A Toronto hotel and condo complex could soon expand with large addition
Expansion plans are in the works for a prominent luxury boutique hotel and condo complex, one that would completely change the look of the complex's unique architecture.
The onslaught of hotel and condo development in Toronto's Entertainment District has given the neighbourhood a new skyline in the last decade and a half.
The 2003-built Soho Metropolitan Hotel and Residences was an early catalyst to the area's hotel-condo boom, but the neighbourhood's subsequent vertical growth has left the property surrounded by much denser builds.
Roughly 20 years after the complex opened its doors, the owners are seeking to upgrade the property by building a new three-storey addition at the west end of the existing Soho that would bring dozens of new condominium units to the Soho site.
Designed by Arcadis IBI Group, the addition includes an expansion of the current seventh floor at the building's rear and two entirely new levels above. It would add just over 17,850 square metres of new area to the existing complex's condominium component.
Proposed entirely as residential space, the new levels would include indoor and outdoor amenity space along with 46 condominium units, proposed in a mix of 41 one-bedrooms, 3 two-bedrooms, and 2 three-bedroom units.
Renderings of the new addition appear to show it in grayscale relative to the existing building, however, the materials proposed to clad this expansion are all described as grey or off-white. The massing is also a departure from the current architectural style, breaking up the rhythm of the Soho's distinctive window patterning.
An earlier minor variance application seeking to build the addition through the city's committee of adjustment was refused, leading the owners to file an appeal under the Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB).
After a series of revisions in May, TLAB greenlit the proposal, and the applicant has since filed for Site Plan Approval with the City, bringing the addition important steps closer to fruition.
