The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Toronto could soon have a neighbour almost double its height, part of a broader redevelopment of formerly industrial lands on Sterling Road near Bloor and Dundas.

A recent application tabled with the City seeks to bring a 31-storey condominium tower to a site at 158 Sterling Road, one that would tower over the current museum while bringing new residential housing into an area once dedicated solely to manufacturing.

Marlin Spring Developments has signed on architects Giannone Petricone Associates to design the new addition to the area, calling for a faceted tower design rising from a brick-clad base referencing the surrounding 20th-century industrial architecture.

Replacing currently vacant land, the plan proposes two blocks, with Block B to host the 31-storey tower and a five-storey podium, while Block C would be built out with a one-storey commercial building containing retail and live-work units.

The community's proposed Block B, a high-rise built along the west edge of the Sterling Master Plan, over the CNR/CPR rail corridor, would feature a height of just over 105 metres, almost double the approximately 55-metre height of the restored and formerly abandoned Tower Automotive Building that houses the current museum.

While much taller than anything in the immediate area today, the tower's height would be buffered from the Automotive Building by a private road, a privately owned public space, and a single-storey podium.

Since the museum moved into the restored building, the area-wide redevelopment continued with a pair of timber-framed office buildings just southwest of the Auto Building, known as T3 Sterling, which completed construction and welcomed tenants in 2023.

The June application for the site was the second in as many months, coming just weeks after an application was filed for a 39-storey tower on the site that would have soared to a height of 130 metres. A scaled-back plan followed shortly after,  the current proposal now before City Planning staff.

The current plan proposes 396 condominium units and over 1,800 square metres of new retail to complement the area's evolving streetscapes.

While it may be a vast height increase over what exists today, it's difficult to argue against such density in an area just a stone's throw southeast of a soon-to-be-connected transit hub of Bloor GO/UP Express and Dundas West TTC stations.

Plans are still in the early stages, and the proposal will be circulated among City staff for review as it advances to the next steps in Toronto's planning and approvals process.