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Since the turn of the year, the 2017 vintage of our annual Growth to Watch For series has surveyed new and ongoing developments throughout Toronto. So far, the 14 entries in this year's series have covered most of the City of Toronto's 630 km² area, taking in hundreds of projects. Ranging in size from stacked townhouses to office towers and master-planned communities, the series covers a wide gamut of projects, taking in newly proposed and under construction developments across the 416. Whether it's a residential, commercial, or institutional project, it's in there.
Covering the west end, the first seven GtWF entries of 2017 are compiled in our Guide to the West End, which includes a total of 287 projects. The west end guide provides a general overview of each of the surveyed areas—as well as links to each article. Our subsequent seven stories have covered a diverse gamut of neighbourhoods to the north and east after beginning at Downsview & York University. Taken together, our seven latest storeys add another 270 projects to the mix, taking the 2017 total—so far—to 554.
Entries are organized geographically, taking readers on a tour through Toronto's most active corridors, anticipating the future within a familiar urban context.
Beginning near the Allen Road on Wilson Avenue, our Downsview & York University instalment looks at 42 projects at the north end of the city. While new development in this 60 km² stretch doesn't capture the headlines as often as Downtown neighbourhoods, a significant volume of developments—some of which have real architectural quality—are re-shaping this part of the city. Tying it all together, four new subway stations in this area are now nearing completion, each promising to be architectural showpieces in their own right.
North York Centre and Willowdale
Moving east, another 39 planned and ongoing developments are adding new density and commercial space along the Yonge Street corridor and to the east, north of Highway 401. Between Yonge and the 404, residential projects are gradually re-shaping stretches of Sheppard, Bayview, Finch, and Don Mills. Unsurprisingly, many of the largest—and tallest—projects in this 30 km² area are planned near North York's de jure Downtown at Yonge and Sheppard.
Now properly in the east end, the North Scarborough entry covers one of the largest areas in the series. At almost 90 km², the stretch of Scarborough north of the 401 isn't a development hub on the scale of the Entertainment District or South Etobicoke. Nonetheless, many of the 29 projects featured here—which include multi-tower developments like The Kennedys, seen below—could meaningfully impact the urban landscape.
South of the 401, even larger, the 109 km² area we're calling Central Scarborough is geographically the largest zone covered is the series. The 24 projects included in this instalment are largely concentrated in development nodes surrounding then Scarborough Town Centre—which looks set to welcome the controversial one-stop, $3.35 billion subway extension—with additional pockets of growth near UTSC, and along Lawrence and Kingston Road.
Beaches, Leslieville, & The Danforth
Returning west, this 28 km² entry covers some of Toronto's most popular—and, in City Planning parlance, 'stable'— residential neighbourhoods. While many of the 52 projects east of the Don River are mid-rise buildings on 'the Avenues', the massive East Harbour redevelopment promises to create a full-scale secondary Downtown, served by a new multi-modal transit hub. Among the mid-rises meanwhile, a wide range of architectural styles abounds, including everything from work by Winnipeg's award-winning 5467896 Architecture to a 21st century turret...
Turning north, the 61 km² East York & Don Mills entry takes on a variety of urban contexts, with projects to match. 38 planned and under-construction developments are to be found, ranging from small townhouse projects to multi-tower developments like 939 Eglinton Avenue East and On the Park (below). Those projects are designed by Page + Steele / IBI Group and Graziani + Corazza respectively.
Before concluding our series with the seven Downtown entries still to come—with many of Toronto's most anticipated developments—our Midtown story covers one of Toronto's most active development hubs. Featuring 46 projects in an area of under 6.5 km², the Yonge & Eglinton neighbourhood is full of activity. With the under-construction Crosstown LRT creating a new interchange station at Eglinton, the improved transit connectivity has played a major role in precipating new development. At the northeast corner of Yonge & Eglinton, for example, the two-tower E Condos is now under construction, with the south tower set to reach a height of 58 storeys.
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Continuing soon, our series will take on Downtown, beginning with a look at the Yorkville area. Want to share your thoughts about Toronto's continuing development? Leave a comment in the space below this page, or join one of the many ongoing conversations in our Forum. For the projects covered in this instalments, there are 270 threads to choose from!
