DEVELOPMENT IN TORONTO : TOO FAR GONE?

Here’s a very good example of the bonkers condo development going on in Toronto. First, we get a look at this projected future of Yonge and Eglinton, an area where I recently lived ?- one of the most favourite areas for property developers in Canada. ?

In less than one sq kilometre there has been an explosion of development because of the new Eglinton Crosstown subway line that apparently will open sometime in the future.

?Here’s a schematic that was submitted to the City of Toronto at what has been approved and under consideration at our favourite intersection. The numbers are the height in stories of each development for the marked land area.?

Yellow is existing built projects or currently under construction, Orange is proposed, but not yet approved projects, Green is approved projects, but not going yet.

The Latest news.

Two 50+ story condos are now being proposed ?that will be built 45 centimetres apart !??- one at 2346 Yonge (50 floors proposed) and the other ‘right next door’ at 2350 Yonge (56 Floors proposed) just north of the Yonge Eglinton intersection on land currently occupying by a handsome Royal Bank branch and a bunch of two-story retail stores.?

so here is how the development website Urban Toronto describes the issue

"Positioned within just 0.45 meters from the shared lot line with 2350 Yonge Street, the development at 2346 Yonge presents a unique architectural challenge typical of dense urban settings.?To accommodate this proximity, the north-facing side of the 2346 Yonge Street tower would feature a blank, windowless wall. The design for 2350 Yonge Street to the immediate north includes south-facing windows, however. Currently under review by the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT), the expectation is that a finalized design for 2350 Yonge Street would also incorporate a blank, windowless condition on its south side so that the buildings could co-exist.?It remains to be seen whether the City and/or OLT would approve two tall buildings so close to each other even if the designs have no windows facing their neighbour.”

Even if these two developers come to their senses and decide to build one condo instead of wrecking two, Yonge and Eglinton will be a unparalleled nest of high-rise condominiums when the planners and developers finally finish their approval process.

When it’s all built from just what we know now , here is a rendering of the intersection done by Steve Velasco,?looking northwest ?in white are the buildings that currently exist, blue ones currently under-construction, the orange are planned

By my count, that’s an additional 15 buildings with heights 50 floors or higher that could be coming.

What I think they forgot about in all this capital investment – (yes, there will be a new subway line eventually opening which is the reason for this), but the issue that hasn't been solved is the 2 metre sidewalks that can’t be widened, the fact that there are no more parks planned for the area and the current park is already used to maximum capacity, and you will probably have to home school your children, because the commute will be take too much time.

Its already a tough walk with the people that already live in the neighbourhood before the more than 1000 new floors of condos go up. ?

So when I come and visit you in your new condo at Yonge and Eglinton and you show me your beautiful view, I will almost guarantee that before you decide to sell, it won’t be anything special, except that you can see absolutely everything happening in the home next door, mere metres away 45 stories above the ground, and you will grind your way through a commuter throng every time you decide to leave your home in the sky. ?