Since 2013, the real estate investment firm Slate Asset Management has been acquiring properties in midtown Toronto. It currently holds 10, including all four corners at the intersection of Yonge Street (Toronto’s main drag) and St. Clair Avenue. On the southwest corner, Slate has devised a block plan with a mixed-used tower designed by Studio Gang, which is the architectural firm’s first project in Canada.
Yesterday, Slate and Studio Gang presented information about that block plan and tower during a community meeting of stakeholders that included residents’ groups and the local builders association.
Slate will soon submit this project to Toronto’s City Planning department for approval. It has launched a website to collect feedback and provide updates through the planning process. If all goes as expected, the project is scheduled for completion in 2024.
The 522-foot-tall, 51,049-sm tower, dubbed One Delisle (Delisle Street is a cross street), is located at a transit node, as Slate’s vision is to establish this area as a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood. “Because of our holdings, we’re in a unique position to take a holistic city building approach,” said Brandon Donnelly, Slate’s vice president of development, in a prepared statement.
The building will align with the neighborhood’s existing architecture, as well as with storefronts on Yonge Street. Two- and three-story retail buildings are currently on the property where the tower would be built. The plan calls for the historic façade of one of those buildings to be retained, but also pushed back 11.5 feet to create a 23-ft wide sidewalk along Yonge Street. Generous setbacks in general will allow for wider sidewalks and increased sunlight at street level.
Studio Gang has designed the 16-sided, 48-story tower as a series of eight-story elements that spiral up the façade. This design will allow for various-sized floor plates and diverse retail and residential options. Each of the 263 one- to three-bedroom residences in the tower will have its own terrace or balcony. And each element will be topped with planted terraces and protected balconies within them to extend outdoor living.
Ground-floor retail would be the base of a tower whose eight-story hexagonal elements taper at the top. Image: Norm Li, Courtesy of Studio Gang
The hexagonal modules that would comprise the building’s façade will provide passive solar heating and cooling. Three-fifths of the building’s façade will be opaque, allowing for better insulation. “The geometry of the façade, and the self-shading it provides, allow each living space to stay cool in summer, while also optimizing winter light,” said Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang’s founder, in a statement.
The AOR on this redevelopment project is Toronto-based WZHM Architects, whose office is located at Yonge and St. Clair. Urban Strategies is providing urban design and planning consultation. Janet Rosenberg & Studio is the landscape architect. Other Building Team members so far include Magnusson Klemenic Associates (SE), ERA Architects (heritage consultants), BA Group (transportation and planning consultants), WSP Global (sustainability consultant), and Theakston Environmental (environmental and wind consultant).
Slate has been active in its efforts to revive the Yonge and St. Clair area of midtown. In 2016 it commissioned an eight-story mural that a British artist known as Phlegm—in collaboration with a local muralist Stephanie Bellefleur—painted onto the side of a 12-story building. Slate also introduced a Gensler-designed ravine bench along Yonge Street in the summer of 2017. Slate in collaboration with Janet Rosenberg & Studio is currently revitalizing and expanding the Delisle-St. Clair Parkette by combining a surface parking lot with existing green space, enlarging the aggregate area by 50%.
The other properties that Slate has acquired in midtown Toronto over the past four years are mostly office towers that it is renovating, says Vakis Boutsalis, a spokesperson for the developer.
Related Stories
Urban Planning | Aug 16, 2021
Building with bikes in mind: How cities can capitalize on the pandemic’s ‘bike boom’ to make streets safer for everyone
Since early 2020, Americans have been forced to sequester themselves in their homes with outdoor activities, in most cases, being the sole respite for social distancing. And many of people are going back to the basics with a quintessential outdoor activity: biking. Bike sales absolutely skyrocketed during the pandemic, growing by 69% in 2020.
Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021
Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]
New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.
Urban Planning | May 3, 2021
SWA/Balsley unveils Nelson Mandela Park Master Plan for Rotterdam
The conceptual plan provides much-needed central neighborhood and civic open space in the city’s South Maashaven district.
University Buildings | Apr 29, 2021
The Weekly Show, April 29, 2021: COVID-19's impact on campus planning, and bird management strategies
This week on The Weekly show, BD+C Senior Editor John Caulfield interviews a duo of industry experts on 1) how campus planning has changed during the pandemic and 2) managing bird infestations on construction sites and completed buildings.
Urban Planning | Dec 6, 2020
Ford lays out plans for mobility innovation district in Detroit
Its centerpiece is an abandoned train depot whose architecture and decay reflect two sides of this city’s past.
Resiliency | Nov 5, 2020
CRE investors are concerned that cities aren’t resilient enough for climate change
A new ULI-Heitman report states that the biggest challenge to valuation is measuring urban risk mitigation.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 22, 2020
The Weekly show: Universal design in multifamily housing, reimagining urban spaces, back to campus trends
BD+C editors speak with experts from KTGY Architecture + Planning, LS3P, and Omgivning on the October 22 episode of "The Weekly." The episode is available for viewing on demand.
Urban Planning | Jan 23, 2020
Unicorn Island’s first building nears completion
The building is the first on the 67-hectare island.
AEC Tech | Jan 16, 2020
EC firms with a clear ‘digital roadmap’ should excel in 2020
Deloitte, in new report, lays out a risk mitigation strategy that relies on tech.
Urban Planning | Jan 13, 2020
Henning Larsen designs all-timber neighborhood for Copenhagen
The project hopes to set a standard for how modern communities can live in harmony with nature.