Emerald City is a three block redevelopment of Toronto's Parkway Forest neighbourhood, a low and mid-rise rental apartment and townhome community original built in the 1960s and 1970s at Sheppard Avenue East and Don Mills Road in North York. Triggered by the arrival of the TTC's Sheppard Line subway, the intensification of the lands has been ongoing for several years now by developer ELAD Canada. Block A, the first block of three condominiums right at the corner of Sheppard and Don Mills, was completed in 2015. Block B, the second block of three condos, including Colours of Emerald City, Fifth of the Park, and The Park Club, are under construction now.

Artist's rendering of a completed Emerald City; image retrieved via submission from Emerald City Developments V Inc

After the success of Block A, ELAD Canada applied for and received approval from the City to increase the density of the development on Blocks B and C. With Block B now under construction, ELAD has applied to raise the density of Block C once again, this time calling for an additional 405 residential units to increase Block C's total to 920, and increasing its total space to 71 000 m² for residential space and 4350 m² for commercial retail uses.

Located at the corner of Don Mills and Helen Lu Road, Block C—the third and final phase proposed in the Emerald City Condominiums community—is situated just south of the development’s under-construction second phase at Block B.

Aerial image of Block C's location; image retrieved via submission by the City of Toronto

ELAD's Block C plans call for three buildings, with the new plan for the block's intensification prepared by WZMH Architects. Proposed at 13 storeys and 24 storeys, buildings C1 and C2 would bring 256 and 290 residential units to the west and north sides of the site, respectively. The third and tallest building, the 33-storey C3, will be located on the east side of the site, with 374 units planned. Connecting buildings C1 and C3 along the north end of the site, a three storey podium bridges the structures at grade. 

Parking for Block C will encompass 947 parking spots across all three of Block C’s buildings through underground parking levels. Of the 947 parking spaces proposed, approximately 770 spots (81%) will be devoted to residents, 138 (15%) for visitors and, leaving 39 spaces (4%) for commercial use.

    Blue prints for Block C; retrieved via submission from the City of Toronto

The 920 proposed units proposed for Block C include 596 one-bedroom units (65%), 308 two bedroom units (33%) and 16 three bedroom suites (2%). If approved as proposed, Emerald City would have brought a total of 4,749 residential units to market across blocks A, B, and C. 

We will keep you updated as the planning process continues and more information becomes available. In the meantime, further information about Emerald City is available via our dataBase files, linked below. Want to share your thoughts? Leave a comment on this page, or join the ongoing conversations in our associated Forum thread.