AlbertC
Superstar
http://thetorontoblog.com/2011/08/2...uilding-on-dundonald-st-near-yonge-wellesley/
Condo tower in the works for site of heritage office building on Dundonald St. near Yonge & Wellesley
20 Aug 2011
Condo tower in the works for site of heritage office building on Dundonald St. near Yonge & Wellesley
20 Aug 2011
Tall “cube” coming? A developer is planning a condo highrise for 17 Dundonald Street in the Yonge & Wellesley area — but the tower’s projected floor count apparently is up in the air.
People living on and near Dundonald Street say various sources — including their city councillor — have told them a new development is in the works for the property, currently the site of a 2.5-storey office building situated just a stone’s throw from the Wellesley subway station. Constructed in 1956 as the Commercial Travellers’ Association of Canada Building, the low-rise office structure was designed by the Toronto architecture firm Weir Cripps and Associates.
The building is included on the city’s inventory of heritage properties; in fact, on June 8 2010, Toronto City Council adopted an “Intention to Designate” for the property. In an April 21 2010 background report presented to city councillors and the Toronto Preservation Board, city planners stated that 17 Dundonald had “cultural heritage value” worthy of designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.
Area residents say Ward 27 City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has told meetings of neighbourhood condo owners that a developer has been discussing redevelopment proposals for 17 Dundonald with city planners. Their intention, apparently, is to construct a highrise condo building in a Cubist style intended to emulate the Modernist architecture of the office building it will replace. But I’ve heard conflicting information about just how tall the building might be: 18, 19, 25 and 30 storeys are the floor counts people have mentioned. Word on the street is that a tower taller than the nearby 22 Condominiums and Continental Tower (23 and 24 storeys, respectively) doesn’t sit well with city planners, who feel too much height would be out of character for Dundonald Street. So far there has been no word on the identity of either the proposed building’s developer or the architectural firm designing it.