Yonge and Eg could see two more new towers

Coun. Stintz wants proposed adjacent buildings to merge together

A proposed 28-storey tower on the first block of the recently approved Postal Station K project has gone before the Ontario Municipal Board.

A development company called KCAP Helendale Inc. is proposing a mixed-use residential and commercial building entailing a six-storey base building with two floors of commercial space and a 22-storey tower element at the intersection of Yonge Street and Helendale Avenue, north of Eglinton Avenue West.

The development is adjacent to another proposed development on the west. Ward 16 councillor Karen Stintz said she is advocating for the two towers to merge into one.

“What [the developers] are proposing in those two towers is too aggressive for the site, so we want them to come together and figure out a way that they can have one tower, basically, and figure out a way that we can make that work for the block and for the developers,” she said.

Eglinton Park Residents’ Association chair Tom Cohen said merging the two towers would be ideal. If the two proposed projects are approved, he said he would be all right with it, “but we’d like to keep them a bit more modest in bulk.” This would entail making the buildings shorter and, perhaps, slimmer to increase the space between them, he added.

“What [the developers] are proposing is too aggressive.”

“All these things are architecturally tricky,” he said, “but one can work on it.”  The residents’ association also wants to ensure that less than five hours of shadow is cast from the building onto the intersection, Cohen explained, along with maintaining wide sidewalks. He doesn’t anticipate that the latter will be problematic.

The proposed development is in an area that is the subject of the City of Toronto’s Yonge, Duplex, Helendale and Orchard View Planning Study.

Results from the block study will be brought to North York Community Council this month, said Al Rezoski, West Section manager of North York District Community Planning for the City of Toronto.

The proposed development is in an area that is the subject of the City of Toronto’s Yonge, Duplex, Helendale and Orchard View Planning Study.

Results from the block study will be brought to North York Community Council this month, said Al Rezoski, West Section manager of North York District Community Planning for the City of Toronto.

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