Parking lot could become condo tower
A North Toronto parking lot could soon make way for a highrise condo tower.
That’s the plan for a surface car lot on the northeast corner of Orchard View Boulevard and Duplex Avenue.
Originally the developer proposed a 20-storey building but the revised version is shorter at 18 storeys with 230 units, says city planner Christian Ventresca.
Eglinton-Lawrence Councillor Karen Stintz said there are still some issues to work out regarding this application.
“There are still concerns about height, concerns about the entrance and exit (vehicles access) for the site and it’s dominating that corner,” she said. “If it’s an unchanged application, there’s not much the city can do. It’s up to the developer if they want to make changes to the height and density.”
Stintz has contacted the developer a few times in recent months for an update and hasn’t heard back. The Town Crier contacted the developer’s law firm and did not get a response by press time.
Further background reports on this site reveal that a different plan was proposed for a 17-storey, 185-unit condo tower that was refused by the city in 2003. On site there used to be three semi-detached homes that were rented out, but after they were vacated the previous owner let the units fall into disrepair.
At the time residents complained the abandoned dwellings were unsafe and full of garbage. They were demolished in 2005. The new owner Orchard View Holdings Inc. took over the site and in 2007 got approval from the committee of adjustment to build a temporary parking lot.
So far no decisions have been made on the current proposal for an 18-storey condo building.