Humber River Hospital (HRH) was formed in the late 1990s with the merger of three hospitals in Toronto's former boroughs of York and North York: York-Finch Hospital, Northwestern Hospital, and Humber Memorial Hospital. Following consolidation of the management, consolidation and updating of the facilities was next, and on October 18th, 2015, HRH’s new “super hospital” opened on Wilson Avenue just west of Keele. Change came to the three older sites, with York-Finch—now known as HRH's "Finch Site"—continuing to offer critical care services, Humber Memorial—now known as the "Church Site"—now offering certain specialties in a portion of the building, and Northwestern Hospital—now referred to as the "Keele Site"—having closed entirely earlier this year. The very next day, a rezoning application was submitted to the City, seeking the redevelopment of the former Northwestern Hospital site at 2175 Keele Street, several blocks north of Eglinton Avenue West.

Aerial view of the 2175 Keele site, image retrieved from Apple Maps

Now owned by The Daniels Corporation—a developer with extensive experience in master-planned communities—these plans aim to capitalize on the area’s proximity to the coming Crosstown LRT’s future Keelesdale Station, situated at the intersection of Keele Street, Trethewey Drive, and Eglinton Avenue West. 

Rendering of the new community, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The proposal seeks the rezoning of the lands—currently zoned for institutional uses—for residential use. The existing 1950-built hospital, its 1974 addition, and much of the surrounding surface parking would be replaced by a total of 16 Graziani + Corazza-designed condo and stacked townhome buildings with heights ranging between three and eight storeys, served by a below-grade parking garage containing 793 spaces.

Site plan for the new community, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The 731 units proposed for the site would be divided between 54 bachelor units, 400 one-bedroom units, 222 two-bedroom units, and 55 three-or-more-bedroom units. The project’s 57,405 square metres of floor area would be entirely devoted to residential uses, with no retail plans included in the proposal. The site would be bisected by a new public street running on an east/west axis between Keele Street and the site’s east end, where it terminates in a cul-de-sac next to Woodborough Park. Landscaping, meant to blend the site into the treed ravine parkland touching it on two sides, is by Ferris + Associates.

Rendering of the new community, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

The project’s October 2015 rezoning application is currently under review by the City of Toronto Planning Department, and will face the Design Review Panel at a session on May 5th. We will be sure to return with additional details as new information continues to emerge.

Rendering of the new community, image retrieved from the City of Toronto

In the meanwhile, you can learn more about the project and look over the renderings by visiting the project’s dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment using the space provided at the bottom of this page.