A concept plan has been brought forward by Mastercraft Starwood to build a 27-storey building on the Tubman Funeral Home property, which is three times the currently approved amount.
In 2021, city council approved a nine-storey buildout to be constructed on the site at 403 Richmond Road, near Roosevelt.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, who is also the chair of the city’s planning committee, said if an application does come forward, he will oppose it.
“It’s a walkable traditional street in a streetcar neighbourhood. The vision that the Official Plan has for that is to let it develop at around nine or 10 storeys,” said Leiper. “It’s a more human scale for streets that are intended to be more walkable.”
The developer’s argument is that in order to make the property financially viable, higher density is needed. They also argue that because the property is located close to the Kichi Sibi light rail station, that makes it a candidate for more floors.
Leiper disagrees with that assessment. He said it’s very rare that 20-plus-storey towers are built on traditional main streets such as Westboro or the Glebe.
“If I can grossly oversimplify what the Official Plan says about how we’re going to accommodate the population that we expect over the course of the next 25 years, we’re going to put really tall buildings in certain hubs in relatively close proximity to higher-order transit,” said Leiper.
“Our traditional main streets — which are sort of the minor corridors — are going to develop to a more human scale, call it mid-rise level. Then our low-rise neighbourhoods are going to remain low-rise, but they will see significant intensification through infill and more low-rise apartment buildings and things like that.”
According to Mastercraft Starwood’s website, SOHO Westboro would contain 272 units.
Three towers now proposed at former Granite Curling Club site
Nearby, at the site of the former Granite Curling Club, a proposal is to reconfigure the plans from two 40-storey towers to three shorter towers.
Drawings show 26- and 36-storey towers to be built closest to Scott Street, each with a Six-storey podium. Behind, a third building would include 18 storeys with a four-storey podium. Combined, there would be about 857 units, the same as in the initial plan.
Because no rezoning is required, no council vote is needed.
Two residential towers are being considered near the future Kichi Zibi LRT station in Westboro.
Two residential towers proposed near future Westboro LRT station
The proposal, submitted by Fotenn Planning and Design, calls for 14- and 13-storey buildings at the north end of Winston Avenue, combining five properties into a 77,000-square-metre site. The development would add 312 units, ranging from bachelor to three-bedroom apartments, with about one-third designed as family-sized homes.
Planned in partnership with Hobin Architecture and Uniform Urban Developments, the project is pitched as transit-oriented density, located roughly 200 metres from the new Kichi Zibi station on the Confederation Line extension.
The design features stepped building heights to transition to nearby low- and mid-rise homes, along with underground parking (279 spaces total), 447 bicycle spots, rooftop terraces, shared indoor and outdoor amenity areas, and a small public park covering about 10 per cent of the site.