A plan to redevelop the northeast corner of Avenue Road and Yorkville Avenue has been at the centre of a citywide debate for four years. Although a revised proposal was recently submitted for the development, locals and heritage advocates still have concerns.
Alan Baker has lived in Yorkville for more than 15 years and has seen it transform, with nine more development proposals under review. But there’s one application that’s of keen interest to Baker: the site at 33-45 Avenue Rd. and 140-148 Yorkville Ave., also known as York Square, which sits across from his condo on Cumberland Street.
“We recognize that a tower is going to go up, but there’s a certain height that … residents feel would be excessive,” said Baker, who serves as vice-president of the Greater Yorkville Residents’ Association.
The proposal dates back to 2012 and has gone through several revisions. The most recent site plan application was submitted by Empire Communities in March. It proposes to reduce the height from 40 to 30 storeys, with retail on the first three floors.
Oren Tamir, senior planner for Toronto city planning, shares Baker’s concerns regarding the proposed height of York Square.
“It’s not in keeping with the existing and planned urban structure for the Bloor-Yorkville area,” he said, noting that the official plan calls for building heights to decrease north of Bloor Street along Avenue Road.
However, the proposed height is not the only concern surrounding the development — the site is also historically significant. It is home to seven Victorian houses that date back to the early 1900s. In 1968, the homes were repurposed into a commercial square of shops, galleries and restaurants with an open courtyard. Renamed York Square, it was one of the first examples of adaptive reuse in the city, playing a prominent role in Yorkville’s subsequent revitalization.
“[York Square] was the one that completely changed the way we think about building in Toronto,” said Catherine Nasmith, president of the Toronto branch of Ontario’s Architectural Conservancy.
“Instead of bulldozing everything to redevelop, like the suburbs … there was the reworking of the facade and retention of heritage.…” she added.
York Square was designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in 2014. The new development proposes to retain the facades of the existing buildings and build overtop of them.
“The development completely overwhelms [the heritage property] and destroys just about everything that was important in its conception,” she said.
Nasmith argued the city would be within its rights to refuse the application. “This is a designated property. They have a right to say no to demolition or alteration.”
An Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) mediation meeting is set to take place this fall. If a resolution cannot be reached, the case will proceed to the OMB for a final hearing on Jan. 9, 2017.
Empire Communities did not respond to requests for comment.
