A decade after a four-alarm blaze ripped through an Etobicoke warehouse, a new future has been proposed for the long-vacant site near Islington Avenue and Lake Shore Boulevard — though it would come at the cost of another important building in the community.

A 26-storey condo tower with a Jenga block-inspired design has been proposed for the former site of the Wei Fung Fruit Co. at 99 Birmingham St. (since converted to surface parking), as well as the adjacent Sidh Shakti Babaji Mandir temple at 210 Islington Ave., which would be demolished as part of the plan.

Proposed by a numbered Ontario corporation, the application was tabled with City planners in November, calling for a unique design from Icon Architects that would add hundreds of new homes to the area, and completely dwarf the site's low-rise surroundings.

The design features a six-storey base topped by stacked, alternating four-storey volumes that create a push-pull effect.

It may not win any international design awards, but there is no understating what a bold leap away from tradition this vision would be for the New Toronto neighbourhood, in terms of both design and sheer scale.

For reference, even the tallest existing and proposed buildings in the area are roughly half the height of what has been tabled for this site, though developers cite the City's planned Waterfront LRT as a precedent to vastly increase densities in the area.

The proposal dedicates 96 per cent of its approximately 23,200 square-metre area to residential space. A total of 352 condominium units are proposed, the vast majority planned in studio and one-bedroom configurations that often cater to the investor market.

While it will certainly ruffle local feathers with its height, slab-like massing, and the loss of an important local cultural centre, the tower promises to reanimate a stretch that has been a shell of itself since that 2013 fire destroyed much of the block, in an area where retail is sorely lacking.

It would accomplish this through the addition of six commercial units, combining for a total of 1,000 square metres of retail space, lining the ground floor and sharing the base of the building with a residential lobby and driveway.

Local residents may be less excited about its contribution to local traffic — as this is Etobicoke, after all. A proposed four-level underground parking garage would provide spaces for 147 cars that would spill out onto local roads.

Still, the majority of residents would be expected to rely on a planned 265 bicycle parking spaces and the nearby 501 streetcar route along Lake Shore, with a stop just 235 metres from the proposal site.