Cadillac Fairview's plans for a 65-storey 580-unit rental tower at 2 Queen West drew much attention when originally proposed a few years ago. Since then, the sky scraping application for the Zeidler Partnership Architects-designed tower above the Eaton Centre has been withdrawn, paving the way for a new smaller-scaled proposal, submitted to the city earlier this week. The new plans prepared by E.R.A. Architects and Zeidler call for an extensive restoration of the existing four-storey 1895-built heritage building at the northwest corner of Queen and Yonge, with a 3-storey glass addition and 7,100 square foot green roof proposed above to create a seven-storey structure.

Rendering of 2 Queen Street West, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The project follows a 1980s restoration effort that involved the removal of a metal grille which had been added in the 1960s, and the cleaning of the brick exterior. In its current form, the building is largely covered in an aluminum cladding that hides much of its historic charm. The Borg-like cladding will be removed in this restoration.

2 Queen West in its current form, image retrieved from Google Street View

The ground and second levels of the plan would once again host 12,290 square feet of retail space, while offices would be housed on levels 3 through 6. The two uppermost levels would cantilever over the mall's existing parking garage to the north, with the stepped-back top level proposed as a 7,756 square foot restaurant space.

Addition levels at 2 Queen Street West, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The sole rendering released in planning documents also shows a re-built pedestrian connection between the Eaton Centre and the Hudson's Bay Company building to the south. This elevated link designed by London-based Wilkinson Eyre Architects with Zeidler would replace the existing pedestrian bridge, which is showing its age after four decades of use. The new bridge would be shifted slightly to the east from the original opening, and would be 20 centimetres lower than the existing bridge structure.

Rendering of the improved pedestrian bridge, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

We will be sure to return with new details as information about the project continues to emerge. In the meanwhile, you can get more information from our dataBase file for the project, linked below, or join in on the conversation by visiting the project's associated Forum thread, or by leaving a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.