Following a late-2016 ground breaking ceremony, VANDYK Group of Companies' redevelopment of Etobicoke's Stonegate Plaza is well underway. The first phase of the Backyard Neighbourhood Condos community will be a commercial component known as The Shoppes at Stonegate, a 32,000 square foot two-storey retail building featuring a design by Kohn Partnership Architects.

Facing east across the Backyard Neighbourhood Condos site, image by Craig White

Forming of The Shoppes' below-grade levels is now in full swing at the southwest edge of the site, with concrete and rebar currently sitting just below grade at the intersection of Berry Road and Bell Manor Drive. This component will be anchored the by Berry Road Food Co-op, an 8,000 square foot not-for-profit store and cafe offering food sourced from about 100 local farmers. The commercial phase will also provide a new home for the Stonegate Community Health Centre up on the second floor, as well as a street-fronting doctor's office and other retailers.

Below grade work on The Shoppes at Stonegate, image by Craig White

The commercial building is set to be followed by three residential phases, starting with "The Humberside", occupying the southeast corner of the site. As of early-January, only five suites are still available at the community's initial condominium phase. The future location of The Humberside can be seen in the image below, where construction workers are currently parking their vehicles.

Facing east across the Backyard Neighbourhood Condos site, image by Craig White

Along with the almost fully-leased commercial phase, Backyard's future 7, 8, and 10-storey residential phases will all wrap around a green space—technically a Privately-Owned Publicly-accesible Space, or POPS—a central place to enjoy for residents of the development as well as for those from the surrounding community.

Backyard Neighbourhood Condos site plan, image courtesy of VANDYK Group

Want to know more? UrbanToronto's dataBase file for Backyard Condos, linked below, includes many more renderings of the development along with more information. Want to talk about it? you can leave a comment in the space provided on this page, or join in on the conversation in our associated Forum thread.