There are certain pockets of Toronto that seem to demand developers’ attention, and the Yonge and Isabella area in the heart of Church-Wellesley Village is among them.
In the section bound by Bloor, Bay, Sherbourne, and Wellesley streets alone, there are nearly 2 dozen advancement propositions in numerous stages of privilege, and the majority are over 60 floors.
New prepares from Cromwell Management and Grace Management Inc. are especially high-achieving. The advancement team is wanting to replace a 12-storey, mid-century-style apartment building at 55 Isabella Street with a 75-storey tower. It would be mixed-use, inclusive primarily of (rental) property area, as well as smaller sized retail and workplace components.Site Stats,
Since Might 2026: Height:
- 75 storeys/822 feet
- Residential GFA: 581,300 sq. ft
- Retail GFA: 990 sq. ft
- Office GFA: 11,464 sq. feet
- Residential units: 843 (83 replacement rental, 760 brand-new leasing)
- System breakdown: 34 studios, 571 one-beds, 60 one-bed plus den, 136 two-bed, 42 three-beds
- Indoor amenity: 16,329 sq. ft
- Outside facility: 10,893 sq. ft
- Car parking: n/a
- Bicycle parking: 475 (380 long-term, 85 short-term, 10 publicly available)
While simply 42 of the 843 prepared property systems are three-bedrooms, the preparation report describes the system mix as “adaptive,” which leaves room for some of the one-bedroom systems to be combined and transformed into three-beds if the market calls for them. That would bump the percentage of three-beds as much as 10% (around 84 units), but it would still only bring the total share of family-sized units (2- and three-bedrooms) approximately 26%.
Renderings prepared by Wallman Designers are minimalistic at this stage, revealing the development with a 69-storey tower element and a six-storey podium, however very little in terms of materiality. However, the planning report explains a series of features that would determine the future built kind, consisting of insets to the east-side massing on the second and third levels to accommodate outdoor amenity balconies connected to indoor feature rooms, and a cantilever towards the street on the north side articulating the front facade.
As formidable as a 75-storey building noises, it wouldn’t be the highest in the area. Minutes away, 639-653 Yonge Street is slated for a 76-storey apartment tower with nearly 800 systems. Those strategies were authorized by City board in 2024, but the task is yet to break ground.
Other advancements coming to the location include another 75-storey tower at 646-664 Yonge Street and 2-4 Irwin Avenue (authorized in 2024), a 70-storey tower at 619-637 Yonge Street and 1-9 Isabella Street (approved through settlement in 2024), and a 62-storey structure at 88 Isabella Street (currently under building).
A huge part of the area’s appeal among designers is the distance to minor and significant arterial roads like Yonge, Church, Wellesley East, and Bloor East. Another piece is the extraordinary transit gain access to. From 55 Isabella, for instance, both Wellesley Station on Line 1 and the Line 1/Line 2 interchange at Bloor-Yonge Station are around a five-minute walk away. The preparation report likewise notes that 55 Isabella is within overlapping Protected Major Transit Station Areas (PMTSAs) connected to Bay, Bloor-Yonge, and Wellesley stations– all areas where the Province and City are directing some of Toronto’s highest densities.