vantage points in the nearby surroundings.

"Like the logo on a Fendi purse, the site-integrated icon is woven through with an intricate network of paving."

Wallman, who was also a principal behind the new Four Seasons and Lumiere on Bay, is one of the city's homegrown starchitects, who along with Peter Clewes (with whom he's worked at Architectsalliance), Quadrangle's Brian Curtner and David Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini have put a lasting stamp on the city during the recent condo boom.
 
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tridel, Claude Cormier

Philippe Starck's contribution to the condoboom is nearing completion, as the 75-foot-long table in the lobby he's designed for 75 Portland was moved in late last month.

Known for his work with hotels like SLS in Beverly Hills and his industrial design work for Alessi and others, Starck's design was meant to distinguish this mid-rise Freed development from the pack of condos with which it's been competing.

"Every day, it's looking more surreal,"says Anthony Decarli, Freed's director of development.

The project as a whole was designed by CoreArchitects and is built on the site of the old Artword Theatre, which closed its doors in 2006. People are expected to start moving in this month.
 
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Freed Development

 

We've been seeing condo towns -- those things that look like town houses but are, inside, stacked like condos -- around the city for a few years now. But now Grand Metropolitan Homes, Dewbourne Developments and Paradigm Architecture and Design are building the "loft houses."

"We wanted to do something that hadn't really been done in Toronto," says Adam Ochshorn, a principal with Forest Hills developer Grand Metropolitan, who says he went to Chicago and New York to research loft forms before embarking on this project, which will break ground at 483 Dupont Street in May. He says he's not seen anything quite like this combination of house and loft aesthetic anywhere else.

The $350,000-$700,000 loft houses in three storeys totalling 30,000 square feet of residential space, will have 11-foot ceilings, polished concrete floors and outdoor spaces on every level, including rooftop terraces.

According to Andrew Zimet, the Chestnut Park Real Estate broker who's been selling the spaces, three of the four ground-level units, designed to allow for retail space according to an agreement reached with councillor Adam Vaughan's office and the Seaton Village Residents Association, have initially been sold to people who will be using them as residences, including a landscape architect who may also be practicing out of the space.

The first units will be ready in May, 2011.

 
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Grand Metropolitan Homes

Thompson Hotels announced last week that their first hotel outside of the US, the Freed Developments project, designed by Core Architects, at 550 Wellington Street West, will be opening in May.

With 16 floors and 102 suites, Thompson also announced the hotel will have a Scarpetta restaurant on its ground floor.

The hotel will be attached to a 336 unit condo project, also by Freed, making this the first time Thompson has jumped on the condo-hotel bandwagon that's been so attractive and, for the most part, successful for other hoteliers like the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton.

"Toronto shares many of the same attributes as our most successful market," said Thompson co-owner Jason Pomeranc in a press release.

According to Anthony Decarli, Freed's director of development, a second restaurant, Wabora, known to Muskoka cottagers for its Bracebridge location, will also be opening in the building, though as a separate entity from the hotel and the condo.

 

Writer: Bert Archer

Source: Freed Development, Thompson Hotels

Though the developer, Kevric, is being tight-lipped about their remarkable attempt to add about 100 metres to Bloor West's high-end commercial strip, the project is nearing completion.

Known for years among folks who like to dine in the three and four figures for being the home of Prego della Piazza, the little dog-leg that runs between the Renaissance Plaza and the Church of the Redeemer on the northeast corner of Avenue and Bloor, Kevric is attempting a major upgrade to make it a logical extension of the Bloor strip, rather than a cute detour for the curious.

Kevric, developing the property for the two Quebec pension funds who own the property, the Caisse de Depot and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which handled the pension funds for the RCMP, is known for its innovative and mildly controversial development under the Christ Church cathedral in Montreal.

Kevric had received some bad press recently based on complaints from Renaissance condo dwellers who contend their access to the building and their underground parking spots has been impeded or denied as a direct result of Kevric's development.

 

Writer: Bert Archer

A project that could be the thing that tips Yonge and Sheppard from being part of the periphery to a true GTA hub is set to begin construction this week. The two-tower Hullmark Centre, by Kirkor architects and Tridel will have direct access to the subway, and has signed Whole Foods as its retail anchor.

There will be offices on the first 18 floors of the pedestal, with a total of 684 suites in the two towers above, 95 per cent of which are sold, according to Tridel spokesman Samson Fung.

"We wanted a real landmark community to be put there," says Fung. "We hope this will be part of the transformation of that whole Yonge and Sheppard corner."

The project is to be built on the southeast corner of the intersection, on the site of 1950s-era Grand Union grocery store, a building which became a Steinberg's, then a Dominion, and finally a Metro.

Fung points out that the intersection is at the geographical centre of the GTA, and with access to both the subway and highway systems, he sees a great future for the area, where Tridel already has more than half a dozen buildings.

Writer: Bert Archer

Source: Tridel