The success of the rebuilding of Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood has set a standard now being emulated by other cities seeking to revitalize mid-20th-century public housing projects, and in fact two more areas of Toronto are beginning to get the same treatment now as well.

Work in Alexandra Park, west of Toronto's Downtown, is now well under way with construction of Toronto Community Housing townhomes and the first market condominium proceeding between Cameron and Vanauley Streets north of Queen. Along with the renewed housing stock, formerly closed streets are being reconnected, new community facilities are being planned, and market housing is being added to the mix.

Tridel's SQ—short for Spadina and Queen—is the first new market condominium development in the community. It, along with the first of rent-geared-to-income replacement units, have made much progress in the past several months, as evidenced in this northeast-facing view over the site from the project's webcam.

View of redevelopment activity in Alexandra Park, image retrieved from the Alexandra Park webcam

SQ is still a storey below ground in the background of the image above, but its sales success means that it will be followed upon by a second phase called SQ2 At Alexandra Park. SQ2 will be built on the west side of Vanauley Street, opposite the current construction. As with the first phase, the 14-storey market condo boasts a design by renowned Teeple Architects, sporting their signature flair with randomized projecting balconies across the face of the building.

SQ2 with SQ in the background, image by Craig White

SQ2 will be clad in darker tones than its sibling, as seen above in the northeast-facing view across the scale model of the neighbourhood. As with SQ, SQ2 makes use of stepped terraces to transition its bulk down to the smaller scale buildings planned around it.

Northwest view across the community scale model, image by Craig White

A bird's-eye view of the model, below, shows off the outdoor amenity terrace planned for the north side of the development, set to include a barbecue and dining area, and a sundeck with a hot tub. Inside, residents of the development's 169 units will have access to amenities including a yoga and Pilates studio, steam rooms and a sauna, a fireside lounge, and a party room with kitchen.

Southwest facing view over the SQ2 model, including outdoor amenity space, image by Craig White

SQ2's 169 units, along with SQ and four future developments on the north side of the community, will bring a total of 1,540 market condo units to the neighbourhood. The redevelopment is also building 333 rental replacement units, while refurbishing and maintaining an additional 473 in the TCH Atkinson Co-op.

Alexandra Park community scale model showing current and future developments, image by Craig White

We will return with additional information as new details about the project emerge. In the meantime, you can visit our dataBase file for the project, linked below, get involved in the discussion by visiting one of the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.