Location: 3180 Dufferin Street, North York
Developer: RioCan Living and Woodbourne Capital Management
Architect: IBI Group
The site of a former car dealership is being eyed for a potential two-building rental development located just south of Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
In early March, a Zoning By Law Amendment application was submitted to city planners to construct two purpose-built rental buildings with 555 units between them at 3180 Dufferin Street in North York. The developers, RioCan Living and Woodbourne Capital Management, have previously worked on rental projects across Toronto, including Litho. Apartments, The Well Apartments and Pivot Apartments.
The proposed development site is located on the southwest corner of Dufferin Street and Samor Road, slightly north of the Dufferin Street and Lawrence Avenue West intersection. The rectangular lot spans approximately four acres, and is occupied by two vacant one- to two-storey commercial buildings that were previously used for a car dealership and garage facility. Surface parking areas and a former body shop are also located on the site.
If approved, developers would demolish the existing commercial buildings and construct a nine- and seven-storey building on two separate blocks, known as Block One and Block Two.
A new north-south public street would separate the blocks from one another and join into Samor Road on the northern perimeter of the site. According to the planning rationale authored by Bousfields Inc., the proposal has been designed to coordinate with a separate development plan located south of the lot at 3140-3170 Dufferin Street. When both plans are built, the southern development will help to form an east-west private street that would connect into the new north-south street slated for 3180 Dufferin Street.
Block One is located on the corner of Dufferin Street and Samor Road on the east side of the lot. Spanning 250,497 square-feet of gross floor area, this mixed-use building would reach nine storeys with a tenth-storey pop-up element. In the southwest corner of the site, a 15,586-square-foot park has been proposed behind Block Two.
The Block One building would contain 15,758 square feet of ground-floor retail space inside the four-storey base portion facing Dufferin Street. A leasing office and lobby would be built fronting onto the new north-south street. An indoor amenity space would occupy the ground-floor southwest corner, topped by an open-air courtyard. Access to Block One’s two-level underground garage with 211 spaces would be provided via an internal courtyard, accessible from the east-west private street.
Block One would house 302 rental suites, six of which would be ground-floor townhomes fronting onto Samor Road. The breakdown would include 25 studios, 135 one-bedroom and one-bedroom plus den units, 107 two-bedroom units and 35 three-bedroom units.
Slightly smaller than its sister building, Block Two would encompass 187,614 square feet of gross floor area across seven storeys. A residential lobby, leasing office and an indoor amenity area would share the ground floor of the four-storey base building, while indoor and outdoor amenities would be incorporated within the base’s mezzanine level and second floor. A single-level underground garage would provide the building with 159 parking spaces.
Block Two would contain 12 studios, 126 one-bedroom and one-bedroom plus den units, 80 two-bedroom units and 35 three-bedroom units for a total of 253 rental apartments. Twenty-two of the units would be ground-floor townhomes.
In the neighbourhood, registration is open for Express Condos, while sales are underway at Wenderly Park Towns.
