Keeping an Eye on the James Toronto Development

An official application was made on September 16th for the development of an 18 storey condominium on the site of 452 Richmond Street West.
Hemmed in by a low-rise building on the west, a parking lot on the east, and Graffiti Alley on the north, the proposed building shoots skyward as depicted in this gallery page of marketing material.
On September 9, 2015 a pre-application meeting was held with community residents. Criticism was voiced concerning a number of aspects related to the proposed design:

• the proposed height of the building
• the "dead" appearance of solid brick walls on the eastern and western exposures
• the small perimeter base making underground parking impossible and servicing at grade impractical, thereby forcing the building to "externalize" solutions to its deficiencies
• the lack of options for picking up and dropping off passengers (Wheel-Trans, taxis, etc) given that a busy bicycle lane and heavy traffic exist on Richmond Street ... exacerbated by a bend in the road just west of Spadina
• vehicular accessibility to the site during and after construction ... pinching traffic on Richmond and disrupting the bike path ... access to the back of the building in Graffiti Alley (for construction vehicles, for the available 3 parking spots, for moving vans, for garbage trucks) is tight and possible only from Spadina given that McDougall Lane is extremely narrow ... heavy reliance on this single point of vehicular access will disrupt the enjoyment of Graffiti Alley as a service and/or pedestrian route
• a potential for intensifying the existing wind tunnel along Richmond

The GDNA will be keeping an eye on future activity related to this application.

Today

Proposed

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Community residents are encouraged to submit comments to the City Planner assigned to this development (link to input form).
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