Community council meets this week to discuss the fate of the "ugly as hell" proposed condo development on Queen West, across from the Gladstone Hotel. City Planning Division is recommending the city reject the application for a 26-storey mixed-use tower at 1181 Queen West. The planning department says the tower is too high, the proposed density 10 times the area of the lot and higher than any building in the area. In 2007, the city rejected the application to build an eight-storey building at the site, the owners later appealing to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) but withdrew the application and sold the property.
Around the corner, the Bohemian Embassy, a 20-storey building, (affectionately nicknamed the "Bohemian Embarrassment"), was approved by the OMB after the city rejected the large tower. Residents claimed the utterly charmless and out-of-place building ruined the neighbourhood. In any case, if the city's planning department and the community have their way, this massive development will never get built.
· 10 Wild and Artsy Rooms Inside the Gladstone Hotel [Curbed Toronto]
· Staging Helps Sell Queen West Condo [Globe]