The master-planned Canary District community will first serve as the Athletes’ Village for the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games before being reimagined as Toronto’s most dynamic live-work-play urban village. The 437-unit building, to be known as Canary Park Condominiums, sits adjacent to Bayview Ave. and the new 18-acre Corktown Common park. It features two mid-rise towers of 12 and 16 storeys, as well as a dramatic retail podium.

Now over 60 per cent complete, the Athletes’ Village—which Dundee Kilmer Developments L.P. has been contracted by the Government of Ontario to design, build and finance at a total value of $514 million—is currently on-time and on-budget.

“I’m proud to not only announce the topping off of the final building in this important new urban village, but to also share our success in meeting our budget targets and completion milestones,” Lester told media in attendance. “This innovative mixed-use community sets a new standard for design, livability and sustainability. We believe the Canary District will attract residents from young families to empty nesters, while inspiring leading businesses, for decades to come.” More than 82 per cent of the first market building, Canary District Condominiums, has been sold.

That progress recently earned high praise from Pan American Sports Organization technical commission head Mike Fennell on a recent visit to Toronto, who declared that preparations “… were more advanced than any I have experienced at any other Games.”

The entire West Don Lands development, including the Canary District, is expected to return an increased and incremental property tax assessment value of $3.7 billion. Property taxes for the area are expected to deliver $30 million annually to the city of Toronto. 

The neighbourhood will be comprised of 808 market units (including condominiums, townhomes, and lofts), along with 253 units of affordable housing (across a range of unit types from two-storey maisonettes, to one- and two-storey apartments). All buildings have been designed to achieve LEED Gold certification and boast green roofs. Occupancy will commence in April, 2016.

Amenities at the base of residential buildings will include retail stores, cafes and restaurants.  There will also be accessible community and recreational services such as the cutting-edge 82,000 sq. ft. Cooper Koo Family YMCA and a new 175,000 sq. ft. satellite campus residence for George Brown College.

Designed as a community for the 21st century by the Dundee Kilmer Integrated Design Team (IDT)—a joint venture of architectsAlliance and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects in association with Daoust Lestage Inc., and MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects. Canary Park Condominiums is designed by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects and working in collaboration with Page + Steele/IBI Group Architects —some of the Canary District’s most important features include an extensive pedestrian network with 30 to 40 foot wide granite-paved sidewalks designed to maximize walkability, open and transparent streetscapes, as well as large-scale building windows and balconies that offer a connection between residents living above and the bustle of streets below—a direct nod to the late Toronto urban planning visionary Jane Jacobs’ ‘eyes on the street’ thesis.

The Canary District’s innovative design has already garnered impressive industry accolades including the Best Urban Community of the Year Award from NAHB and the Canadian Architects Award of Excellence.

The neighbourhood will also feature some of the fastest broadband connection speeds in the world, with numerous Wi-Fi hotspots providing 24/7 Internet access to residents and visitors alike. In fact, the Canary District will be home to Canada’s first open-access, ultra-high-speed broadband community network, which will rank among the top seven most sophisticated networks in the world. To connect the Canary District with the neighbouring Distillery District, materials such as masonry are being used at street-level, while a contemporary and modern design aesthetic has prevailed to exemplify the neighbourhood’s importance to the revitalization of Toronto’s formerly derelict West Don Lands.

To learn more about the innovative, sustainable new neighbourhood that is transforming the heart of Toronto, visit www.canarydistrict.com