Last week, in a marathon four-day meeting, the Toronto City Council approved the Planning Committee’s recommendations, giving the go-ahead to dozens of development proposals and the cold shoulder to fewer than a dozen. The permits included the mixed-use development of St. Clair Place at the northeast corner of Yonge Street and St. Clair Avenue East in the city’s Deer Park neighborhood.
Northeast corner of Yonge and St. Clair, image courtesy of Capital Developments
The site encompasses the entire block extending north to Heath Street and east to Alvin Street. The total gross floor area of the proposal is 126,625 sqm resulting in a site density of 9.25 FSI.
St. Clair Place site plan, image courtesy of Capital Developments
Capital Developments managed the rezoning of the property on behalf of the property owner, Wittington Properties Limited. The proposal consists of three residential towers of 27, 39 and 44 floors and a mid-rise building of 13 floors, all designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects. You are directly across from Yonge from the iconic One Delisle Tower, designed by Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects, construction of which has just begun.
Looking south towards St. Clair Place and One Delisle, image courtesy of Capital Developments
Among the 1,361 new residential units, 520 will be two-room apartments (38%) and 136 three-room apartments (10%). The upper floors of the three towers offer terraced units, while living and working units are found at the foot of the two eastern buildings. 40 rental replacement units will also form part of the development, replacing the existing 36 units that are being demolished on site.
Street level and entrance to large public space, image courtesy of Capital Developments
The development will include 2,722 m² of indoor and 1,361 m² of outdoor facilities for residents – plus a 1,400 m² POPS (Privately Owned Public Access Space) for all, running north-south between the buildings. It will feature seating and planting and will be enlivened by retail spaces opposite. The base buildings facing the POPS grow 3 to 4 stories in height before creating a tier with the towers above, while maintaining a human scale in the ground area.
Grand Shared Space by day, image courtesy of Capital Developments
In the image above we are looking north through the POPs by day… and below by night south. The pavements will increase in width at the north end of the site to reveal views of the park and the spire of Yorkminster Church, as seen above.
The public space will also feature a number of public artworks funded by the developer, although commissioned artworks are still under review.
Grand Shared Space at night, image courtesy of Capital Developments
A 1,560 m² park is being built to the north of the POPS. It’s on the northwest corner of the site and is pictured below. Both the park and the POPS are designs by Claude Cormier + Associés. Cormier is famous in Toronto for her remake of Berczy Park and his instantly popular “Dog Fountain”, is currently working on the high-profile “Love Park” on York and Harbor streets, and has several other commissions around the city.
Public Park, image courtesy of Capital Developments
The commercial space at St. Clair Place will cover 20,524 sqm and will be located on the first and second floors of the buildings bordering the public areas.
Retail will be spread over two floors, image courtesy of Capital Developments
500 car spaces are located in a three-story underground garage with access from Heath Street East and Alvin Avenue, along with parking for 1,741 bicycles. The site is directly linked to St Clair tube station on Yonge Line 1, which is also served by the St Clair tram and a number of bus routes.
We will continue to monitor development progress, but in the meantime you can learn more about it from our database file linked below. If you’d like, you can join the conversation in the associated project forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Affiliates: |
Bousfields, Claude Cormier + Associés, Diamond Schmitt Architects, Gradient Wind Engineers & Scientists, Grounded Engineering Inc., Janet Rosenberg & Studio, Norris Fire Consulting Inc., RWDI Consulting Engineers and Scientists, Terraprobe Inc., Urban Strategies Inc., WZMH Architects |