Lamb Development Corp has applied to the City of Toronto for the rezoning of 778 King Street West, a 0.21 hectare site on the north side of King between Niagara and Tecumseth streets in the Niagara neighbourhood.

Looking up at 778 King West, designed by architects-Alliance for Lamb Development Corp

If approved, Lamb hopes to build a contemporary, 17-storey, architects—Alliance-designed mixed-use building, topped with a seemingly Bauhaus-inspired mechanical penthouse which the architects suggest, "adds further interest to the building, providing both functionality, and design."

Contemporary mechanical penthouse, image from submission to the City

The site is located a block and a half west of Bathurst Street, and west of the King-Spadina neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto. The Niagara neighbourhood has evolved over the last century from a primarily industrial area with interspersed low-rise residential uses into a mixed-use area that contains a range of building types and uses, including office, retail, residential and industrial uses in low-, mid-, and high-rise building typologies, as well within converted warehouses and industrial buildings.

Location of site, image from submission to the City

The site is an assembly of five parcels of land; 778, 780, 784, 786, and 788 King Street West. Together , they form a rectangularly shaped lot with approximately 73.2 metres of frontage along King Street. The site is approximately 2,127m², and is bound to its north by a 3.96 metre wide public laneway. The five parcels are currently occupied by five buildings which range in height from one to three storeys tall. Lamb's offices are located in the most easterly of the buildings on the site.

The most easterly building contains Lamb's offices, image retrieved from Google Street View

The 17-storey building starts with a base building of 9 storeys, and would stand 63.3 metres tall in total. It proposes approximately 714m² of commercial space at grade along King Street and 373 residential units above. The proposal has a total gross floor area of 24,840m² resulting in a density of approximately 11.68 FSI.

The base building is to be clad with a structural frame consisting of projecting rectangular architectural elements, which are 0.75 metres thick. The frame would wrap around the entirety of the base element and extend above the base to Level 11, the architectural intention according to the Planning Rationale submitted to the City, of providing for a landmark sculptural presence.

Base of proposed building, image from submission to the City

The 373 residential units are proposed in a mix of 192 studios (51%), 84 one-bedrooms (23%), 48 two-bedrooms (13%) and 49 three-bedrooms (13%). A total of 1,186m² of amenity space is proposed, including 890m² of interior amenity space and 296m² of exterior amenity space, representing a ratio of 3.17 square metres per unit. All of the proposed interior amenity space would be located on the Mezzanine Level while all of the exterior amenity space would be directly adjacent to and accessible from the indoor amenity space on the roof of Level 1.

Upper half of proposed building, image from submission to the City

The ground floor of the building would include the residential lobby, accessed via a vestibule directly from the King Street sidewalk. Retail spaces would be located on either side of the lobby entrance. The balance of the ground floor, to be located within the interior portion of the base building, would include a mail room, residential elevators, retail and residential garbage rooms, and stairwells. The rear portion of the ground floor in the east portion of the building includes loading, servicing, and parking garage access ramps, as well as a room containing 20 short term bicycle parking spaces.

Site plan of ground floor, image from submission to the City

Vehicular access to the proposal’s three underground parking levels is proposed off King Street, by way of a curb cut on the east side of the south face of the building.The garage would provide 99 parking spaces, 77 for residents, and 22 for visitors. The proposal includes 388 bicycle parking spaces, 348 of which are for residents and 40 for visitors.

The King streetcar passes by the building, while other TTC surface routes are a short walk away. There is also an Ontario Line station proposed for the King and Bathurst corner, a short walk east. 

Current and future transit surrounding the site, image from submission to the City

You can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.

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Related Companies:  architects—Alliance, Bousfields, EQ Building Performance Inc., Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, Grounded Engineering Inc.