1737 Richmond Street - 22s, 22s, 20s mixed use (Approved)

[CanadianTalk]

The first planning application has been submitted since the Masonville Secondary Plan came into force last October.

A 22 story building is proposed, with commercial units on the first floor, residential units above and parking within the building.

This will replace part of an existing commercial block at the northwest corner of the Fanshawe Park Road and Richmond Street intersection (same corner where Best Buy / Staples is).

View from within the commercial property (looking southwest)



View from Fanshawe Park Road (looking north)

[jammer139]

Here's the zoning application.


https://london.ca/sites/default/file...et%20final.pdf

[CanadianTalk]

Here is Westdell's master plan for this corner of Fanshawe Park Rd and Richmond St.

This specific application corresponds to Phase D on the plan:

[jammer139]

Wow. I imagine Tricar is looking at this in respect to their previous proposal across the street and going back to their original 22s application. The local NIMBY's can go pound salt. Also Cadillac Fairview should be looking at this seriously in regards to their plans for the Mall parking lot redevelopment.

[GreatTallNorth2]

I love seeing developments like this where you have integrated housing and commercial/retail together. It just makes so much sense and I don't understand why we don't see more of this. I get that land has been cheap in London for a long time so developers have always built retail and residential separate, but for a resident to live in a tower where they can walk out the door and have shops right there it is very convenient. And for a retailer to have hundreds of potential customers on site, it's a bonus. All they have to do is turn that drab parking lot into some public space where people would want to spend time.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

I love seeing developments like this where you have integrated housing and commercial/retail together. It just makes so much sense and I don't understand why we don't see more of this. I get that land has been cheap in London for a long time so developers have always built retail and residential separate, but for a resident to live in a tower where they can walk out the door and have shops right there it is very convenient. And for a retailer to have hundreds of potential customers on site, it's a bonus. All they have to do is turn that drab parking lot into some public space where people would want to spend time.

I agree, this is the type of place I can see moving to when I retire and want to get out of home ownership. On a smaller scale, my chiropractor is at West 5 and I like the way that area is starting to fill in. There are a lot of leased signs on the ground level retail, one of which is some kind of restaurant. Plus the slow slog of the York development across the road. 10 years from now, I can see it being a nicely done area.

[Spoofy]

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[CanadianTalk]

Unfortunately, as much as I would love to see Tricar build their original 22s proposal (after all - this is a transit village and the design looked wayyy better), the chances of staff recommending Council to approve the 22s zoning, and the building actually being approved are low now.

Council passed the Masonville Secondary Plan last October 2021, and secondary plans take precedence over other plans. According to the plan, only "mid-rise" buildings would be permitted at 230 North Centre which include 2 stories to 8 stories. I marked 230 North Centre with a blue star below. Westdell's proposal falls under a "high-rise" designation which permits up to 22s.

Council granted the 15s zoning to Tricar four years ago, so since the Masonville plan didn't exist then, the rules of the plan do not apply. The fact that Tricar has a 15s zoning approved is quite amazing since they would be capped at 8s had they submitted a proposal for the first time now, as per the secondary plan. If hypothetically, Tricar brought back their original proposal, and council did approve the 22s zoning (despite what would be staff's recommendation to refuse), the NIMBYs in the area would unfortunately have a strong case if they were to appeal to OLT.

We saw a similar thing in Lambeth recently where the developer had wanted to build a 9s mixed use building, but since the Southwest Area Secondary Plan only permits heights up to 6s, they were strongly recommended by staff to reduce the height to 6s, which they ended up doing.

IMO, I think only permitting up to 8s on this site is dumb, but that's the plan.

[jammer139]

Totally stupid. Given just up at Villagewalk there are plans for three 12s buildings. Across the road on the NE corner is a 10s building proposal by York and further north on the east side of Richmond, Old Oak has proposal for 2 more of their 16s L shaped buildings. Eight stories on North Center Rd and Richmond is insane and whoever came up with that on the Masonville Secondary Plan was clearly pandering to the Nimbys. Tricar should bring back their 22s proposal and challenge council and the Nimby's to justify the 8s height limit at the corner of Richmond and North Center. This is supposed to be a transit village and the Province is pushing hard on building 1.5M more homes within 10 years. Density density density is the name of the game and the OLT would likely rule in favor of Tricar to build more units rather then less.

[CanadianTalk]

At the last meeting, council unanimously passed the zoning change to permit this development.

[jammer139]

Zedd has posted a rendering of the 2nd Westdell proposed tower for the Hyland Centre plaza. This tower would be where the Beer Store is currently located fronting onto Richmond.



Apparently the Masonville Secondary Plan is still in limbo given appeal to the OLT which still hasn't made its way thru that bureaucracy. The Case Status website is next to useless given the lack of any meaningful information it provides. Doesn't even provide the name of who appealed. Could it be Westdell or Tricar or Cadillac Fairview?



https://www.zeddarchitecture.com/22-009

[MolsonExport]

great location for density and height. Highrise proposals are popping up like toadstools on a lawn after a heavy rain.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

great location for density and height. Highrise proposals are popping up like toadstools on a lawn after a heavy rain.

Will be interesting to see how many of these we actually see come to fruition. Maybe my son will be able to snag an electrical apprenticeship finally lol.

[CanadianTalk]

According to an updated site-plan on Westdell's website, Dollarama is supposedly opening a new location in the vacant spot in the plaza where the first tower is supposed to be constructed (according to the site plans posted earlier in this thread)... so this means that we are years away from seeing this redevelopment occur.

https://www.westdellcorp.com/wp-cont...-Site-Plan.pdf

[jammer139]

Yeah Westdell is used to commercial and retail and they are likely in no rush to build residential even thou they have numerous proposals on their drawing boards. Sadly most of them have timelines of 2030, 2040 and beyond.