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East of the Don River, areas of Downtown Toronto that were once hubs of industry and manufacturing are being built out with mixed-use new development capable of accommodating new residential density, while still preserving the type of employment areas that are beneficial in maintaining a functional neighbourhood. One notable example is Streetcar Developments and Dream's Riverside Square, a redevelopment project that is replacing two former warehouse structures and a surface parking lot at Queen and the Don Valley Parkway with a range of uses.
The project is being built in phases, with the initial buildings to feature architecture by RAW Design, and phase 2 buildings being designed by Giannone Petricone Associates. Work on the initial phase has been progressing smoothly since demolition and shoring commenced in mid-2016. Excavation of the project's four-level underground parking garage wrapped up earlier this year, with the first crane having been installed this past March. Three more cranes have since entered the mix, working on the shared below-grade component that will connect the community's five mixed-use buildings.
Riverside Square will lay the foundations for future growth in the area, mixing residential, commercial, and public spaces, including a new park fronting onto Queen Street, and a significant car dealership component that will add to the growing presence of automotive titans lining the Don Valley Parkway. With the project having recently been submitted to the City for site plan approval in advance of above-grade construction, a new rendering of this auto dealership component has been uncovered, showing how the multi-storey showrooms will appear from the Eastern Avenue overpass to the south of the site. Dealership in the rendering include Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, Nissan, and Infinity.
While facade retentions are a familiar site in new Toronto buildings, it is much rarer to see the structural elements of an old building incorporated into a new build. This is exactly what is happening at the Riverside Square site, where a former steel-framed warehouse previously used by moving company Tippet-Richardson has been stripped down to its core structural elements, which will live on in the first phase's car dealerships. (River City 3 can be seen rising in the background of the image below.)
For additional information and renderings for the project, visit our Riverside Square database file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the field provided on this page.
