Ontario Construction News staff writer
Oxford Properties Group has submitted a rezoning application for Canada Square to redevelop the 9.2-acre midtown Toronto site with a 3-million sq. ft. mixed-use masterplan.
Located at the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, the plan includes five mixed-use towers with over 650,000 sq. ft. of new office space, 2,700 new homes, community amenities and landscaped open spaces, improved transit infrastructure and a dedicated community space. It will be built in several phases.
“The rezoning application marks an exciting milestone for the redevelopment plan and builds on the stakeholder engagement process that Oxford initiated back in 2017,” Andrew O’Neil, vice president, development at Oxford Properties said in a news release.
“Through continued collaboration with stakeholder groups including the local community, the City of Toronto and transit agencies, we believe our masterplan proposal will deliver significant community benefits and unlock the potential of this technically complex, transit-connected site in the heart of midtown Toronto.
Oxford has engaged an award-winning team for the master plan, including an architectural design team led by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Hariri Pontarini Architects, with Adamson Associates Architects as Executive Architect. OJB Landscape Architecture will set the vision for the significant new open space and public realm.
The development plan has a phased implementation strategy and a series of three precincts with distinct but complementary identities that integrate with the surrounding context.
“The development will deliver much needed modern workspace, new housing – which is planned to be predominantly rental, transit infrastructure improvements and create substantial new landscaped open space including new parkland,” O’Neil said.
“The plan carefully balances the community’s needs while reflecting the site’s location at a major transit interchange and will help maximize the beneficial impact of the Province’s investment in the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.”
A mixed-use development anchors the north side of the site with an elegant tower that will accommodate 650,000 square feet of contemporary office space and approximately 420 residential units. It isdirectly above the Eglinton TTC station and Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown LRT and is planned as the first phase of the redevelopment. The site will also accommodate transit improvements including a new TTC bus terminal that integrates with the existing subway concourse.
At street level, the public area will be transformed with a new public plaza that leads from the intersection to a new landscaped open space immediately south of the mixed-use tower, a creative use of the bus terminal’s roof.
A residential section at the south side of the site features four residential towers and street-level retail and office space, all oriented around a central courtyard accessed from a new public street. The buildings are configured with heights scaling down to the south and west, with terracing to provide appropriate height transition to the surrounding residential neighbourhoods. The buildings in the residential precinct will also overlook new parkland proposed along Duplex Avenue.
The central portion of the development features generous amounts of open space and serves to both transition the north-south grade changes across the site while also providing a new accessible east-west route linking Yonge Street and Duplex Avenue.
A new 10,000 square foot community space also features prominently in the central precinct, with the potential to accommodate a day care centre, recreation space or other community services.
“We believe it takes a developer with Oxford’s experience and a collaborative approach with stakeholders to create the most community and social value from one of the most important sites in Midtown,” said Mark Cote, head of development, Canada, Oxford Properties.
“Our phased approach to development seeks to navigate the site challenges to deliver a compelling public realm, new amenities and exciting experiences at each stage of the project. The current pandemic has vividly demonstrated the need for additional outdoor space in our urban centres and our proposal for Canada Square, where approximately half of the site is dedicated to open space, puts it at the heart of this development.”