How high can you go in downtown Barrie?
Proposed developments would reach for the sky and then some.
A developer wants to build, on less than one-third of an acre at 21 and 23 Collier St., a 27-storey, mixed-use development home to 214 residential rental units — one-, two- and three-bedrooms — some considered affordable housing, in addition to a four-storey podium.
The developer also is proposing 11,840 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and three levels of structured parking — two of them underground.
To be called Grand Opera Tower, it’s to be a project where innovation meets history.
Once home to the Grand Opera House, built in 1896 and demolished in 2006, the project would be a development paying tribute to this history.
“The same way an opera harmonizes acting, song, emotion and storytelling to create their masterpiece, we have synergized design, engineering, art and climate to create ours,” reads the sign on the property.
No Official Plan amendment is required to allow this development.
But it will need rezoning from 'central area commercial, second density' to 'central area commercial, second density, with special provisions.' Those special provisions would include additional height and gross floor area, along with reduced parking, landscape buffering and drive aisle width. The next step is a public meeting.
There’s no lack of development plans for this stretch of Collier Street.
There’s an application to rezone 49 Collier St., needed to permit 32 storeys of 258 residential units, 13,692 square feet of ground-floor commercial and 228 parking spaces.
A pair of 12-storey apartment buildings are planned for 129 Collier St. There, Pinemount Developments wants to build 293 residential rental units, interior and rooftop amenity space, along with 249 parking spaces. It would also include three- and four-storey podiums on its 1.5 acres, located south of Collier Street, east of Poyntz Street and north of Dunlop Street East — mostly vacant property, except for a few trees.
At 79 Collier St., 17 storeys, 136 units have been proposed along with ground-floor commercial space, with structured and underground parking, by a site plan that’s under review.
This is a site plan application, so no neighbourhood/public meeting is required. A minor variance application was considered and approved by Barrie’s committee of adjustment on May 25, 2022, but has been appealed by an adjacent landowner.
Just up the street, a 20-storey tower is being built at Owen and Worsley streets, along with an eight-storey tower at the corner of Owen and McDonald streets, and a six-storey mixed-use podium and amenity building connecting them, for a total of 273 units. Of this total, 223 units will be rentals and 50 condominiums.
There will also be ground-floor commercial space, along with underground and structured parking at 55-57 McDonald St., 61-67 Owen St. and 70-78 Worsley St., right across from Barrie Public Library’s downtown branch.
