Church & Wellesley - Yorkville - Annex : Development News

The renovation of one of the city's smallest parks is due to be completed next week, after a new condo and a re-alignment of some city streets provided the opportunity for an update.

Frank Stollery Park, named for the founder of Stollery's clothiers at Yonge and Bloor, is 4,300 square feet in the form of a little sliver at the intersections of Yonge, Davenport and Scollard. It was designed by Mary Jane Lovering, the landscape architect working for the condo's developer, Shiu Pong Developments, which also contributed the estimated budget costs of $600,000 (it ended up running over, requiring the city to pitch in another $80,000).

The park will also be in a slightly different place than it was before. "Partly as the result of the condo, and partly as the result of the city re-aligning Scollard and Davenport," says city landscape architect Marc Kramer, "the whole park was shifted south by about a metre."

There will be about 10 benches added to park, which consists of mostly paved surfaces to accommodate heavy pedestrian use. There are also five oaks and 14 ornamental pear trees being planted, in addition to beds of perennials.

In October, the park will also house one of the city's series of heritage plaques, this one concentrating mostly on the origins and significance of Davenport Road.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Marc Kramer

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With all the megaprojects happening on around Bloor and Avenue � the renaissance of the Renaissance, the Bloor-Yorkville street improvement, Museum House and  155 Cumberland � it would be easy to miss one of the most interesting.

The Church of the Redeemer, the little church on the northeast corner of Bloor and Avenue that forced the Renaissance Plaza into the shape it's in, is getting a reno. But it's not the renovation itself that's so fascinating, though it is being done by church architecture specialists, it's the reason for it.

In the 1980s, the Anglican church hived off the upper nave and made it into a community room because they didn't need the seats anymore � the congregation was shrinking. But over the past few years, they've seen it begin to grow again, and realized they needed the space back for all the new bums in pews.

"The ceiling is being raised from approximately 11 feet to approximately 16 feet," says lead architect Elizabeth Davidson of Davidson Langley Architects, "allowing the full height of the stained glass windows to be visible again and providing better integration of the space with the lower nave, as well as improved acoustics. The second area of renovation is the former chapel, which is being integrated into the main nave to allow for an additional 30 - 40 seats."

In total, about 100 seats are being added.

The work began on June 20 and will be completed by Aug. 20.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Elizabeth Davidson

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Work began Friday on the Jarvis Street (or Ted Rogers Way) bike lanes that have been the source both of great anticipation and controversy over the past several months, since an environmental assessment resulted in the recommendation.

The project, which should be finished by the end of the week of July 26, will result in north- and south-bound bike lanes, and the elimination of the reversible middle lane of the formerly five-lane thoroughfare.

The environmental assessment was done to look into ways of improving the Jarvis streetscape and according to Daniel Egan, the city's bike infrastructure man, "there was such an overwhelming response from the bike community to add bike lanes" that they were included in what will ultimately be a larger improvement project, involving sidewalk improvements. "We're sticking with bike lanes now because it's a simple re-striping job," Egan says.

Egan also adds that there is expected to be little impact on car traffic as a result of the elimination of the fifth lane.

The budget for adding the bike lanes is $65,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Daniel Egan

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A crew of about 50 is at work on the Burano condo tower being built at the intersection of Bay and Grenville. The seven levels of underground parking have been completed, and last week saw the pouring of the concrete for the third floor, the first to peak out above the hoardings of this long-planned, long-delayed project, a sister project to the completed Murano tower across Bay Street.

The 48-storey, 451-unit building, with 10,000 square feet of rental space to be available along Bay, is being built on the site of the old Addison on Bay Cadillac dealership, part of the facade of which is being incorporated into the new design by Peter Clewes.

"Later this summer, workers will begin reassembling and installing" the facade, says Beth Shropshire, spokeswoman for developer Lanterra, "which was dismantled and safely stored to be reutilized, along with the original doors to be added next year."

Occupancy is scheduled for next summer.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source; Beth Shropshire

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Last week, Ryerson University won the American Institute of Architects' Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design for its master plan.

"With its thoughtful connection to the area transportation system and extensive integration with the city,  this plan is a decidedly 21st-century response to co- development," the jury said, "including funding and potential integrations of uses within a tight time frame."

The lead architecture firm responsible for the master plan is Toronto's Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg, who worked in conjunction with Daoust Lestage, Greenberg Consultants and the IBI Group on the long-term plan for the development of the downtown campus.

Originally announced in 2006, the plan was approved in 2008 with the three principle goals of urban intensification, pedestrianization and commitment to design excellent. The Ryerson Photography Gallery and Research Centre and the Student Learning Centre, located on Yonge Street on the site of the former Sam the Record Man shop, are the first two projects to be realized under the plan.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: AIA

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The strip of Bloor between Church and Avenue is nearing normalcy, with the Bloor Yorkville Business Improvement Area announcing the beautification and infrastructure upgrade project is ahead of schedule and on track to be finished by the end of the year.

Envisioned as far back as the 1990s by the city, which wanted to replace the area's aged water mains, the work was delayed for about half a year in 2008-2009 as schedules got confused between the various agencies working in the area.

"Because it's city-owned property," says the BIA's general manager Briar de Lange, "they have to manage the project. That's been problematic for us, co-ordinating between them and the utility companies hasn't gone as well as we would have liked."

But now Phase I, which encompassed the area from Church to Yonge, has been mostly completed. Phase II began on March 9.

There will also be 20 bike posts installed, designed by Pittsburgh company Forms + Surfaces.

According to de Lange, the Bloor Yorkville BIA, which is responsible for all the visible changes to the strip, including the granite sidewalks and the planters, will have spent a total of $20 million by the time the project's complete.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Briar de Lange

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Museum House, the long touted ultra-luxe condo next door to the McDonald's on Bloor west of Avenue Road has finally poked its head out from underground, reaching the third of its small-footprint floors this week.

Designed by Page + Steele IBI Group Architects with interiors by Powell & Bonnell, the 19-storey building will be one of the city's most expensive. But the tiny site � the tower takes up the space of a single store front � presented some challenges.

"It's almost like trying to build a Swiss watch," says Page + Steele associate Omar DaBarp.

The first two storeys will be retail � no tenants have yet been signed � and the residential space begins on its third floor. The first 12 residential storeys will be split into two units each, levels 15 through 17 will be single-unit floors, and the top two floors will be part of an as-yet unsold penthouse.

The building, which is also across the street from the Royal Ontario Museum, is scheduled for completion in the fall of next year.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Omar DaBarp

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The big black tower, said to be architect Peter Clewes' homage to Mies van der Rohe, is almost finished at Jarvis and Charles.

Built by Great Gulf Homes, X is the first phase of a two-phase development, the second of which will rise on the site of the old headquarters for Pizza Pizza. Phase I, which begins occupying this summer and will be fully completed by the end of the year, is 44 storeys with 410 units. Construction started three years ago, after demolition of the vacant former police headquarters building was completed.

"It's the boundary line, if you will, between this rolling, bucolic road where it hits the city grid," says Great Gulf's director of marketing and acquisitions, Geoff Matthews, speaking of Mount Pleasant, at whose base X sits, across the street from the Rogers building, "and it lines up against Charles and Isabella, which are all becoming higher density streets."

With a total square footage of about 400,000, the building sold out, with prices in the mid-$400 psf range.

When completed, there will also be a sculpture by Shayne Dark  out front.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Geoff Matthews

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An extraordinary rental development, built in Rosedale 1927, is in the process of being renovated and condofied and will go on sale this Friday.

Ancroft Place, a collection of 21 town houses on one side of a street facing south towards a ravine, have been rental properties ever since their construction, though the property's second owner, Thomas Kellner, had received approval for a condo conversion back in 1987, an approval he never acted on, though it remained in force when, after his death and that of his wife, the property was bought by Canlight Realty.

"The fact that it was registered as a condominium meant we could renovate the units," says Canlight president Vernon Shaw. "It enabled us to spend the kind of money and do the kind of things that no landlord would ever dream of doing."

After taking possession in April, Canlight began renovations on the exteriors. "It looks like an incredible war zone today with all the trades," Shaw says.

The homes which range in size from 1,890 square feet to 2,700 and in price from $1,175,000 to $1,395,000 will undergo extensive interior renovations as they're purchased. The tenants, all still in residence, have been given the opportunity to buy their units and Shaw suspects maybe three or four of them will.

The history of the development, along with the fact of 21 heritage Rosedale homes are coming on the market for the first time, may result in quite quick sales.

"In my fantasy, that what happens," the British-accented Shaw says. "But a lot of my fantasies don't come true I've noticed."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Vernon Shaw

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As the new Four Seasons towers on Bay Street get the first of their glass cladding, the old Four Seasons on Avenue is finally on the verge of sliding into history.

On May 18, the Ontario Municipal Board ruled that developer Menkes current plan, for two residential towers, one 133 metres, the other 127 metres, on an 18 metre podium for two storeys of retail space, can go ahead.

There had been some controversy about the height, with opposition both from the city and the provincial government due to the effect towers of this high here would have on the north-looking view of the Ontario Legislature. The city had proposed a slightly lower plan, of 116 metres for the south tower and 99 metres for the north, but it was rejected.

According to the city's planning department, the next step in the process is for Menkes, which is building the new Four Seasons as well, to get what's known as a site plan approval, which involves plans on how garbage will be collected, where fire hydrants are going to go, landscaping, etc. "They're also required to submit a construction mitigation plan," says Louis Tinker with the city's planning office, though he says with the OMB's decision, the rest is just figuring out the details.

There's no word yet on when demolition and construction might begin.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Louis Tinker

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The empty space that used to house the Rolls Royce dealership, just south of the Ferrari showroom on the Avenue Road facade of Hazelton Lanes, has a new occupant.

Palais Royale, ultimately a house and home store but for now mostly a high-end bedding boutique, opened April 21, expanding from a three-year-old 800 square foot space inside the mall to this 2,300 square foot space with 25-foot ceilings.

"We really jumped the ladder on this one," says Avi Narang, the owner and manager, of the significant increase in space, which he estimates cost $250,000 to renovate. He says he decided to keep a little bit of the ceilings, but changed everything else from its days as one of the city's highest-end automotive showrooms.


Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Avi Narang

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Construction has begun on 115 Dupont, the last component of the 13-unit 113 Dupont project built by Ken Zuckerman of Zinc Construction.

"It's the only single-family detached house that we'll have there," says Zuckerman of the plan for the leftover piece of land from the 113 townhouse development.

The house, by RAI Architect, features high ceilings in a two-storey loft design. "The second floor will look down on the first floor, with a bridge across the two halves (of the upper floor) to get to two bedrooms," Zuckerman says, calling it "pretty dramatic, pretty interesting."

The residence will also feature a 2,200 square foot roof-top terrace. He estimates the cost will be about $2.9 million.

"I think we've changed the area with the quality of what we did and the people that live there," Zuckerman says of the formerly orphaned strip of Dupont east of Davenport.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ken Zuckerman

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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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A sign went up last week on the old Downtown Fine Cars dealership on Avenue just north of Davenport. Pears, named for the street residents will eventually be entering from, will be one of the first condo towers to be entirely conceived and launched � as opposed to re-launched � in the post-recession market.

At 20 storeys and 130 units, the mid-size, high-end building will begin selling this week. The building will be designed by Page Steele/IBI Group Architects, with interior design by Munge Leung Design Associates.

"We really have been working hard to come up with a building design that really adds to the streetscape and makes a design contribution to the area," says Mimi Ng, vice president of marketing for Menkes, which is developing the site.

The building will also incorporate a two-storey retail component along Avenue Road. "It's going to help liven up that stretch, which recently has been a bit derelict," Ng says.

If sales go well, construction will begin next year.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mimi Ng

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In a rare move, Canada Post has opened up a new postal outlet in a pre-existing Shoppers Drug Mart on Dupont Street.

Usually scheduled to coincide with new openings of likely shops, Canada Post spokeswoman Jennifer Arnott says this March 9 opening was "part of our ongoing market assessment. We determined we needed another post office in that neighbourhood."

The growth of what might be called the north Annex is something Shoppers Drug Mart spotted five years ago when they built the store just a few blocks north of their Bloor and Walmer location, which also houses a post office.

"We try to make it go in with a relocation or when we open a new store," says  Shoppers spokeswoman Tammy Smitham. "We usually like to incur all the capital costs when we're building."

The new postal space takes over the old photo development desk, which has not been replaced.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jennifer Arnott, Tammy Smitham

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].