What might be Toronto’s biggest laneway housing project is being proposed for a small Bloordale street with residential and industrial heritage.
With the
architect behind
Chase, and
designers from a young firm with
Yabu Pushelberg DNA, the development, if approved, has the potential to add momentum to the slowly changing neighbourhood between Dufferin and Lansdowne north of Bloor.
The centerpiece of the development, as proposed by
Curated Properties, is the former Pendell Boiler, a light industrial concern tucked away behind Bartlett Avenue.
"The site was originally marketed to demolish the existing building," says Curated principal Adam Ochshorn. "When I walked onto the site, while the Boiler room was functioning, I felt like I was in Soho, and I realized this is not the kind of thing you demolish."
The proposal incudes the new construction of three units on Bartlett, and 13 in the laneway behind.
Audax Architecture, who also worked with Woodcliffe on the Toronto North Station that became the Summerhill LCBO, has designed units from 1,000 square feet to 2,000 square feet, ranging in price from $500,000 to just under a million. All of them have been designed with outdoor terraces.
On the permit front, Ochshorn is hopeful.
"One lucky thing with this site," he says, "is that we meet the criteria for site serving. Other situations where people have had problems with laneways is how are people going to get in and out of the property physically, and how they’re going to service the property."
If approved, Ochshorn, who is also president of Grand Metropolitan Homes and the man behind
Edition Richmond, hopes to start construction in early fall with a view to early summer 2015 completion.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Adam Ochshorn