ARTIST concept of wavy exterior 59-storey condo tower where an Esso station still stands at Park Lawn Road and Lake Shore Blvd. W. Courtesy photo.
It is an end of the long-gone Humber Bay Shores Motel Strip era as the last service station that sparked the motel boom is closer to becoming a 59-storey condo tower.
A plan before York Etobicoke Community Council to construct a high-rise with 650 units on the site of an Esso service station at Park Lawn Road and Lake Shore Blvd. W., is almost a reality.
The station has been at the busy corner since the 1940s. Reports state it was part of a postwar wave of highway commercial development along the former Highway Two, which led to the creation of a strip of motels.
THE ESSO station has been at that corner since the 1940s and helped sparked the motel boom in the area then. Courtesy photo.
Humber Bay Shores was formerly known as the Motel Strip where these motels operated along the south side of Lake Shore up until the late 1990s and early 2000s.
A report was presented on March 28 to Community Council, in which members said there were more than a dozen issues to resolve and called for a public meeting with the councillor to take place.
The presentation stated the issues to be resolved includes; proposed building height, massing, siting, floor, shadow, wind impacts and appropriate mitigation measures.
The report provided information and identified issues regarding an Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment application for the mixed-use building, that includes a three-storey base building that will contain 655 square metres of ground floor retail and commercial space.
The proposal also consists of a four-level underground parking garage with a total of 230parking spots.
“The site has an area of 2,735 square metres, with an approximate frontage of 49 metres along Lake Shore Boulevard West and 56 metres along Marine Parade Drive,” according to the report.
The site is occupied by a gas station, including an automated car wash, a convenience store with an integrated take-out restaurant and surface parking.
The proposal requires an amendment to the former City of Etobicoke Zoning to permit residential dwelling units, increase the permitted height and revise other development standards.
The tower is being designed with a wavy façade due to its close proximity to Lake Ontario in Humber Bay.