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Iron Construction Developments have submitted Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment applications to the City of Richmond Hill, seeking to redevelop parcels of low-rise homes with a high-density mixed-use residential/commercial development comprised of two towers of 12 and 20 storeys on the southwest corner of Major Mackenzie Drive and Maple Avenue in the York Region municipality's Beverley Acres neighbourhood.
The 0.59ha lands are a consolidation, maintaining 96m of frontage onto Major MacKenzie Drive East and a depth of 62m along Maple Avenue, two blocks west of Bayview Avenue. The site is currently occupied by eight one-storey single detached dwellings.
The lands are located three blocks east of Richmond Hill GO Station and within its Major Transit Station Area (MTSA) boundary as delineated by York Region. The area is generally comprised of a mixture of commercial and residential uses along Major Mackenzie Drive East. Residential areas are characterized by one and two-storey single detached dwellings on varying sized lots, with higher density apartment buildings located along Major Mackenzie both east and west of the site.
For this site, Wallman Architects have designed a development comprised of two residential towers rising to 12 and 20 storeys, and connected by a 6-storey podium with residential, commercial, and amenity uses. The proposal includes a total of 29,797m² gross floor area, resulting in a net density of 5.0 FSI across the assembled site.
The 6-storey podium/base, upon which the towers sit, is organized along the east-west axis to highlight the Major Mackenzie frontage. The taller tower is oriented towards the corner of Major MacKenzie Drive East and Maple Avenue, to assist in framing the corner by directing the height in that area. The complex’s overall height is reduced to 12 storeys moving west towards the existing adjacent dwellings that front onto Sussex Avenue. The two towers have a separation distance of 26.9m and maintain a maximum floorplate of 810m² each.
Ground level retail and building entrances are also situated along that axis, which will assist in delineating a pedestrian supportive scale in those areas. A total 739m² of commercial space fronts onto Major Mackenzie Drive, and grade-related townhouse units are provided along Maple Avenue to acknowledge the more residential scale along the side street.
These buildings also maintain a number of step-backs to acknowledge a transition downwards in terms of built form and massing as one moves south and east towards the existing low-density neighbourhood housing. As illustrated below, the east tower maintains 3m rear step-backs at the 5th and 7th storeys, which assists in delineating a podium. The west tower contains one larger 7.3m step-back at the 7th storey to achieve the same podium intent. (These step-backs are proposed as private terraces for those units facing south.)
Access driveways, loading, ramp to the underground parking, and any functional components of the building have been integrated into the mass of the podium and are screened from public view. Pedestrian supportive 3m setbacks have been provided along Major Mackenzie Drive and Maple Avenue, which assists in creating a consistent streetscape character as the building addresses the corner.
The proposal would house 414 residential dwelling units, in a mix of 15 studio (4%), 293 one-bedroom (70%), 85 two-bedroom (21%) and 9 three-bedroom (5%). Residents of each tower would have access to a total 880m² of amenity space situated on the 7th floor, split nearly evenly between towers, and a north-facing outdoor amenity space along MMDE. The shorter tower has teo elevators, and the taller one has three, for an average of one elevator for every 83 units, indicating brief waits for service at most times.
Three levels of underground parking would provide the development with 396 vehicular parking spaces with 62 of those allocated to visitors' cars. A total of 264 bike parking spaces are also proposed.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, 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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