Over the objections of City Council, and despite overwhelming disapproval from local residents, the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) has approved a proposed 25-storey student residence building on College Street. The building's developers, Knightstone Capital, originally proposed 42 storeys, but that was rejected outright. Instead, the height was cut by 17 storeys, and density by about 400 beds; from 1250 to 829. Many local residents object to the building's scale, believing it won't fit in with the neighbourhood's existing building stock, and many have concerned about density. The University counters that residence space is at capacity, saying this type of development is crucial to bring in foreign students, who pay premium tuition rates (and, presumably, premium housing fees). No date set yet for construction to begin.
· A 2012 blog post on the original proposal [The Toronto Blog]
· Developer gets OK to build 25-storey UofT College St. residence [CP24]
· Time to scrap the OMB? [National Post]