Item - 2023.PB6.3

The Toronto Preservation Board recommends to the Planning and Housing Committee that:

1. City Council state its intention to designate the property at 1123 Leslie Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act in accordance with the Statement of Significance; 1123 Leslie Street (Reasons for Designation) attached as Attachment 3 to the report (May 4, 2023), from the Senior Manager, Heritage Planning, Urban Design, City Planning:

2. If there are no objections to the designation, City Council authorize the City Solicitor to introduce the Bill in Council designating the property under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.

This report recommends that City Council state its intention to designate the property at 1123 Leslie Street under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act for its cultural heritage value.

The property at 1123 Leslie Street, originally known as the Canadian headquarters of the William Wrigley Jr. Company, is located on the east side of Leslie Street opposite Wilket Creek Park between Eglinton Avenue East and Overland Drive. Constructed for the William Wrigley Jr. Company in 1962, the building housed their offices and manufacturing plant until the factory closed in March 2016.

The property is associated with the William Wrigley Jr. gum company, established in Chicago in 1891. Wrigley would become the largest gum manufacturer in the world and opened its first Canadian branch in Toronto on Carlaw Avenue in 1911. In 1963, requiring more room to expand and modernize its operations, the company moved from Carlaw Avenue to their new office and plant at 1123 Leslie Street.[1]  

The property contains a two-storey office building and adjoining rear single-storey industrial factory, set back to the east along Leslie Street. The building complex was designed by Gordon S. Adamson and Associates. It is an example of the characteristic Don Mills clean industrial facility designed in a Late Modern style and located in a landscaped setting, accessed by a curvilinear street, which represents the principles set out by the lead planner, Macklin Hancock. The property is a notable example of Post-War suburban planning based on Garden City principles. Subsequent additions were constructed between 2002 and 2007.

Staff have determined that the property meets two or more of the nine criteria under Ontario Regulation 9/06, the criteria prescribed for municipal designation under Part IV, Section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act relating to design and physical, historical and associative, and contextual values.

A Site Plan Control application for the subject property at 1123 Leslie Street was submitted on September 21, 2021. The application proposes the redevelopment of the property for an athletic club. The office structure is proposed to be retained in situ and most of the original factory structure is proposed to be demolished and replaced with a series of one- to six-storey building volumes and an at-grade outdoor amenity courtyard.

A Heritage Impact Assessment is required for all development applications that affect listed and designated properties and is considered when determining the conservation of a heritage property. An Heritage Impact Assessment completed by ERA and dated September 20, 2021, was submitted to support the application. A revised Heritage Impact Assessment (prepared by ERA), dated November 11, 2022, was also submitted.

Designation enables City Council to review proposed alterations or demolitions to the property and enforce heritage property standards and maintenance.