This under-construction 11-storey residential building in Chelsea (Manhattan) reminded me of the 14-storey building I recently blogged about that is proposed for 2273–2279 Bloor Street West here in Toronto.
Now, the latter is a bigger building at around 70,000 square feet versus just under 40,000 square feet for the former, but they are both urban infill sites next to transit and they both have site depths that appear to be around 30 metres (I was specifically curious about this).
One key difference is that 227 West 19th Street is under construction on a street that is already fully built out at a similar scale, whereas the proposal on Bloor Street is a pioneering project. It represents what the area will surely look like in the future.
The other key difference is the kind of housing they will deliver. In the case of New York, only 8 condominium homes are being built across the 11 storeys; in the case of Toronto, 60 homes are being proposed (which, I believe, are rental).
Put differently, Manhattan is de-densifying through ultra-luxury boutique projects, and Toronto is trying to graduate from a “city of neighbourhoods” characterized by single-family homes and low-rise main streets into a true polycentric global city.
New York rendering via DN8 Agency; Toronto rendering via Toronto’s Application Information Centre
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