The article below is from the New York Times (March 18, 2007). It shows what can be done on a very small lot. I doubt that most cities in Canada would even allow a development such as this and even if they did, the NIMBY's would be out in full force I'm sure.
The full article can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/realestate/18Deal1.html?fta=y
Big Deal
Tall and Thin, Back in Fashion
By JOSH BARBANEL
Published: March 18, 2007
THE sliver building is making a comeback in Midtown
Manhattan. The version that Ismael Leyva has designed will soon soar above Eighth Avenue and West 48th Street like a bird made of blue glass, with narrow balconies rising 42 stories high along the neck.
A rendering of the new sliver condo tower at 785 Eighth Avenue
During an earlier residential building boom in the 1980s,
New York City rushed to ban what were called “slivers” — condominium towers rising high above narrow lots in residential neighborhoods — in response to community protests. In 1983, even as the last vote was taken, developers were still running crews on overtime to try to get their foundations finished on the Upper East Side, before it was too late.
At the time, the
City Planning Commission attributed the slivers to what are again familiar trends: rising real estate values, the demand for luxury housing and the difficulties developers were having assembling large lots.
But now with residential condominiums going up all over Manhattan — in commercial districts like this one on Eighth Avenue as well as residential neighborhoods — the sliver is back, and Mr. Leyva’s version is singularly tall, thin and contemporary. It has a needlelike tower rising above a
23-foot-8-inch-wide street front.
In all, the condominium tower, at 785 Eighth Avenue,
will rise 566 feet high, according to the building permit, and cantilever over an adjacent building to provide additional floor space. Balconies facing Eighth Avenue will be spaced to create a sense of motion like a bird in flight — because they shift from one side of the building to the other as they rise along the facade.
“When developers are forced to deal with small sites, we architects have to come up with clever solutions to make the building more efficient and economically feasible,” said Mr. Leyva, who designed the residential interiors at the Time Warner Center, and has been involved in dozens of other residential and commercial projects in the region. “We have to shape the building to maximize the use of space, create drama with dynamic solutions,” he said. The project, being developed by Esplanade Capital, a New York real estate and investment company, calls for 122 condominiums, with two to four apartments per floor, a residential lobby and entrance on West 48th Street, a rooftop terrace, amenities space, and a retail space in the ground floor and basement. There will be two elevators stopping at each floor. The building uses air rights from several adjacent properties and is built on an irregularly shaped lot. So while it is 23 feet wide in front, it widens out to 44 feet at the rear, providing large balconies and corner living rooms facing the Hudson River. It is scheduled to be completed in mid-2008. The limits on sliver buildings apply to structures in residential zoning districts with street fronts of 45 feet or less. A review of building dimensions in property tax records shows two 20-story buildings with only 25 feet of street frontage in Midtown, but no other building as tall as this new project with as little street frontage.
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