The combination of transit, retail, and quiet, treed side streets is attracting plenty of new residents to the Avenue Road and St. Clair neighbourhood. One of the handful of new developments aiming to capitalize on this demand, Camrost-Felcorp's Blue Diamond at Imperial Plaza will rise 26 storeys and add 226 new condominium units to St. Clair Avenue West and Foxbar Road, just east of Avenue Road.

Rendering of Blue Diamond Condos, image courtesy of Camrost-Felcorp

The tower has been designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects with clean, modern lines so as to not compete with the architectural details of the former Deer Park United Church. Heritage specialists ERA Architects are overseeing the work which will preserve elements of the heritage structure which was a focal point of the community before its closure in 2008. The Church received heritage designation that same year, leading to its planned partial restoration and incorporation into the new condominium development.

Rendering of restored church at Blue Diamond Condos, image courtesy of Camrost-Felcorp

Early on in the process, community groups expressed their desire to turn what was a church congregation into a community congregation, a task which will be accomplished by removing portions of the original building’s walls and roof to form an open courtyard. This idea came from Don Schmitt, Principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects, while on a trip to London where he saw an old church that had been bombed during the Blitz and had since been converted into a sculpture garden. The result here is that residents and the public will enjoy the publicly accessible sculpture garden on the grounds of the transformed church.

Rendering of the courtyard at Blue Diamond Condos, image courtesy of Camrost-Felcorp

Stone from the demolished sections of the church will be spared and reused in the development's six 3-storey townhouses facing Foxbar Road, but the heritage church isn't the only piece of historic architecture being saved by Camrost-Felcorp. Just next door, work is finishing up on Camrost-Felcorp's Imperial Plaza, a conversion of the 1957-built International Style Imperial Oil Building into a 400-unit luxury condominium residence. Its famed mosaic works by the late York Wilson are being saved as part of the ground floor makeover of that building into high-end food and drink retailing. 

Rendering of the sculpture garden at Blue Diamond Condos, image courtesy of Camrost-Felcorp

Blue Diamond's position south of the sculpture garden will mean view sightlines for residents at both Imperial Plaza and Blue Diamond, while a climate-controlled connection to Imperial Plaza will mean that residents of Blue Diamond will have access to amenities at the Imperial Club, located in Imperial Plaza. The club offers an indoor pool and whirlpool spa, men’s and women’s change rooms with showers, day lockers and steam room, a lounge overlooking the pool, two squash courts with viewing area, a fitness auditorium with circuit training and cardio equipment, a Yoga/Pilates studio, an aerobics/private training room, and a golf simulator room. When athletic needs are satisfied, the Imperial Club also offers a multipurpose games room and lounge, a media lounge, two screening rooms, and two acoustically isolated unequipped sound studio rooms. 

Aerial view showing the Blue Diamond site in relation to its surroundings, image retrieved from Apple Maps

Occupancy at Blue Diamond is currently scheduled for November of 2017.

Additional information and renderings can be found in our dataBase file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.