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York assembled the parcel in 2017, and designs were announced at a recent meeting of city hall’s urban design peer review panel.

“This shows confidence in the downtown and that’s very positive,” Cassidy said. “I love seeing this confidence. It’s important to the entire city when the downtown thrives.”

York Developments president Ali Soufan could not be reached for comment.

The triple towers will be marketed to students. Coun. Phil Squire, who represents residents north of Oxford Street, believes the project may draw neighbourhood support from those who want fewer students living in single-family homes near Western University.

“It’s very preliminary to talk about how this will affect traffic and the neighbourhood, but the real issue is: Will it drain the student population around the neighbourhood?” Squire said.

“If it takes students from single-family homes, (neighbours) may see it as positive. From a neighborhood point of view, this will be very interesting.”

Jim Bujouves, president of Farhi Developments, a division of Farhi Holdings Corp., said its development may serve as a “gateway” to the west side of the downtown.

“The idea is that we’re designing a strong visual presence. . . . We will provide pathways that are designed to integrate to the new space, and the existing pathways into the Thames (River),” he said.

Although Farhi Holdings owns extensive property in the city’s core, its proposal across Queens Avenue from Museum London would be the first tower it has built in the city. Other announced Farhi residential tower plans at other locations in the core haven’t been built.