The University of Toronto has reached an agreement with the city and local community groups to build a 23-storey student residence at the corner of Spadina and Sussex avenues.
The slender tower will house 511 students and will feature retail storefronts. It will also incorporate a three-storey heritage building into its façade.
The development, scheduled to be completed in 2021, comes as Toronto grapples with soaring prices for apartment and condo rentals. The university, meanwhile, is coping with its own accommodation crisis amid estimates it will need an additional 2,300 residence spaces by 2020.
In addition, U of T has agreed to devote 1,590 sq. m. to public green space on the site and permit local residents long-term access to Robert Street Field, an adjacent playing field used by U of T’s Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education.
The new U of T residence will be built in partnership with The Daniels Corp.