Ontario Construction News staff writer
Developers are moving forward with a planned massive new development above the Canadian National Railways (CNR) line near Union Station in downtown Toronto, DataBid.com reports.
The planned ORCA Project includes condos, office towers, and green spaces. Developers Craft Development Group, Kingsmen Group Inc. and Fengate Asset Management plan to build 3,500 residential units and an elevated railway park on the 16-acre air-rights site.
Toronto Storeys reports that the development would include high-rise residential and affordable housing, as well as entertainment venues.
Craft acquired the air rights for the site south of Front Street between Bathurst Street and Blue Jays Way in 2013 from the CNR. The developers assert that the planned project would be precedent-setting in Canada, in terms of the community size efficiently created in unused space above rail corridor lands.
They also say the ORCA project would also offer state-of-the-art technology in support of energy efficiency and a healthy environment throughout the complex.
“We are extremely proud of this union between Craft/Kingsmen and Fengate. With LiUNA (Labourers’ International Union of North America) guidance, this historic opportunity for the revitalization of a former rail corridor will create thousands of job opportunities as well as homes for a new generation of homeowners,” Craft Development Corp. president Carmine Nigro said in a statement.
The City of Toronto turned down in January 2018 the original concept submitted as an Official Plan Amendment in 2017. Developers then appealed the denial to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, with hearings scheduled for November 2020 and January 2021. They submitted updated plans to the city in June 2020.
Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture will prepare a revised and updated concept plans, DataBid.com says. Sweeny &Co. Architects Inc. developed the concept renderings, published recently in Urban Toronto.
The proposed development includes:
- Six residential towers with 3,500 units, ranging from studios to three or more bedrooms;
- 36 storey office building; and
- 522,049 sq. ft. of retail space.
Developers say the ORCA project is focused on addressing increasing housing demands in Toronto and will reclaim a significant amount of urban space occupied by the rail corridor.
They say the initiative pays close attention to urban needs such as transit convenience, retail access, and public and green space.
An article in BlogTo states that the Union Station Rail Corridor tracks have cut across downtown Toronto since the 1850s.
The project’s centrepiece will be a new 12 acre Rail Deck Park, which would include public art, lawns, and trees that could connect to the existing Northern Linear Park in CityPlace, the published report says.