It’s been over a year since we’ve seen development plans from Osmington Gerofsky Development Corp, the firm behind a “slender” 50-storey tower proposed for 6355 Yonge Street last spring. Now, OGDC has put plans in motion to bring a pair of high-rise condo towers to a site around the corner from Glencairn subway station. On top of that, the spot at 253-263 Viewmount Avenue and 12-18 Romar Crescent is just a 15-minute walk from the future Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
Seeing as the site is the epitome of transit-oriented, what OGDC is proposing is more or less what you’d expect; the Toronto-based development company is looking to replace eight freehold houses with 35- and 39-storey condo towers, bringing over 1,000 new residential units to the area in the process.
Wallman Architects
Wallman Architects
According to OGDC’s plans, filed in mid-June, the towers would rise 108 and 120 metres, and would jointly contain 58,739 sq. m of gross floor area — all of which would be dedicated to residential.
On that note, the two towers would accommodate 1,055 new condo units, 30% of which would be “large units,” according to the planning report. The report specifies 215 two-bedroom units and 108 three-bedroom units, which “exceeds the recommendation of 15% two-bedroom and 10% three-bedroom units in the City’s Growing Up Guidelines, allowing for significant opportunity to provide family-oriented housing adjacent to transit.”
In addition, 223 vehicle parking spaces and 1,161 bicycle spaces have been proposed, as well as 565 sq. m of parkland dedication.
Wallman Architects
Wallman Architects
For its amenity part, the two towers are planned to include 1,314 sq. m indoors and 2,378 sq. m outdoors. The planning report describes the indoor and shared outdoor amenity spaces to be “co-located” on the first, second, eighth, and ninth floors. “The co-location of indoor and shared outdoor amenity spaces maximizes the utility of these spaces for residents, taking advantage of views of the park,” the report says.
The ground floor amenity space is set to include a co-working space, pet spa, kid’s play area, and a common lounge, while fitness and wellness amenities, a games room, and a workshop are planned for the second floor. Large balconies and “gardens that terrace down to the landscaped outdoor amenity” on the first floor are slated for levels 2, 8, and 9.
Renderings prepared by Wallman Architects show two rectangular towers with a shared podium. The towers are lined with projecting balconies. The six-storey podium has been designed to be “consistent” with the pedestrian-scaled street wall.
Wallman Architects
With all of that said, one of the bigger selling points of OGDC’s proposal is that it stands to make better use of the Glencairn TTC station, which the report notes is “one of the most under-utilized” stations, with the 11th lowest ridership on Line 1.
“The existing low-rise built form of the area, with predominantly single-detached homes, was developed prior to the subway line and is therefore based on automobile dependency. It neither takes advantage of the excellent existing or future transit opportunities, nor is reflective of the current mobility patterns in the city or neighbourhood,” the report notes. “The intensification of the site allows more people to live within a two-minute walk from Glencairn subway station.”
