Ontario Construction News staff writer
London International Academy, a private school that prepares international students for university, hopes to build a 16-storey tower residence in London’s downtown.
The school has applied to build the tower immediately behind its three-storey brown brick student residence, which serves as a girls’ dormitory. Male students now live at a residence at 186 King St., also site of a supervised drug use site.
The proposed tower would have 156 units and 191 beds. The existing girls’ dorm has 53 units and 105 beds and opened in 2010.
The school’s application to rezone the land for the tower has yet to reach city council’s planning and environment committee.
When the school opened in 2002, it housed students from China. Now about 12 per cent of its students are from other countries, including nations in Africa, the Mideast and Eastern Europe.
The school joins a growing inventory of highrises planned for the downtown core, including:
- A York Developments tower on King Street
- A Tricar building on Thames Street, between Horton and York streets
- Old Oak projects including a tower on Richmond Street – the biggest downtown residential project ever built in London
- A multi-tower complex at Fullarton, Talbot and Dufferin streets