283 QUEEN STREET BRINGS TOGETHER SUSTAINABILITY AND HERITAGE IN DOWNTOWN KINGSTON
In Kingston’s historic downtown just a short block from all of the fun that Princess Street has to offer, a new mid-rise development looks to bring urban living to a site steeped in heritage. Planned at 283 Queen Street, the 15-storey purpose-built student housing building from Manulife Investment Management (“Manulife IM”) and Cedar Podium Investment Management is designed by Enform Architects in collaboration with Lemay. The project introduces 389 fully funished bedrooms (178 units) and a suite of modern building amenities including ground-floor retail while integrating a zero-carbon design framework in line with Kingston’s climate goals.
Looking northwest to to 283 Queen, designed by Enform and Lemay for Manulife IM and Cedar Podium
Situated on a through-block site at 273–283 Queen Street, the development occupies an L-shaped parcel just steps from Kingston’s downtown core, waterfront, and transit connections. The area is defined by a mix of Victorian-era buildings, commercial storefronts, and heritage landmarks such as the neighbouring Renaissance Event Venue.
In response, the design team pursued a strategy that emphasizes urban continuity, embedding the building into its surroundings through scale, materiality, and street presence. Rather than imposing a singular statement, 283 Queen seeks to introduce contemporary density in a way that supports walkability and reinforces the downtown area.
With heritage buildings framing the site, the architectural response was carefully calibrated. The podium steps back from the Renaissance Event Venue to maintain its visibility and prominence along the street, while a warm red brick tone palette ties the new building to Kingston’s masonry traditions. Horizontal datums and vertically aligned window groupings echo adjacent facades, allowing the podium to align visually without resorting to replication.
Sustainability is also a core part of 283 Queen, with the project targeting Zero Carbon Building – Design certification from the Canada Green Building Council. To achieve this, the design prioritizes a high-performance enclosure with low thermal energy demand, reducing reliance on active systems. A geo-exchange heat pump system will deliver efficient year-round heating and cooling, while suite-specific Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs) manage fresh air intake based on occupancy. The project is also aiming for a two-star Fitwel certification, as part of the team’s commitment to resident health and wellness.
Looking northeast from Queen Street to 283 Queen, designed by Enform and Lemay for Manulife IM and Cedar Podium
The residential program is shaped by the idea of a “vertical locality,” or rather, a dense, self-contained community designed for student life in Kingston, offering a range of studios to four-bedroom layouts. Indoor and outdoor amenity spaces are distributed throughout, including a fitness centre, study lounges, ground floor and rooftop terraces, bicycle storage, a pet spa, and secure parcel lockers. At street level, approximately 127m² of retail space will activate the street frontage.
283 Queen reflects Manulife IM and Cedar Podium’s commitment to sustainable urban growth in Kingston.
With occupancy targeted for 2027, 283 Queen offers a blueprint for bringing growth to established communities by extending their low-carbon approach to density paired with high-efficiency systems with community-focused design.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you’d like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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