A fairly large site to work with, and it's good to see that Medallion are looking to bring back a grocery store after as the anchor retailer in the new building. They mention about this being a mid-rise development so I'm guessing something around 8-12 storeys.


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The Valu-Mart and the Garden Centre are rather important for the neighbourhood.

It's a large site. If I was the developer I would be looking at two towers peaking at 15 storeys or something interlinked with midrise podium?

I do appreciate their project website. Haven't seen other developers do something like this before but it is a nice touch.

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The application for 1466-1500 is planned to be submitted to the City of Toronto’s planning department by the end of August by developer Medallion Corp.

It is planned to be at least an eight-storey building consisting of one- to three-bedroom rental units with retail on the bottom floor and architecture by Quadrangle. It would include public and private underground parking.

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While the building remains within the eight-storey limit set in planning guidelines set by the city and province, it joins a number of other developments in the area that are going beyond the current two-storey makeup.

“This is the fourth development that we are aware of on the west side of Bayview,” said Geoff Kettel, Leaside Residents Association Co-President, noting that so far they have been in the west part of the neighbourhood and on its outskirts.

Kettel said the character of the neighbourhood is changing in the taller direction, but that it can have a positive impact on the area by bringing in more customers for businesses, as long as a vibrant street character is preserved.

Kettel joined other members of the community at a meeting held last week by Medallion to discuss the proposal. He said the building had design cues from the Brickworks, but residents found it “strange.”

“We suggested they consider taking design cues more from the neighbourhood,” he said. “Leaside is not about individually prominent buildings. It’s more about fitting in.”
 
1466 BAYVIEW AVE
Ward 15: Don Valley West


View attachment 278618

Purpose-built rental.

Already has strong potential!

Assuming the retail is a returning Valumart (likely City Market); that's a decent sized expansion from just shy of 12,000ft2 to ~18,000ft2

However, that's only about 1/2 the footprint of the current store + parking.

I hope that means a significant park/pops on-site and not a lot of dead frontage.
 
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I'm glad they're sticking to a reasonable height here. Still tall for the area, but it's okay. Streetlevel is my biggest concern as well...this should be a pleasant development to walk past.
 
I was in lockdown so long I only recently realized traffic lights were installed at this intersection earlier this year. An improvement in my eyes, especially for the Bayview bus routes trying to turn North from Davisville.
 
Am I greedy in wanting a bit more retail here?

Valumart could have been second floor, while some other retailers occupy the ground level. I would have liked to see LCBO relocate to a bigger floorplate here for instance.
 
Am I greedy in wanting a bit more retail here?

Valumart could have been second floor, while some other retailers occupy the ground level. I would have liked to see LCBO relocate to a bigger floorplate here for instance.

I don't think you'll see second-floor retail in a building of this size.

The reason for 2nd floor retail is partially design (to avoid a big box dominating the block at street level); but also because ground floor square footage is too expensive for a larger space.

The footprint of Valu-mart isn't that large; and the premium per ft2 for Bayview not so high as to warrant its inclusion.

Also, keep in mind, retail will have higher ceilings than residential in a normal new build, which would have added to the height which may already attract adverse attention in the area (not that it should)

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Side note, I'm surprised to see them use the Valu-Mart name in the render.

It was my understanding this banner was being phased out for the City Market name.
 
Retail on the second floor would remove the two largest residential floorplates, likely making the project a non-starter. The total residential area remaining would be too marginal. Especially on avenues sites like this where the upper floors are usually marginal amounts of density with low profitability due to higher construction costs. The most "profitable" levels of residential in mid-rise sites is the first couple of floors as they are the most efficient.
 
Taking in 1518 Bayview might make sense if they can get it - but we don't use that dry cleaners or the ju jitsu place behind, whereas if they go even further and try and take in Kama Sutra my wife is going to be down to Matlow's office with a pitchfork and a torch :)
 

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