Smartcentres Set To Build On ‘Strong Recovery’ In 2022

SmartCentres REIT had a very solid 2022 and expects that positive momentum to continue this year, executives revealed during a Feb. 9 conference call to discuss its Q4 and year-end financial and operating results.

“From virtually every perspective, 2022 was a strong recovery and 2023 is shaping up to be more of the same,” said Rudy Gobin, executive vice-president of portfolio management and investments. “Physical retail and especially our value-oriented and enclosed centres continue to be in high demand in communities across Canada.”

SmartCentres’ (SRU-UN-T) portfolio is comprised of 185 properties comprising 3,500 acres and 34.8 million square feet of income-producing retail and office space. Walmart anchors about three-quarters of the retail properties.

“The fourth quarter capped off a year of resurgence both in consumer traffic and retailers wanting more space,” said executive chairman and chief executive officer Mitchell Goldhar.

“Not only are we seeing continued demand for space in most of our nearly 35-million-square-foot value-oriented portfolio, but we are also welcoming new retailers to our centres in many segments, allowing us to provide a more compelling and diverse offering to every community we serve across Canada.”

Pure Industrial In 2022: A Year Of ‘Enormous’ Growth

By any standard, the growth of Pure Industrial across Canada during 2022 was impressive. Shocking might be a better word.

The privately owned investor (the former Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust had been acquired by Blackstone and Ivanhoé Cambridge in 2018 and taken private in a $3.8-billion transaction) opened the year with a $312-million portfolio acquisition and closed it with a $400-million acquisition, both in the Greater Toronto Area.

In between those book-end transactions, it also absorbed the prodigious industrial component of the former Cominar REIT as part of a multi-billion-dollar joint venture transaction.

In effect, a portfolio which started the year at 150 properties exploded to over 415 spanning most of Canada, from Rimouski, Que., in the east to Metro Vancouver in the west and including virtually every major city in-between.

2022 “a great year” for Pure

“The growth in 2022 was enormous,” Pure’s chief operating officer David Owen told RENX in an interview. “We made the Cominar industrial portfolio acquisition, which came with 15 million square feet in the Province of Quebec.

“We hired 60-plus employees and we’ve added a bunch more. We have a comprehensive office in Montreal and Quebec City, and are able to extend our platform reach into that province which is really beneficial.

“From a growth perspective, people, properties and overall platform capability, it’s been a great year for us. The core focus of it being in Montreal, Toronto and to a lesser extent Vancouver.”

Pure’s portfolio now spans over 41 million square feet of space.

Having rapidly become one of Canada’s largest industrial property owners, Pure has carefully cultivated a portfolio which can serve all sizes and types of tenant, particularly in the light industrial and warehousing/distribution sectors.

Ev Battery Plant, Auto Sector Spark Windsor Industrial Surge

Industrial availability is opening up in the tight Windsor market where a huge production facility for lithium-ion batteries and a coming resurgence in automotive production are combining to turn around the city’s fortunes.

CBRE’s office in the city, located just across the border from Detroit, is listing three million square feet. That’s leading some, including CBRE associate vice-president Brad Collins, to predict 2023 could be a record year for industrial transactions in Windsor fuelled by companies wanting to be affiliated with the electric vehicle (EV) battery plant.

Properties at 1000 Henry Ford Centre Dr. and 2935 Pillette Rd., totalling 1.7 million square feet, pushed the 1.4 per cent availability rate in the third quarter up to 4.93 per cent to end the year, according to CBRE. The fourth-quarter vacancy rate was 4.55 per cent.

Collins told RENX there were only four or five existing options for industrial users seeking 100,000 square feet or more so land sales and new construction will remain key going forward.

While Windsor experienced a 12.8 per cent year-over-year increase in average net industrial rent, closing 2022 at $9.27 per square foot, that’s still well below many manufacturing markets across Canada. Double-digit rental rate growth is anticipated for this year.

Low rents have attracted some Greater Toronto Area (GTA) manufacturers that were priced out of that market in recent years, which has benefited the Windsor economy.

“We’re really starting to see groups that historically would stick to the GTA on the investment side and the development side really start to flirt down here,” said Collins.

“We think that’s great from a market standpoint in terms of growing our market and improving the sophistication of some of these developments and types of products we have because a lot of our stock is older stock.

“We haven’t had this development boom historically, despite having availability rates near rock bottom.”

Supply Chain Issues For Canadian Retailers Expected Into 2025: Expert

Interestingly 2022 was a period of adjustment across the supply chain, and it still continues to evolve as we enter 2023, says expert Gary Newbury.

“In 2020 retailers were faced with the prospect of the arrival of a glut of stock into, sometimes, dormant estate arising from lockdowns, which required swift action to cancel merchandise orders. Retailers also needed their website/online services to scale quickly as consumers changed not only their category spending, but also their channel. Most retailers found themselves in a mad scramble, focusing on triaging demand and supply and grabbing whatever inbound trucking and outbound delivery capacity they could find,” said Newbury, Founder of RetailAID Inc. and an Award Winning Strategic Advisor and Delivery Executive across the end to end consumer driven supply chain.

“Further disruption occurred in 2021 with continued (Zero) COVID lockdowns, the Ever Given blockage, significant West Coast port congestion due to a nearly 25 per cent lift in cube leading to rollovers at the origin port (ships leaving without your orders on them!). Complexities surfaced through a lack of supply chain visibility. There were stock outs at factories showing retailers were not as aware of interdependencies in complex supply networks supporting factories 6000 miles away. There were also some extreme weather events, and growing and significant staff shortages in “essential” roles.

“Many modes of transport suffered asynchronous discontinuity, basically things fell apart quickly and getting stock was often reduced to a very stressful firefight with shipping lines, trucking companies, ports and factories, with very little surety as to the exact disposition/status of orders placed. The upshot of this is retailers didn’t need to run intense promotional campaigns during 2021. Demand was unusually high and inventory short. If you had sufficient inventory you could win new customers, if you didn’t, you lost loyal ones.”

He said this supply chain tangle set in motion inflationary pressures, fanned by high government spending in policy areas such as furlough and direct subsidies. Inflation is bad for cost planning. Container charges rose 10-fold over a handfull of months and this smashed budgets and posed a real challenge to on shelf pricing.

Much of this cost was “absorbed” in the short term by retailers, unless they had a strong enough position to pass the costs on to consumers.

“Open 2022 and the balance swung quickly to an inventory glut for many retailers. Both Walmart US and Target declared their hand in Q1 and went to work on clearing their excess stock. This situation was not isolated just to these two apex retailers, it did, nonetheless, show a fundamental breakdown in the internal guide rails between marketing insights, demand planning and supply chain execution, and importantly, the shortfalls in genuine collaboration internally,” explained Newbury.

“The restrictions posed a clear challenge to the organizational culture of most retailers. Culture morphed often forming divisions within an organization. Each silo learnt how to adapt quickly and mobilize staff to what the leader perceived as important. More often than not, for most retailers, it was all hands to the pumps and little time was spent on resetting cultural norms. These were developed, by default, in real time. Suddenly, the supply chain, having sat in the background for decades, was the most important area of a retailer’s business.

“As consumers flocked back to stores, retailers found, once again, they were in a mad scramble to rebalance demand and their, often disjointed inventory position. War broke out late February and the world discovered complex supply chains originating or going via Ukraine. Energy reliance within the EU on Russia became abundantly clear, spiking further inflationary pressures. Some doubt has existed whether Canada is in a recession. The rapid upward trajectory of interest rates during 2022, suggested the Bank of Canada thought we were and started market interventions to calm inflationary pressures, I would argue a year too late.”

Newbury said the years 2023 and 2024 need to be looked at together as he believes we still have another two years of supply chain adjustment and transformation ahead until the final stage of rebalancing during 2025 arrives.

According to Newbury, the key challenges over this period are:

1. This period, due to a reduction in overall discretionary spending, retailers need to find ways of differentiating themselves from their adjacencies. It is clear, now we have been working through the “Great Inventory Glut”, there is very little that can only be bought from one brand (Private label excepted). Experience and convenience are key in this equation and the efficacy of online services will need to be overhauled, technology inserted, repricing for online assortments and a much lower cost profile will be required to ensure e-commerce is profitable;
2. Throughout the end-to-end supply chain, the pandemic highlighted significant visibility gaps, both physically as well as in forecasting demand and planning capacity. A thoughtful approach to deploying mature technology is key in better controlling the progress of merchandising orders through the system, and for creating forecasts that help with optimizing throughput. The leap to AI has not always been one that shows step change in performance, often it can show how badly organized and porous a business’s data gathering and data management is;
3. One of the vital factors in successful supply chain and logistics operations is the ability not only to attract staff to key roles and activities, but to retain talented operatives. Considerable focus must continue to be on the employee experience and discovering the points of friction. At one level this could be pay levels, but more often than not, it can be how engaged the operatives feel they are in their workloads. This is often a factor of the opportunity to collaborate and really see a connection between “that last task done” and the overall goals of the retailer. Communicating strategy and key values of how people will be treated, and expectations clearly, plus demonstrating these in action will go a long way towards improving engagement, achieving superior performance and making the retailer’s supply chain as a destination employment space.

Newbury said the “Just in Time” retail supply chains are a classic example of misthinking how to efficiently respond to consumer demand by constructing merchandising processes and supply chains that are planned out one, two or even three seasons and committing to these plans. These are designed on a “push”, rather than a demand-pull approach and have inherent inefficiencies which we can see in markdowns, clearance and landfill, he said, adding there’s a couple of blindingly obvious factors in the demise of our supply chain designs that manifested over the last three years.

The first is the lack of concerted risk management strategies and/or ensuring that risk stood pari passu (side by side) with the focus on individual logistical element cost optimization.

“Frankly, the way retailers manage their budgets has led us down a path for the cheapest sources, often independent of the risks involved with the origin and transportation distances – what could go wrong here? A question that clearly had not been asked with sufficient robustness during the previous decade,” he said.

Newbury added that there’s also been a lack of real collaboration. The way the current paradigm works to working with partners is “I win if you lose”. This has guided so much of the interface between the retailer and its suppliers. There remains limited motivation to pool energy to bring product to market quickly and respond, very efficiently, to consumer behavioural change. As retail expert George Minakakis stated in The Great Transition, “Competitors are not the enemy, the inability to drive trends is,” said Newbury. The key to driving trends is the ability to coordinate and collaborate internally (marketing insights, demand planning and supply chain execution), as a basis for being able to understand how to collaborate with third parties to drive sustainable levels of profitability,  he said.

“Retailers need to be building a clear strategy against a pictorial representation of what 2025/26 will be. Along this pathway will be the introduction of technological enablers. My thoughts, only mature technologies should be introduced. However prior to that, the strategy should provide a structure of how the triad of People, Process and Technology is to be addressed. Too often the “go to” is to fix long-standing internal business challenges with technology, rather than review culture, leadership, organizational structure, goal setting and incentives,” he said.

“I am optimistic our retailers will be looking to do good things around technologies including micro/nano fulfillment centres, AI to help with forecasting, optimization and improving customer experience, however, unless these core problems are addressed urgently, the adoption of more technology will be disappointing.

“For those outside the supply chain, the focus may have switched back to improving and optimizing more traditional areas, such as Stores and Merchandising. Unfortunately, the supply chain remains a major challenge when volumes start to pick up. This will accelerate the surfacing of many of the problems and unresolved issues that abated as volumes trended down due to China’s Zero COVID lockdowns during the latter stages of 2022.

“The time now is to take some bold moves in redesigning retail supply chains for real agility, based on optionality, collaboration and the thought that the supply chain is a competitive tool in modern retailing, supporting stores and delivering e-commerce experiences on consumers’ porches across Canada.”

Source Retail Insider. Click here to read a full story

Infill Proposal Would Add 35-Storey Rental Tower to Etobicoke Apartment Site

The site of an existing 12-storey Tower-in-the-Park style apartment building is at the centre of a proposal for an infill development that would see the construction of a new 35-storey tower in Etobicoke. Located at 1276 Islington Avenue, the proposal comes from developers Ranee Management who have enlisted Kirkor Architects Planners to preside over the design of the project.

The project would execute a strategy to retain the existing building while making improvements to the public realm, improving the site’s relationship to public transit, and delivering 366 new rental units to the community.

The proposal consists of an application for a Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA) that was submitted to the City in late December. To advance the argument for approval, the site’s location, on Islington Avenue just north of Bloor Street West, is a key consideration. With Islington Station located less than 500m to the south, offering service to the Bloor Line 2 subway, the site’s positioning within a major transit station area (MTSA) makes a favourable case. It’s also worth noting that this particular area is one of several protected MTSAs in Toronto, meaning that any development must include an affordable housing component, in the interest of fostering mixed-income communities.

The site itself enjoys a sizeable total area of 114,877 ft², and is generally triangular in shape, with frontages along Islington Avenue to the east, Cordova Avenue to the west, and Central Park Roadway to the north. A number of factors complicate the development process, however. Not only will the existing 12-storey building need to be retained, but a single storey hydro electric substation at the south corner of the site must be retained as well; the site also contains a sloped grade that rises from east to west by a margin of about one storey, which allowed for a partially above grade parking garage to be constructed for the current building; the proposal, however, would require the demolition of this structure.

The proposal’s massing would see the new tower situated in the southern half of the site, rising from a 3-storey podium, and replacing the esiting parking garage and surface parking. Due to its irregularly-shaped floor-plate, the tower features a set of singular elevations that are defined by the tower’s unconventional shape. The building’s prominent southeast corner draws attention to the formal deviations that occur elsewhere, like a chamfered northeast corner. The tower’s mass is complicated further by a protrusion on the west side, adding an obtuse angle to the southern elevation in a way that seems to reference the massing of the existing T-shaped, 12-storey building.

The elevation drawings shed light on the proposed finishings for the angular exterior, which mainly consist of precast concrete and vision glass. Concrete panels would fill the spaces between the windows where the balconies aren’t present, creating the offset-rectangle pattern that appears to repeat every three storeys. Meanwhile, where there are balconies, light grey spandrel panels would be employed to fill the gaps there. Down on the podium, more precast concrete works with metal panelling and dark grey spandrel to clad the 3-storey base volume.

Interestingly, the proposal has thought hard about how to encourage more public transit use among future residents, considering the proximity to Islington Station, and came up with a plan to reduce vehicle parking to incite this transition. With 145 parking spaces currently servicing the existing building, the proposal would replace 114 of them while adding an additional 206 spaces for the new building. These 320 total spaces would be housed in a 3-storey underground garage that would be built in phases to maintain as much of the current resident parking as possible.

Compared to the old minimum standard which encourages over 500 spaces, this direction would have a positive impact on the use of public transit while simultaneously limiting vehicle trips to and from the development.

Finally, a number of public realm improvements would be implemented in the form of new pedestrian walkways through the site, as well as an at-grade outdoor amenity area. With a total of 366 rental units proposed, 18% of the total would be 2-bedroom layouts, while another 10% would feature 3-bedrooms. Four elevators are proposed in the new building, with a ratio of 1 elevator per 91.5 suites, a good number nicely below the 1 elevator per 100 suite threshold that UrbanToronto has been noting of late.

UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you’d like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.

Source Urban Toronto. Click here to read a full story

Rent Prices Grew At Record Pace In 2022 As Canada Saw Lowest Vacancy Rate In Decades

TORONTO – Rent prices in Canada grew at a record pace last year as the country saw the lowest vacancy rate since 2001, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said.

In a report released Thursday, the federal housing agency said the average rent for a two-bedroom purpose-built apartment, which it uses as its representative sample, grew 5.6 per cent to $1,258 compared with the previous 12-month period.

The CMHC said this increase is a new annual high in data going back to 1990.

The report also said last year’s surging real estate market saw the lowest vacancy rate for purpose-built rentals in decades leaving those searching for a rental property with even fewer options.

The vacancy rate for such properties sat at 1.9 per cent last year, down from 3.8 per cent a year earlier.

New High-Density Dev. Land Sub-Sector Emerges In Hamilton

As we enter 2023, we’re operating in a drastically different financial environment than 2022. With upcoming challenges ahead in the commercial real estate world, it’ll be interesting to observe where future opportunities may lie.

Despite ever-increasing interest rates over the past several months, industrial and multiresidential assets are continually in demand in Hamilton.

The former is witnessing vacancy rates at one per cent and the latter claims the lowest capitalization rates across Canada compared to other asset classes.

In conjunction with this, Hamilton continues to witness unfettered demand for land that can accommodate industrial, low- and high-density residential and student housing development.

In the past four months there have been a few transactions that potentially reveal Hamilton’s high-density development market is beginning to mature and a new subclass is emerging: land with approvals.

It’s important to remember Hamilton only recently has begun to foster and witness a burgeoning high-density development environment, with most projects being constructed downtown.

Retail Leasing In Canada Rebounds With Positive Fundamentals: Morguard Report

Retail leasing market activity rebounded during the latter half of 2021 and early 2022, with the loosening and eventual removal of restrictions on brick-and-mortar store capacity.

Consequently, retailer sales revenues rose, and a modicum of leasing market normalcy was restored. Retail operators focused on revenue growth, balance sheet stabilization, and operational efficiency while landlords focused on increasing occupancy, says Morguard Corporation’s recent Canadian Economic Outlook and Market Fundamentals Report.

“As leasing activity increased, market fundamentals began to stabilize. Vacancy levelled off in certain market segments, having steadily climbed across much of the country in 2020/2021. A combined average vacancy rate of 10.3 per cent was reported for retail properties contained in the MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) Index, as of the first quarter of 2021. The rate has steadily declined since then, with an average of 8.4 per cent reported at the midway mark of 2022. Regional centre and non-anchored strip centre vacancy has also trended downward but remained elevated.

“By early 2022, there was some anecdotal evidence suggesting rents may have begun to stabilize. However, rental rates generally remained below pre-pandemic levels in most regions, particularly for less desirable space. Vacancy and rents have been relatively stable in centres with necessities-based tenants. Looking ahead to 2023/2024, leasing activity will remain relatively muted, having increased over the recent past.”

Keith Reading, Director of Research for Morguard, said the retail sector in 2022 performed better than most people expected.

“I think that after the sort of worst of COVID was over, I think people thought it would be a long journey back. But that’s to say that there aren’t still some weaknesses there. But I think certainly retail fared better than most people thought,” he said.

“And my experience is things are never as bad as people think and they’re never as good as people think. And that was definitely the case with retail. We saw some decent expansion definitely in some of the newer developments. There didn’t seem to be a lot of concern with being able to find tenants. So better than we thought but I will say some of the longer term trends they didn’t go away because of COVID. Regional centres, we’ve still got double digit vacancy in some of the bigger centres. I’m not talking about the Yorkdale’s of the world or the Sherway Gardens. I’m talking about the next tier down . . . Some of those owners have struggled a little bit but I think even there, we’re starting to see vacancies slowly leased up.”

The consensus seems to be that Canada is either going to be in a recession or while we may not move into a recession it will feel like one, he said.

“But either way we’re going to see things slow down and part of that is what’s happened with interest rates,” said Reading.

“The one thing I think though that is working in the favour of consumers is we’ve seen some pretty healthy wage growth over the last little while. Consumer spending has certainly slowed down but people are still spending. We’ve got an unemployment rate of five per cent. That’s pretty close to full employment. So people have jobs right now. They’re still spending. They’re being a little more careful.

“So what does that mean for retailers? Their revenues might not be quite as good as last year. Leasing activity probably not quite as good as last year. But not terrible either. I think going ahead we’ll see things slow down but I don’t predict any kind of disaster. I don’t predict any kind of real pain. I think it’s just going to be quiet, which for real estate is not the best. But I think our country has proven over the decades that we can weather storms better than a lot of other places.”

Reading said COVID did contribute to a small jump in vacancy rates in the retail sector across the board from street fronts to shopping malls. But in some centres vacancy remained in the five to six per cent level even through COVID. Power centres continued to perform relatively well while secondary regional centres felt the most pain.

“If you want to summarize it, I would almost say you went from sort of a six, seven per cent up to eight or nine and now we’re back down to six or seven again,” explained Reading.

“So we’re not in a bad position to weather the next six, nine months of recession or recession-like conditions.”

Reading said investors are looking for properties anchored by grocery, drug and liquor stores – necessity-based retail. That still has a pretty strong audience and it has for several years.

“There is an appetite for shopping centres that have performed relatively well in the past and might need a little tweaking or perhaps more substantially a repositioning where the demographics are good, target market’s good, what can we do long-term, assuming they’ve got the cash to do that or can source the capital. I think there’s still a market for those types of retail assets,” he said.

“I think where it’s a little tougher or the audience is substantially smaller is in the properties where there’s a significant vacancy issue. Perhaps the property is tired. Maybe even at the end of its life cycle and it’s a significant redevelopment of some sort. There are groups that will look at those properties but you’ve got to be very careful. You’ve got to know what you’re doing and you probably need a partnership with a residential developer to add value to that property. It’s no longer strictly retail. It’s what else can you do with the property.”

Retail property sector investment performance has improved recently, following an extended period of negative outcomes, said the Morguard report.

“Properties contained in the MSCI Index generated a moderately attractive 3.1 per cent total return for the year ending June 30, 2022. Previously, retail sector performance patterns were decidedly negative, with total returns of -10.1 per cent and -10.9 per cent posted for the same time period in 2020 and 2021. The return was largely income driven. The capital value erosion of the past few years has eased over the past year. The investment performance improvement of the recent past coincided with a stronger capital flow trend,” it said.

“Canada’s retail property sector recently experienced a significant increase in capital flow. Approximately $13.2 billion of debt and equity investment capital flowed into the sector during 2021 and the first half of 2022 combined. The 18-month total was markedly higher than the $5.7 billion of capital that flowed into the sector in 2019 and 2020 combined. Despite a moderately stronger capital flow trend investors remained cautious, given heightened industry and performance uncertainty. Lower risk properties and centres with necessities-based tenants were coveted. In early 2022, cap rates began to rise, as investors looked to reduce the impact of higher interest rates on performance. The cap rate increase followed a period of increased retail property investment market capital flow.”

The report said Canada’s retail leasing market will continue to stabilize over the near term, against an elevated risk backdrop. Leasing fundamentals will be largely unchanged over the second half of 2022 and into 2023, following an extended period of pandemic-influenced weakness. Vacancy will be relatively flat, across much of the country, given limited expansion activity. Retail sales growth is expected to slow significantly over the near term, which will likely erode retailer revenues. Rents will also stabilize, given elevated vacancy levels in most market segments and muted leasing demand. Some operators will continue to right size, resulting in store closures. On balance, Canada’s leasing market is expected to continue to stabilize over the near term.

“Retail property investment market risk will remain elevated over the near term. The probability of an economic downturn in the second half of 2022 or in 2023 is expected to remain high. A downturn would most certainly have a negative impact on retail sector performance. Additionally, the potentially negative impact of interest rate hikes and inflation on retail consumption is another significant near-term sector risk. At the same time, inflation and higher borrowing costs will erode landlord income streams. Ongoing changes in consumer spending behaviour and supply chain challenges are also significant performance risks. Cap rates will likely rise over the near term, given an elevated level of retail property investment market risk,” said Morguard.

Source Retail Insider. Click here to read a full story

A Toronto Mall Is Getting A Massive Food Hall With 10 New Concepts

Toronto is crazy for food halls, and we’re due to get a massive new one with 10 vendors at one of our most high-traffic malls.

Signs emblazoned with the logo for Oliver & Bonacini (Canoe, Rabbit Hole) are now up for Queen’s Cross Food Hall at the Eaton Centre.

The signs also advertise 10 new concepts that should be coming to the hall: Le Petit Cornichon, Captain Neon Sushi + Bowls, Curryosity, Gil’s Fish and Chipperie, Red Sauce, Swanky Burger, Lala’s Cantina, Underground Sandwich, Beauty’s Fried Chicken and Cross Bar.

The sign also indicates the space will be designed by Solid Design Creative, responsible for the design at places like Baro and Maison Selby.

Eaton Centre leasing plans reveal that the hall will span almost 18,000 square feet.

It’s good news for anyone who’s been missing Richtree Market on Level One of the mall, as this new food hall will be taking its place near the entrance to the Queen subway station.

Retail Insider also reports that Oliver & Bonacini is planning on opening another restaurant at Eaton Centre that should be called Constance Taverne.

The signage says the Queen’s Cross Food Hall should open in late summer 2023.

Source Daily Hive. Click here to read a full story

KingSett Proposes 75 Storeys on Yonge Across From 76-Storey Tower

Hot on the heels of an October proposal for a landmark 76-storey tower on Yonge Street between Bloor and Wellesley Streets, developers KingSett Capital are doubling down on their bid to crank up density and height on Toronto’s most significant civic thoroughfare with a new 75-storey proposal located just across the street, at 646 Yonge Street. The proposal was received by the City late last month, marking the last major development application of 2022, and seeks to dramatically redevelop the rear of low-rise retail properties fronting Yonge with an architecturally prominent tower designed by Chicago’s AS + GG Architecture, creating 548 new dwelling units.

Currently occupied by a cluster of 10 properties that are described as contributors to the Yonge Street Heritage Conservation District, the proposal details a mixed approach of retention, reconstruction, and demolition to facilitate the construction of the tower. Based on the designation of the lands in the City’s Official Plan (OP), existing within an Urban Growth Centre, the proponents argue that their submission manages the need to intensify the centrally located site while preserving the existing character of the historic commercial corridor.

With access to higher order transit and cycling infrastructure, and an existing built form that is only growing more accommodating to exceptional heights, the proposal has a strong case to make for approval of the associated Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment applications submitted to the City that would permit the tower’s construction.

The design of the tower strives to maximize the potential for density on the downtown site with a relatively small total area of 1,349m², while simultaneously delivering a structure that embraces its role as one of the tallest in the immediate area. The tower seems to view the orthogonal norms of Toronto’s predominant high-rise style as references for what not to deliver, and instead presents a curved massing that features an ovular floor-plate, accented by a scalloped balcony pattern and an austerely angled crown that tops the tower off with a distinct peak 254m above the ground.

The tower begins at the 5th storey, rising above a base building with a setback of 10m from the primary (east) elevation fronting Yonge Street. Once the tower reaches a height of 50m (at the 15th storey), the repeating floor-plans are interrupted by a transitional zone that gradually decreases the tower’s setback from Yonge Street. By the 27th floor, the transition is completed, reducing the setback to 8m, and increasing the area of the tower’s floor-plate from 633m² to 701m². From that point on, the massing generally remains the same until the tapering of the floor-plate begins at level 71 to create the angled peak of the tower’s crown.

Externally, the early package of renderings that exists to date indicates that the tower would be finished with a blue glass and silver-grey spandrel glazing that carries over to the balconies as well. The scalloped balcony design creates an interesting visual character on the east and west elevations, with the straight edge of each balcony lining up vertically with the one below to create the impression of four continuous lines that run up the entire elevation. Interestingly, this motif is played with more on the eastern elevation, where the expanding floor-plate of the transitional zone is accentuated by a diagonal line of glazing that realigns itself vertically at the 27th storey.

At ground level, the existing retail occupying the row of buildings fronting Yonge Street would be updated, seeing the removal of the second floor rental units (slated to be replaced within the tower) to create a double height retail space. Meanwhile, the southern frontage on Irwin Street would see the removal of two existing buildings to create a new privately owned public space (POPS) that also allows for a patio space for the new retail unit set to occupy the south frontage.

Amenity space is proposed to be programmed into the base building, occupying the entirety of the second level while providing access to an outdoor amenity terrace that would be added onto the roofs of the existing Yonge Street buildings. Another Terrace would be found at the top of the tower, with an associated indoor amenity space harnessing the impressive views from 75 storeys high, and rounding out the 1,566m² total of proposed amenity space.

The proposal outlines a mix of 16% studios, 59% one-bedrooms, 15% two-bedrooms, and 11% three-bedrooms, meeting the City’s minimum guidelines for family-sized units. Six elevators are proposed for the 548-unit building, providing a ratio of 1 elevator for every 91.33 units, nicely below the threshold of 1 per 100 units, promising much better elevator service than many of the recent proposals. Bicycle parking is proposed to occupy two underground levels, while no motor vehicle parking spaces are proposed, emphasizing the area’s walkability and the proposal’s proximity to higher order transit services.

UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you’d like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.

Source Urban Toronto. Click here to read a full story