Toronto 444 Eglinton West | 69.3m | 19s | Arista Homes | Core Architects

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The Lobbyist Registry tells us the above assembly is in play.

The properties in play are on the north side of Eglinton, just a bit west of Avenue Road, in the well to do Eglinton Hill area.

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Aerial Pic:

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Site Size ~18000ft2.

Comments:

Typically, a site like this, in an area like this would be targeted for a midrise. It may well be here as well.

However, there are some interesting aspects to this site which may suggest a tower form here.

1) The site is quite large.

2) The site is on the north side of the street, so shadowing issues are negligible on Eglinton itself.

3) The site has the benefit of bordering a Green P lot as its rear. This lot would take the bulk of any shadow, and so much less potential to adversely effect on a park, yard or private property.
Likewise, this lot acts as a buffer space between the site and the SFH areas to the north.

4) MTSA may well factor given the close proximity of a Crosstown Station.

5) The main knock on any serious height here is lack of immediate area precedent:

Looking East along Eglinton from the site:

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Looking West:

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As first previewed here by me............

We now have an application into the AIC for this one........at 19s.

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app.toronto.ca

Application Details

app.toronto.ca app.toronto.ca

From the Docs:

Architect is CORE

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Site Plan:

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Ground Floor Plan:

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Comments:

Viable, but ambitious.

Problems:

Plans show retention of existing street trees in small boxes along Eglinton, this is non-compliant with normative streetscape/forestry requirements. Only one existing tree appears to be of quality, it would be worth the sacrifice to do this properly. No trees shown on side flank. The proposed sidewalk width on Eglinton isn't narrow, but strikes me as sub-optimal (under 5M) given the areas likely redevelopment.

Retail is shown as undemised space, needs to finer grained.

Architecture: Street wall seems over-bearing and out of step w/neighbours (height could be shifted to tower, or set-backs could be used above the 3rd or 4th floor. 1 building replacing 7 requires some break-up of the massing on the streetwall/podium section, greater visible division between smaller retail spaces. As laid out, the site would likely see lots of window wrap.
 
It looks better as a 7 story building than whatever they're proposing. I get that we have a housing crisis, it's just unclear why we go from 2 story buildings to TALL.
The Forest Hill (at Eglinton and Bathurst) is 14 stories; I'd be surprised if this goes above 10. I also don't understand why Create TO don't better monetize our green p parking lots... the lot behind this site is HUGE and could provide way more housing than just a surface parking lot.
 
pw20 said:
It looks better as a 7 story building than whatever they're proposing. I get that we have a housing crisis, it's just unclear why we go from 2 story buildings to TALL.
The Forest Hill (at Eglinton and Bathurst) is 14 stories; I'd be surprised if this goes above 10
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Agreed. In this case, however, it will be the MTSA designation driving the additional height ask. One could fairly debate whether this particular site is right for this particular height or whether the form/massing is ideal, but a developer seeing the opportunity for an 'ask' isn't passing it up.

Will they get this ask? Maybe not, but I don't think they'll be cut down to 10.

One part of the equation for how Planning treats this is indeed, as you note below, if there are any preliminary ambitions for this Green P lot.

If there are, for instance, plans for buildings, then separation distances, various other issues, including servicing will come into play.

While if the site were desired, in whole or in part as parkland, shadowing will come into play.

pw20 said:
I also don't understand why Create TO don't better monetize our green p parking lots... the lot behind this site is HUGE and could provide way more housing than just a surface parking lot.
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CreateTO is monetizing Green P parking lots and/or repurposing them, as Green P was doing before.

Development already consumed the parking garage on Yorkville; it will consume a lot on Dundas West (Housing Now) and another on Shortt street (Dufferin/Eglinton) and more proposals are in the offing.

You will see most larger Green P lots repurposed in the years ahead as either parks or mixed-used development.

Smaller lots will be slower to go as they present less opportunity, but their time too shall come.
 
It's good to see the relatively high proportion of three bedroom apartments, and to a lesser extent, two bedrooms. It's also good to see so few auto parking spaces proposed and the relatively high number of bicycle spots, as this is a location well-connected to the future cycling network and higher order transit.

It's just a shame that it appears to only be one commercial unit that will be replacing the five previous.
 
Setbacks greatly impact other sites, do they not? Even if Green P and western neighbours aren't contemplating tall buildings today, don't see why the City would allow ~16M-20M separation distance conditions there and not protect long-term optionality...

Per planning rationale:

h) Section 3.2.3 - Separation Distances - Setback tall buildings 12.5 m or greater from the side and rear property lines or centre line of an abutting lane. Provide separation distance between towers on the same site of 25 m or greater, measured from the exterior wall of the buildings, excluding balconies.

The tower provides the required minimum 10.0 m tower setback to the west lot line. This is sufficient for this piece of land and maintains an appropriate standard of light, view and privacy to potential tower developments to the west. Lands to the north are not anticipated for a tall tower and appropriate setbacks are provided.
 
The podium is okay but the tower section is cheap and ugly looking.

The brick should also be continued to the street, instead of the obnoxious wall-o-glass.
 
pw20 said:
It looks better as a 7 story building than whatever they're proposing. I get that we have a housing crisis, it's just unclear why we go from 2 story buildings to TALL.
The Forest Hill (at Eglinton and Bathurst) is 14 stories; I'd be surprised if this goes above 10. I also don't understand why Create TO don't better monetize our green p parking lots... the lot behind this site is HUGE and could provide way more housing than just a surface parking lot.
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Nowadays, this tower is not that tall. Since it is on a major arterial with a transit line, it's a good location for a tower. Plus, the area is fairly low density and should be the target for intensification. I think that if the Crosstown is ever finished, ( :) ) more towers should be expected.

I expect that there would be business backlash at any plan to close the lot out back. Not sure of the BIA there, but I think the lot came about due to the BIA's expressed need for parking.
 
Some commentary from Babak Eslahjou, principal at Core Architects:

streetsoftoronto.com

This Toronto neighbourhood could get a bold purple-brick condo tower

The proposed 19-storey, mixed-use residential tower features a seven-storey podium that’s made of glazed purple bricks.
streetsoftoronto.com streetsoftoronto.com

What’s most striking about the proposed 19-storey, mixed-use residential tower, designed by Core, is that it features a seven-storey podium that’s made of glazed purple bricks.

“I’ve certainly dabbled into different colours of brick over the years,” said Eslahjou.

The choice of a purple condo is certainly uncommon. But the decision to use brick was more conservative-minded. It’s meant to reference the century houses that fill the low-rise neighbourhoods to the north and the south of the development site, which is on the northwest corner of Eglinton and Castle Knock Road.

Expecting Eglinton Avenue West to be drastically redeveloped in the coming years and decades, Eslahjou said he sees the project as a chance to get more creative. After all, the established context might be turned on its head if more and more low-rise properties meet the wrecking ball.

“We’re kind of dealing with a blank slate here,” he said of Eglinton’s future. “It’s like making an urban street from scratch,” he added.

The project includes 185 residential suites and would replace five of the current site’s existing six rental units, which are located above commercial units, including a Starbucks on Eglinton.

Four properties within the development site are included in Toronto’s Heritage Register.

“Being listed on the Heritage Register is not the same thing as being a designated heritage property,” according to the City of Toronto’s website. “Being listed means further evaluation of the property will take place if there is an intent to have it demolished.”

Architecturally, efforts have been made to make the tower seem less imposing.

“The overall vision here is that we were trying to take away from a building appearing to be tall,” said Eslahjou.

Retail was another design priority. In all, the project includes 420 square metres of non-residential space. Ceiling heights for the retail area soar to six-and-a-half metres.

“Retail along that street is very important,” said Eslahjou. “This space is not gigantic, but it’s the whole length of the building on Eglinton,” he noted, estimating retail accounts for about half of the ground floor.

“That allows us to get a good cross-section of the very top brands of retail,” said Eslahjou. Six of the building’s 33 parking spots are set aside for non-residential use.

The application was submitted in April and is being reviewed. A public meeting will be scheduled.
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