Wood-Frame 6 Story Residential in Ontario!
 

Just wondering if there is any development with 6 story wood frame condos in Ontario?

Plenty. The first was a hotel in Hamilton, but there is an office building going up in Liberty village using heavy timber too. Lots more around.

It turns out that it isn't very useful for midrise buildings in Toronto - but is very easy to implement in a more suburban context. You need easily repeatable floorplates to make it work, and the setbacks required for Toronto midrises don't allow for that.

Thanks for that! I can't seem to find any info on developers. Liberty building is an office I believe or 5 story only but reaching max allowed ceiling height as per building code. Hamilton building is a hotel? Developer is BC based and it makes sense as they have embraced wood long time ago. Widely advertised Heartwood has changed. I also know few potential prototype buildings in London and surrounding area but NO CONCRETE examples.

If you can provide any further info on the names, I would highly appreciate it. PM please.

There's this 6s in downtown London that has been under construction for the last year or so

https://lfpress.com/business/local-b...boosting-rents

https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/sites/...686-55565.jpeg

I know I'm late to this: Cabin Toronto is one, but I'm not sure that's it's complete; there is a unit for sale here but could be a pre construction sale. The picture featured looks like it's still in development.

Side question if anyone can answer: the Toronto forums seem pretty dead? Is this site generally not used much for Toronto?

Urban toronto dominates toronto development.

Cabin is almost done but didn’t actually end up getting built in wood. It’s concrete blocks and steel.

Gotcha, and thanks. I was really confused why other cities had so many discussions going on but there was little to no activity for Toronto here.

All this hoopla from several years back about wood frame construction being the key to mid-rise housing, and in reality, nothing has really changed. Chalk this up to just another example of planners not understanding land economics.

The key to mid-rise housing is simple: zone as-of-right where you want mid-rise housing to be built. The alternative is forcing developers to undergo a costly and risky rezoning process. It then becomes more economical to go for a high-rise than mid-rise building since the rezoning process involves similar costs, risks, and level of effort, but the high rise offers much more profit potential.

All this energy wasted and failed expectations. Allowing 6-story wood frame buildings may work in Houston, but it's not the answer in Toronto.