Huge tower to rise above a century-old warehouse in Toronto
Few areas of Toronto have quite the mash-up of heritage and modernity as Liberty Village, where the area's industrial-era character lives on in the bases of new residential builds.
Another such plan is in the works for Liberty Village, seeking to add a 43-storey rental tower to the site of the almost-century-old Liberty Storage Warehouse at 80 Lynn Williams Street.
Commissioned in 1929, the heritage-listed Liberty Storage Warehouse has undergone various uses in its almost 100-year existence, ranging from a Department of Defence production storage site in the 1950s to a condominium sales centre in the mid-2000s.
A 2015 plan for the site sought to build just 16 storeys on the property, an ask that has almost tripled in size after eight years on the back burner.
Now in the hands of new owners Shiplake, a resubmitted plan landed with city planners in mid-October, calling for a 43-storey purpose-built rental tower incorporating a portion of the warehouse building, as well as a new public park.
Plans would see the northern portion of the warehouse demolished to make way for the new tower, while the southern end of the building would be retained and incorporated into the base of the development.
A design from architects gh3 offsets a tower volume above a six-storey podium. The entire structure is clad in a grid of red-pigmented precast concrete panels that frame punched windows.
The rental housing market would receive an infusion of 588 purpose-built rental units, proposed in a range of unit types.
Residents of said units would have access to spectacular city views, courtesy of a 365-square-metre outdoor rooftop amenity space which would wrap around the southern portion of the tower's 43rd floor and connect with a 179-square-metre indoor amenity area.
Locals forced to endure construction will also be rewarded for their patience, with plans to dedicate a 337-square-metre portion at the southeast corner of the site (at 70 Western Battery Road) as a new public park.
The almost 3x size increase over the 2015 proposal speaks to the ongoing change in the surrounding area.
The proposal site is located in an area well-primed for more residential density, in close proximity to the current Exhibition GO Station and its future Ontario Line connection to the southwest, as well as the planned King-Liberty GO Station to the northwest.
gh3/City of Toronto
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