Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Toronto’s Parkdale Hub project at the intersection of Queen Street West and Cowan Avenue is ready to progress to phase three.
Currently home to city-owned facilities and community services, including the Parkdale Library, Masaryk-Cowan Community Recreation Centre Parkdale Arts & Culture Centre and a municipal parking lot, the site is being transformed to include wide-ranging social, cultural and economic benefits to the Parkdale community, including:
- creation of new non-profit affordable rental housing
- revitalization and expansion of the Masaryk-Cowan Community Recreation Centre, to better deliver recreational programming to the community through a more efficient design and the addition of space
- reconstruction and expansion of the Parkdale Library Branch to provide increased visibility and accessibility to the third busiest library branch in the city
- ongoing delivery of Toronto Artscape’s cultural hub program, which provides affordable live-work housing for local artists as well as an art gallery and community office space
- creation of new inclusive and accessible community space and design elements that will strategically connect programs, services and people
- enhancements to the public realm in the heart of the Parkdale neighbourhood, as well as the adaptive re-use of heritage buildings and improved connectivity with the adjacent residential neighbourhood
Phase two included collaborating on advancing architectural design work, a construction phasing strategy, environmental due diligence, negotiations for a strategic property acquisition, a preliminary civil engineering assessment, high-level costing analysis, and ongoing community and stakeholder engagement.
In upcoming phase three, staff plan to proceed with expropriation proceedings to acquire 1337 Queen St. W., a property adjacent to City-owned lands on the Parkdale Hub site. The acquisition of this property is key to the project to create new affordable homes and community program space to benefit the local community, including:
- constructing up to 109 homes
- building up to 800 square metres (8,500 square feet) of community space
- creating vehicle access to the Parkdale Hub site from Dunn Avenue, which would provide access to the community recreation centre and library for loading and site servicing
- phase construction work at the Parkdale Hub site to minimize disruption of essential programs and services
The staff report to Executive Committee will be considered Dec. 7 and could be approved by city council Dec. 15 and 16.
For more information on the Parkdale Hub project, visit ParkdaleHub.ca .
Quotes:
“The Parkdale Hub project is an excellent City of Toronto partnership that will benefit the community. The Hub will create more housing, 50 per cent of which is affordable housing, and community spaces, and will provide residents the programs and supports they need, want and deserve.”
– Mayor John Tory
“The Parkdale Hub project is a unique City-building initiative whose scale and diversity of benefits to the community provide a real opportunity to improve the lives of Parkdale residents through improved programming, the creation of new affordable housing and stronger community supports for some of our most vulnerable residents.”
– Councillor Gord Perks (Parkdale-High Park)
“This project is a great example of the work CreateTO was formed to do. Together with our partners in City divisions and agencies, CreateTO has been working diligently to ensure the Parkdale Hub better serves the local community by providing more space for current and future uses on site, including new community space, and affordable homes. This city-building project is going to enable the Parkdale community to continue to thrive.”
– Vic Gupta, CEO of CreateTO