A towering 60-storey condo project is being planned for the one of the city's most distinctive addresses -- the corner of Yonge and Bloor.

It, and another 50-storey condo tower to be shoe-horned into the site occupied by the 1920s-era Uptown Theatre a few steps south on Yonge, are well into the municipal approvals pipeline.

Both projects sit on dauntingly tight sites atop the busiest subway intersection in Canada.

The 60-storey condo on the southeast corner, on less than an acre currently occupied by a two-level retail block and two city lanes, is tentatively named One Bloor East. It would be anchored by a five-level retail podium and 10-screen Famous Players multiplex cinema, which is being negotiated, and an underground food concourse leading into the subway.
The Matthews Group, in joint venture partnership with two Canadian Pacific Railway pension fund subsidiaries, both in Toronto, are the co-owners.

Neil Munro, a partner in Young + Wright Architects Inc., Toronto, designers of the condo tower, says it is "a relatively small elliptically-shaped tower with floor plates of less than 10,000 square feet, clad in tinted glass and stainless steel. The podium will capture the sophistication of Bloor Street's high quality retail presence and some of the funky Yonge Street stores."

Architecturally and stylistically, the tower is consistent with the tall, slim "point tower" style of condos and podiums that have gravitated to Toronto from Vancouver.

The proposed tower conforms with the city's new official plan for the downtown area south of Davenport Road, so there are no height or density restrictions, Mr. Munro says. With an underground connection through the adjacent Xerox Centre into the Yonge-Bloor subway stations, the proposed condo also fulfills one of the city's ambitions to intensify residential development at major transportation nodes.

Peter Van Loan, a lawyer with the Toronto law firm of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, representing The Matthews Group, says of a public meeting last summer that attracted about 125 people: "It was unusual for me as to how positive the reaction was," he says, "usually the only people who come out are opposed to a project. It's an ideal spot for high density development." Mr. Van Loan says he hopes to appear before city council for final approval before the summer.

Mr. Munro says the building is also designed to be as energy efficient as possible. "We're looking at reclaiming heat from exhausts and the movie theatre, installing a green roof, among other measures," he says.

The 50-storey condo to the south and west has been proposed by Piagga Ltd., controlled by Marco Muzzo, one of the most powerful land owner/builder developers in Ontario. He deferred an interview on the project until it is ready for marketing. Burka Varacalli Architects are designing the building.