Toronto Belmont House Addition | 43.5m | 11s | Belmont House | Montgomery Sisam

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Northern Light

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New to the AIC is this proposal for a new 11 storey addition to Belmont House. It provide 168 new Long Term Care Beds and 30 Assisted Living Beds.

The Site as it is:

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The new building would largely sit on what is now private open space on the site.

The app:

www.toronto.ca

Application Details

www.toronto.ca www.toronto.ca

@Paclo

Renders:

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Axonometric View:

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Site Plan:

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Ground Floor Plan:

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Comments:

The City desperately needs new LTC beds, and for that reason alone, this proposal is highly supportable.

It is unfortunate that it will eat so much of the open, park-like space available to current residents of their retirement/LTC facilities. The site has surface parking and significant one-storey structures, which ideally would allow a different concept to go
forward here.

However, those other facilities are in use and I get that optimally configuring the site would likely mean tearing down one of the existing retirement or LTC buildings, and that's not on. In that context, I'm prepared to support this as envisioned.

I anticipate potential opposition from the residential neighbours on Belmont, as 11 storeys would be the tallest building on the street and the building itself makes minimal use of setbacks, and the landscape buffer is greatly reduced from existing.

The challenge here is that reducing the height or floor plate will make no economic sense given the LTC funding model. I think the area residents will have to eat this one. It might soften things a bit if the parking could be accommodated underground or less conspicuously on site.
 
Not too many noticed this thread when I first posted it...............

Perhaps @Anthony Teles front page story will help:

urbantoronto.ca

11-Storey Addition Proposed for Long-Term Care Facility in Yorkville | UrbanToronto

Belmont House, a charitable non-profit senior care provider, has proposed an 11-storey infill to its existing facility in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood. It would add 168 long-term care beds and 30 assisted living units to the site, within walking distance of Rosedale station.
urbantoronto.ca urbantoronto.ca
 
Excellent, 200 additional “Long-Term Care” beds being added to Belmont House in Downtown Toronto near Rosedale TTC subway station..!! 👍

“Belmont House is a charitable, non-profit, Christian home for seniors offering long term care and retirement living.”

Belmont House

www.belmonthouse.com www.belmonthouse.com


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55 Belmont Street - Community Consultation Meeting
Wednesday, December 4, 2024 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
(UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Register for webinar - https://toronto.webex.com/weblink/register/r5185e8c7e9326f135d64cf537267c682

Agenda
A proposed 11-storey addition that will add 168 long-term care beds and 30 assisted living units at the north end of the existing long-term care home for seniors.

7:00 pm - Introductions
7:10 pm - City Planning and Applicant Presentations
7:40 pm - Discussion
8:25 pm - Next Steps
 
If they said three or zero storeys but, 7 storey doesn't seem unreasonable. 4 storey difference isn't insignificant just because 50 storey towers are popping up everywhere and in consideration it's an ugly 11 storey slab. The taller massing should be on Davenport. Propose up to 7 storeys on Belmont and 11 if not a few more on the parking lot facing Davenport and that will reveal the homeowners as NIMBY or not.
 
maestro said:
If they said three or zero storeys but, 7 storey doesn't seem unreasonable. 4 storey difference isn't insignificant just because 50 storey towers are popping up everywhere and in consideration it's an ugly 11 storey slab. The taller massing should be on Davenport. Propose up to 7 storeys on Belmont and 11 if not a few more on the parking lot facing Davenport and that will reveal the homeowners as NIMBY or not.
Click to expand...

For a non profit long term care home with dealing with a tedious funding model, it absolutely is significant.
 
DavidCapizzano said:
For a non profit long term care home with dealing with a tedious funding model, it absolutely is significant.
Click to expand...
100% - the post-COVID design standards for new Long Term Care buildings from the Province are very prescriptive on unit-size, accessibility and physical-separation.

The 11-Storey "BOX" is required to meet those standards - and obtain Provincial funding in 2024.

Toronto and Ontario have a huge shortage of LTC beds, and we need to maximize the opportunities on every available site.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1643980847018823682
 
DavidCapizzano said:
For a non profit long term care home with dealing with a tedious funding model, it absolutely is significant.
Click to expand...

This is 100% correct.

The provincial funding model for LTC would not work here for a smaller build. Its conceivable with some tweaks to maybe re-work it at 10s.......but you're not dropping it to 7 without either spiking the project entirely or causing it to be re-worked as something drastically different.

***

The 11s here really isn't ideal, particularly w/o at least one stepback, it is out of scale; but of greater consequence, the overall site is remarkably low density by contemporary standards, including many low-rise structures and surface parking.

In a perfect world, the whole site would be re-thought; but that's not just very expensive, it would be mean relocating all of the current assisted living/LTC residents offsite first. That's a different order of project.

But it would be the first pitch I would make to the objectors..............if you can help raise 100M towards a larger scale project, we can agree to a 4s streetwall on Belmont, with 4 more stepped back and generous landscaping.

I fully expect the residents wouldn't go for that.............still.

****

So to bring this back, we're looking at something pretty close to this to get badly needed new LTC beds built.............or we're looking at something radically different and more costly. There's isn't much room in between.
 
HousingNowTO said:
…and the Yorkville NIMBY folks are doing their usual performance from their multi-million dollar houses across the street...
Click to expand...

Belmont has some beautiful historic townhomes, but not sure they are many multi-million dollar houses. I can say with absolute certainty that there are many more multi-millionaires living in Belmont House than across the street. That said, not sure why this has to be a class warfare slag. That green space will be sorely missed by those residents.
 
Midtown Hank said:
Belmont has some beautiful historic townhomes, but not sure they are many multi-million dollar houses. I can say with absolute certainty that there are many more multi-millionaires living in Belmont House than across the street. That said, not sure why this has to be a class warfare slag. That green space will be sorely missed by those residents.
Click to expand...

I agree w/the points you're making here, but would then add, that neighbourhood residents opposing the project height like a reflex without having taken the time to understand why it is the way it is and why 7s (but a similar footprint) is not on here, is its own form of dismissive 'warfare'.

I have time for people raising legitimate neighbourhood concerns; but in this context, as in any other, if you don't like option A, I want you to make a best effort to provide an alternative option B that works.

If the residents succeed here, they basically kill much needed LTC beds; if they succeed in significant delay, they may also spike the project and/or just make it more costly for everyone. I'm open to a much different project here, for the reasons outlined above........but if you want that, be prepared to put in the time and the effort to show how that could be achieved, and not in 20 years either, but in the next 5.

***

I often get credit both here and in 'real life' for finding creative solutions that work for everyone.....the win-win; I don't see that here without removing existing buildings and beds on an interim basis.

I will say, I could get behind that larger project, if the money can be found.

I'm doing some back-of-the-napkin here, and I could see, a version of this project with more 50% more LTC beds, and more assisted living beds as well and probably some market-housing, and we could keep the same amount of greenspace as today, maybe even up it a tiny bit........

The cost will cause some to have watery eyes.
 
DavidCapizzano said:
For a non profit long term care home with dealing with a tedious funding model, it absolutely is significant.
Click to expand...

I'm more interested in city design than building for the sake of building. The atrocious funding model is not a reason to say the hell with it. I also gave an alternative building location to redistribute the unbuilt floor space by building 7 storeys with stepbacks facade along Belmont, the parking lot facing Davenport, which you seemingly have completely ignored by your response.

This expansion will outlast all the issues of today tenfold. The form taken will still matter a hundred years from now.
 
Last edited:
maestro said:
I'm more interested in city design than building for the sake of building. The atrocious funding model is not a reason to say the hell with it. I also gave an alternative building location to redistribute the unbuilt floor space by building 7 storeys with stepbacks facade along Belmont, the parking lot facing Davenport, which you seemingly have completely ignored by your response.

This expansion will outlast all the issues of today tenfold. The form taken will still matter a hundred years from now.
Click to expand...
Our volunteers believe that "building to meet demand & function" is more important than the aesthetic preferences of urban designers...

"At a time when the supply of long-term-care beds in Toronto is nowhere close to keeping up with demand, another nursing home in the city is closing its doors, the Star has learned."
www.thestar.com

Sixth Toronto nursing home announces closure, bringing total of long-term-care beds lost to 650 in less than three years

With its closure, Elm Grove Living Centre, a 126-bed facility in south Parkdale, becomes the third Toronto long-term-care home this year alone to announce it’s shutting down.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com
 
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