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The strip of Dundas Street west from Kipling in Etobicoke is not renowned as Toronto's most beautiful. In fact, the hodgepodge of single storey retail, the sea of parking lots, and the odd small office block thrown in, makes for quite the eyesore. Change is coming however in the form of a number of proposals currently in the works. Today we bring you news about two projects that will be put forward at public meetings in the next few weeks.
The two projects under consideration in this case are contiguous blocks of land on the south side of Dundas east of Shorncliffe Road. 5415 through 5481 Dundas West with 15 and 25 Shorncliffe Road forms an L shape around the smaller plot at 5485 and 5487 Dundas. The L shaped lot would feature 6 towers between 24 and 35 storeys, plus two 12-storey slabs along Dundas Street. In total the project would have 1,830 dwelling units plus 1,600 square metres of ground level retail commercial space facing Dundas. An internal roadway would distribute traffic to the building entrances and parking garage exits, with connecting links to Dundas Street. The roadway would also connect to the corner lot and Shorncliffe Road on the west. The corner lot would feature a connected 9-storey podium and a tower topping out at 25 storeys. This project proposes 382 units in the tower and podium with another 11 townhouse units along the internal street. We know nothing yet about who might develop the properties, but we do know that Dunshorn Holdings Inc., a consortium of the owners of the amalgamated lots which form the larger L-shaped lot, have contracted Quadrangle Architects to design the project. We do not know the designer of the corner lot. Let's get a look at the projects. Here is the larger L-shaped lot designed by Quadrangle, minus the corner lot proposal. Note that the four white buildings behind it represent approved towers should the Canadian Tire store on the site be redeveloped.
Here is the whole assemblage with emphasis on the corner lot, first from the air, and then, oddly enough, from below the surface.
Here's what the spot looks like now, from Google Maps and Streetview.
A public meeting is expected in March to discuss the proposals. Much more information about each proposal can be found in the Planning Department's Rezoning Amendment Applications, linked in UrbanToronto's Project and Construction threads which have been created for each project. You can visit the 5415 Dundas thread here, and the 5485 Dundas thread here. One can expect the public response will to these developments will not be universally positive; it never is of course. Here there will be questions whether such a busy road can handle all of the traffic these new buildings will create, all the while the site is walking distance from Toronto's most westerly subway station. Kipling is a GO station too in fact. Of note as well is that the larger property contains a protected easement for the future westerly extension of the Bloor-Danforth subway along its entire southern flank. Other concerns are likely to be raised by residents north of the commercial strip along Dundas having a whole new skyline south of them. It is also imaginable conversely that some area residents will be happy about local regeneration and a likely commensurate increase in the value of their properties. All in all, the public meetings should be very interesting. What is your take on this kind of development coming to Toronto's suburban arterials? Please add your comments below, or join in the discussion in UrbanToronto's threads for these projects, linked two paragraphs above!
