Don Mills Residents Inc.

This development has a long history. The previous owner had planned to retain most of the existing 6-storey hotel, and they planned to add 2 towers, one 36-storey and one 30-storey. The Wynford-Concorde committee of DMRI worked with that owner to come to a plan which included some park space and a public children's playground. Unfortunately, the owner died before construction of this development began, the land was sold, and the new owner has a very different plan.

This development has a long history. The previous owner had planned to retain most of the existing 6-storey hotel, and they planned to add 2 towers, one 36-storey and one 30-storey. The Wynford-Concorde committee of DMRI worked with that owner to come to a plan which included some park space and a public children's playground. Unfortunately, the owner died before construction of this development began, the land was sold, and the new owner has a very different plan.

The first new plan would demolish both the existing hotel and conference space. It would include four mixed-use tall buildings ranging from 45 to 54 storeys in height. In addition, the plan calls for a minimum of 10,082sqm of non-residential gross floor area for a hotel, retail uses and a childcare centre. A new hotel would be located within the podium of the 54-storey tower. A new signalized intersection is proposed on Wynford Drive at the location of the existing driveway.

A virtual community consultation meeting was held March 4 and there was considerable opposition. Once again, Denzil Minnan-Wong offered to set up a working committee to deal with the issues. The committee has been formed and is scheduled to meet in late August and September of 2021. Since then, it appears that the applicant has revised the application yet again. The new plan calls for towers of 55, 59, and 65 storeys (3 tall towers instead of 4 but all taller than the previous proposal), all at greater separation distances than in the previous four-tower plan and arranged around a new public road that would connect the buildings to Wynford Drive. Along the south edge of the site there is a new public park, with paths to both Wynford Drive and to a proposed set of lights at Eglinton Avenue where pedestrians would be able to cross the street to access the Wynford stop of the coming Crosstown LRT.

Neither we nor City Planning has had an opportunity to review these new plans in detail.