57-75 Wellington Road and 60-68 High Street - 28s and 26s (Proposed)

[CanadianTalk]

The applicant "Foundation Development Fund II LP" is proposing two new buildings on the west side of Wellington Road, south of Grand Ave, and east of High Street.

It's interesting that the two proposed buildings are two separate planning applications.

57-75 Wellington Road & 68 High Street (28 stories)

• 28-storey residential apartment building with 572 residential units (2,727 units per hectare), 12 vehicle parking spaces, 70 short-term bicycle parking spaces (0.1 spaces per unit), 190 long-term bicycle parking spaces (0.33 spaces per unit)
• Planning application page: https://london.ca/business-development/p...nning-applications/57-75-wellington-road
• Planning application notice: https://london.ca/sites/default/files/20...Notice%20of%20App%20%26%20PPM%20AODA.pdf

60-68 High Street (26 stories)

• 26-storey residential apartment building with 432 residential units (2,368 units per hectare), 9 vehicle parking spaces, 120 short-term bicycle parking spaces (0.28 spaces per unit), 112 long-term bicycle parking spaces (0.26 per unit)
• Planning application page: https://london.ca/business-development/p.../planning-applications/60-68-high-street
  
• Planning application notice: https://london.ca/sites/default/files/20...Notice%20of%20App%20%26%20PPM%20AODA.pdf

57-75 Wellington Road & 68 High Street (28 stories)







60-68 High Street (26 stories)

[jammer139]

Looks great as an idea but the lack of parking is going to be a huge problem given the movement by city council to look at bringing back 1-1 parking ratio. Not sure what this "developer" is thinking with the parking as it will be really challenging to find tenants without providing sufficient parking. Being on the BRT is not going to magically change the reality that they are not providing enough parking to make this viable and attractive to tenants.


They could likely have one level of underground parking and a multi level podium base under both towers to dramatically increase the number of parking spaces.


This "developer" appears to be a REIT and may be looking to do a pump and dump zoning play. London seems to have more then our fair share of land speculators proposing zoning changes with basic idea renders like this one from this applicant.

[GreatTallNorth2]

All of these applications lately could be the result of companies trying to get approval from this council before a new council comes into power. I am not saying that is the case, but it certainly could be.

On another note, these are super ugly.

[jammer139]

These are just crude basic renders which makes it all the more likely to be a pump and dump zoning play.

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

All of these applications lately could be the result of companies trying to get approval from this council before a new council comes into power. I am not saying that is the case, but it certainly could be.

On another note, these are super ugly.

[Djeffery]

Not only ugly but the way they are angled from each other looks stupid too. Also, seems to be an awfully high number of units for the number of floors. Are these going to be closets? This seems like something more suited for the university area.

[ssiguy]

If the developer doesn't want to build anymore parking, that's his business. These are obviously going to be geared towards students and/or young workers.

These are incredibly ugly. They seem to face right into one another, are just square boxes but even worse is that the colours are institutional.

[MolsonExport]

ooohh, these are oooglie. Positively KW-ian-style warehouses for people.

[Spoofy]

The floorplan on the planning application page shows that the average floorplate contains 14 studios, 5 1beds, and 4 2beds. The average size of the studios is 300ft2, the 1beds around 500ft2, and the 2beds around 600ft2...

Is there really a market here in London for these types of units? These are ridiculously small. 60% of the units being 300ft2? I hope I'm not sounding privileged, but is that really enough space for even the bare essentials?

[MrSlippery519]

Originally Posted by Spoofy

The floorplan on the planning application page shows that the average floorplate contains 14 studios, 5 1beds, and 4 2beds. The average size of the studios is 300ft2, the 1beds around 500ft2, and the 2beds around 600ft2...

Is there really a market here in London for these types of units? These are ridiculously small. 60% of the units being 300ft2? I hope I'm not sounding privileged, but is that really enough space for even the bare essentials?

A 2 bedroom is 600sq.ft how in the heck is that even possible...I have a coworker who is in a 1 bedroom at one of the bluestone properties and its around 500, very very tight. Still costs 1500 a month which is insane.

[jammer139]

LFP article on zoning application.


The applicant is Foundation Capital which appears to be a real estate investment business which buys existing real estate. Can't find any history of them building anything themselves.


Maybe they will follow through and get into the construction business but it's very different then the REIT business.


Much more likely that if they get the zoning they want you will see a large For Sale sign up promoting an exciting high density residential development opportunity.


https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/no-balconies-21-parking-spaces-in-london-1004-unit-proposal

[Djeffery]

The last 10 or minutes of Friday's Craig Needles podcast talks about this proposal. They tear this idea to shreds, which is rare for them, and especially about the lack of balconies, and to a lesser extent the lack of parking. Craig did make a good point that the planning department will probably send this back to the developer simply because they aren't a local company who the city would generally work with. Kelly Elliott said they generally hate people who play the NIMBY card when it comes to developments around the city but in this case, she is totally on Team Nimby. Craig said that typically the thought process is for every floor the city tells a developer to remove from a high rise in the city, another residential street gets built in Lucan or Ilderton but in this case let those outlying communities build those streets. I've never heard him or his usual guests rip a proposal like they have with this one. It's a good listen.

[MolsonExport]

If it gets built, I reckon it will be like those medallion buildings in Old East Village: newish looking but full of bedbugs and roaches, but at least there will be no kids falling from balconies (Because there aren't going to be any balconies).

[HuronZephyr]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

All of these applications lately could be the result of companies trying to get approval from this council before a new council comes into power. I am not saying that is the case, but it certainly could be.

On another note, these are super ugly.

Agreed. The 'commie blocks' in Cherryhill look pretty by comparison.

[jammer139]

CBC article on this zoning application.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/2-...to-london-s-wellington-gateway-9.7268184