Special to Ontario Construction News
Minto Communities and SickKids have announced plans for a striking 56-storey mixed-use rental tower in the heart of Toronto’s Church-Wellesley Village. Positioned at the northwest corner of Jarvis and Maitland Streets, this transformative project blends residential living with vital institutional services, while preserving and enhancing existing community health facilities. The development is being designed by the acclaimed Diamond Schmitt Architects.
The L-shaped development spans 3,276m² and encompasses 110 and 114 Maitland Street as well as 440 Jarvis Street. The designated 1,942m² development area includes the now-vacant three-storey “Crystal Gardens” apartment building at 110 Maitland, boarded up since 2015 and slated for demolition.
The five-storey SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health at 114 Maitland will see partial demolition, while the four-storey Jarvis-facing wing at 440 Jarvis will be preserved and severed to become an independent parcel.
Urban Toronto reports that the proposed tower will rise 181.3 metres, consisting of a four-storey podium topped by 52 floors of residential rental units. In total, the project will offer 579 residential units.
Floors 6 through 8 will house the replacement rental units, while floors 9 and up will contain market-rate housing. The tower integrates 40,137m² of gross floor area (GFA), broken down into 37,875m² of residential space and 2,262m² of institutional space, yielding a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 20.67.
The SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health, active at this site since the 1960s, will benefit from a modernized and enlarged facility. The four-storey podium will include dedicated institutional space on floors 3 and 4. Combined with the retained building at 440 Jarvis, SickKids will have access to a total of 4,739m²—over 1,000m² more than the current facility footprint.
Diamond Schmitt’s design features a sculpted tower above a brick masonry-clad podium, balancing elegance with contextual sensitivity. The building’s street-level design includes distinct entrances for residents and the institutional facility.
The development is intentionally low on vehicular parking, offering only nine at-grade residential visitor spaces and none for residents or staff. Instead, it provides robust cycling infrastructure with 522 long-term and 116 short-term bicycle parking spaces for residents, and 15 additional spaces for SickKids staff and visitors.
The project requires official plan and zoning by-law amendments to accommodate increased height and density. Once approved, the site will be designated under both Apartment Neighbourhoods and Institutional Areas in the City of Toronto’s Official Plan.
