A proposed condo development just grew by 18 floors since it was first pitched in 2023, and is now planned to soar 63 levels into the sky.
The evolving proposal from BV Realty Partners is planned to rise from 2 Cawthra Square, a short street extending roughly 100 metres west from Jarvis Street just north of Wellesley.
An April 2023 proposal for the same site called for 45 storeys and the demolition of a group of homes from 2 through 12 Cawthra Square.
Among these properties, two of the homes (at 6 and 8 Cawthra Square) were designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in a June 2024 council decision, sending planners back to the drawing board to formulate a new plan incorporating the heritage-protected structures that were previously slated for demolition.
The resulting updated plan features a design from ZAS Architects that retains the outer facades and roofs of the two heritage homes, which would be surrounded by a modern podium with V-shaped structural elements supporting cantilevered levels above.
The tower’s proposed height has leapt from 45 floors to 63, gaining 18 storeys since the last submission, now planned to reach a height of almost 207 metres. If completed today, it would rank as the 23rd tallest building in Toronto.
As one would imagine with such a substantial height increase, there has been a corresponding jump in unit count.
The revised 2024 plan proposes 590 new units, including 576 condos and 14 rentals to replace those on site today, in accordance with the City’s rental housing demolition policies. This figure represents a significant increase from the 474 units proposed just the year before.
The previous 45-storey version of the proposal from 2023.
Other changes introduced to the plan since last year include a new self-contained community office hub measuring roughly 517 square metres in the western portion of the podium.
The proposal also notes that the plan’s consolidation of residential properties on Cawthra Square presents a future opportunity to close a section of the short street to traffic and convert it to a pedestrian-focused mews that would act as a reimagined entrance to Barbara Hall Park just west of the site.
Planners representing the developer note the opportunity to intensify a “built-up area in the Downtown Toronto Urban Growth Centre making use of existing infrastructure within three major transit station areas.”
As such, the plan proposes very little in the way of vehicle parking, with just 26 spaces (18 for residents and eight for visitors) within its two-level underground parking component. The majority of residents would be expected to make use of both public transit and a significant bicycle parking component of 650 spaces.
