Another Major Development in Don Mills?

There is no doubt about it — Toronto has a thirst for condominium developments. Over the past 10 years, no city in the world has seen more developments proposed and built than Toronto. As we build Toronto up, we are obviously running out of land — an issue we have talked about a lot here on the HomesAndCondosBlog. Because of that, it’s not surprising to see developers and hotel developers team up on sites. It makes little sense to buy a parcel of land for a 12- or 14-storey hotel with the cost of land these days.

The Ritz Carlton, Trump Towers, Shangri La, and the under-construction Bisha Hotel and Residences are all prime examples of these ventures, and there are countless others awaiting approval, one of which caught our eye.

Daily Commercial News, which does an excellent job of maintaining records of Toronto’s rezoning applications, is reporting that 865 York Mills Rd. could be set for a major project. The proposal calls for a 20-storey hotel and three condominium developments, ranging between 32 and 38 storeys, containing a total of 892 residential units. Sound impressive? Well, there are also two 25-storey office buildings involved, each with more than 287,000 square feet of rentable space. The developer has not been made public yet.

865 York Mills occupies a low-rise, industrial pocket of the city. There are low-rise homes to the east and the west of the site, but they shouldn’t affect the development process. The area is one that is slowly making the transition into a mixed-use area. Recently, Tridel launched Argento in the area, a project that was so well received that it is already under construction. Is the area ready for a project of this scope and magnitude? We shall see.