St. Jamestown infill zoning: 1,115 new units across three towers, four buildings retained

housing

St. Jamestown infill zoning: 1,115 new units across three towers, four buildings retained

Toronto and East York Community Council approved a zoning amendment for a mixed-use infill development at Wellesley and Parliament that adds 1,115 dwelling units in three new buildings while keeping the four existing rental towers on site with 2,251 units. The site also gains a new public park and the reinstatement of Rose Avenue as a public street.

not yet heardToronto City Council · Wed, Jul 29

Also in this item

• Four existing rental apartment buildings containing 2,251 units are preserved on site as part of the infill, limiting residential displacement despite the 1,115 new units added.

• A new public park of 1,894 square metres and reinstatement of Rose Avenue as a public street from Wellesley to Howard create new public realm in the St. Jamestown block.

The journey

Wed, Jul 8 · Toronto and East York Community Council · amended

Wed, Jul 29 · Toronto City Council · not yet heard

Decision

Zoning by-law amendment approved to permit a 58-storey, 9-storey, and 21-storey mixed-use building complex with 1,115 new units, 3,164.5 square metres of non-residential space including 464.5 square metres of community space, retention of all four existing rental buildings (2,251 units), demolition of four rental units (delegated to Chief Planner), extension of Rose Avenue to Howard Street, and a new 1,894 square metre public park.

On video

Jump to this item in the meeting video

Why is this story here?

Big deal at city hallThe amendment permanently rezones a 4.5-block site in downtown Toronto to permit a complex of three new towers (58, 21, and 9 storeys) and commits the existing four rental towers to remain. This is hard to reverse without a major political fight and affects a large class of people: current residents of the four retained buildings, residents of the 1,115 new units, and the broader downtown housing stock. The decision locks in a mixed-income form for this site for decades.Felt nowThis zoning change directly affects residents of the four retained rental buildings (2,251 units currently living there), future residents of the 1,115 new units, and daily pedestrians and cyclists using the new public park and Rose Avenue. The change permits new density that reshapes a major downtown block in a recognizable way. However, the decision is zoning-level (permitting), not yet a construction notice or occupied unit, so the present-week effect is the formal opening of the site to development rather than immediate livability changes. Salience is 2, not 3, because the substantive daily-life changes (new housing occupied, park usable, traffic patterns settled) are forward-looking; the zoning approval is the gate permitting them.

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Official title: 238-280 Wellesley Street East and 650 Parliament Street - Zoning By-law Amendment Application - Decision Report - Approval · meeting video