The Annex is about to get significantly more dense. Already a neighbourhood with significant mid-size apartment structures (many of which are bunched near U of T), the condo era got underway with the arrival of B. Streets at Bloor and Bathurst back in 2013. Now redevelopment is set to take off with major changes in store on the current Honest Ed's site and a new 42-storey tower planned for Madision and Bloor.

What exactly is in store at the southwest corner of Bloor and Bathurst has yet to be revealed (an open house is scheduled for March 3), but preliminary renderings of the latter condo have been filed with the city. It will be way taller than anything in the immediate vicinity, with closest neighbours like Tartu and the old Rochdale College building just shy of 20-storeys.

Is 40+ storeys too high for the Annex? One suspects that some neighbourhood residents will make this claim, but given the proximity to both Line 1 and 2, it's difficult to make a disinterested argument that tall buildings like this don't belong on this stretch of Bloor. As for the design, this isn't exactly going to be an architectural gem.

The proposal has yet to be approved, but you can bet that it won't be the last one to target the Annex for large scale condo development. It's coming. The only question is what it will ultimately look like.