The past three months of construction have been busy ones at the Etobicoke site of VANDYK Group of Companies' Backyard Neighbourhood Condos, as forming activity progresses for the multi-phase development's commercial component. To be known as The Shoppes at Stonegate, the 32,000 ft² two-storey retail building, designed by Kohn Partnership Architects, is the first phase in the long awaited Stonegate Plaza redevelopment.

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

When we last stopped by in January, work was underway on the building's underground level. Since then, the Shoppes structure reached grade, and now the first walls to hold up the second floor are being formed.

Ground floor forming underway at Backyard Neighbourhood Condos site, image by Craig White

The Shoppes at Stonegate will be anchored by the Berry Road Food Co-op, bringing groceries back to a community that's become a "food desert" since the closure of the former plaza on the site. The food co-op will occupy 8,000 ft² on the building's first floor, offering a not-for-profit store and cafe selling food sourced from roughly 100 local farmers, with an emphasis on organically grown and raised products. The building will also be home to the Stonegate Community Health Centre, a street-fronting doctor's office, and other retailers not yet named.

Ground floor forming underway at Backyard Neighbourhood Condos site, image by Craig White

While the Shoppes at Stonegate will be welcomed by the existing neighbourhood, they will also prime the rest of the site for three residential phases, which will rise to heights of 7, 8, and 10 storeys. "The Humberside" will be the first of these residential buildings to rise at the corner of Berry Road and Stephen Drive. The following phases will rise to the north, surrounding a central community gathering spot—a POPS, or Privately-Owned Publicly-accessible Space—with places to people to relax and equipment for kids to play on.

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.