PMT

Senior Member
Member Bio
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
3,958
Reaction score
8,586
City:
Toronto
1400 GERRARD ST E
Ward 14: Toronto-Danforth


Rezoning to alter the existing mixed-use building containing 1 dwelling unit by constructing a 7-storey addition containing 18 new residential dwelling units.

Current site:

1651614642506.png
 
Pretty major change for that block, height-wise. Some greater density on this strip would be good however... that stretch could use an injection of robust urban vitality.
 
It's been gussied up somewhat more in the two or three blocks west of Coxwell, especially on the south side, and the whole strip is a lot nicer than it was, say, twenty or thirty years ago. But it could go a lot further and host more mid-rise residential.
 
Nice. I like the setbacks and the massing, but I find myself wishing that brick cladding would go all the way up, at least on the front facade. The switch to a lesser/cheaper cladding as you climb feels like a value-engineered cliché by now.
 
Bigger issue is the lack of windows on the sides. Sure, they're protecting against potential next door development. But separation distance regs would ensure the immediate next door site is not developable anyway, without assembly.
 
Yes, windows on the sides would indeed be nice. Kind of odd that they didn't think to provide them - or thought about it and decided to skip the idea, for whatever reasons. Blank facades like that strike me as lost opportunities.
 
Unless Percy Ellis made a Limiting Distance Agreement with their neighbours to forgo their development rights (which would likely cost the developer into the millions), the City would never, ever, ever, ever, ever allow windows on the side walls. Ever.

42
 
I was in a older building once in Manhattan. 30 floors maybe. The kitchen had a window with a curtain covering it. I wanted to see the view. It was a cinder block wall maybe a foot away. Funny.
 

Back
Top