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It's not close to Downtown Toronto, and it's not walking distance to a transit hub. Yet, in the stretch between Islington and Kipling Avenues, The Queensway could become one of Toronto's most active development nodes. Though still lined with the strip plazas, warehouse industrial, and parking lots of older suburbia, the Etobicoke Street is attracting a huge wave of high-rise projects, with a 36-storey tower at 30 Zorra Street recently joining the neighbourhood's proposed developments.
Designed by MSAi, the 379-unit condo tower would join an area already being re-made by three phases of the Remington Group's IQ Towers. Located south of The Queensway on the west side of Zorra Street, the site is just west of IQ Phase 3's future Giannone Petriconne-designed towers. Approved at 42, 27, and 19 storeys, IQ's Phase 3 condominiums will rise just south of the Richmond Architects-designed Phases 1 and 2, with Phase 1's two completed 12-storey buildings already fronting The Queensway (below, right).
Immediately south of the new Phase 1 buildings, Phase 2's mid-block 'Park Towers' (above, left) will both rise to heights of 24 storeys. In between Phases 2 and 3, a new public park will add a valuable green space to the growing neighbourhood. For its part, the tower at 30 Zorra Street will also contribute a green space at the north end of the site, effectively extending part of the park to the west.
Just east of the IQ development, another pair of towers, rising to 27 and 22 storeys, could bring another 588 residential units to the neighbourhood (below). Located at 1061 The Queensway, this development will be fronted by a lowrise Sobey's supermarket and associated retailers. The new store would replace the Sobey's supermarket at Kipling-Queensway Mall, space which is earmarked for an expanded Kipling/Gardiner interchange (above).
Meanwhile, documents submitted to the City of Toronto on behalf of a numbered company for the 30 Zorra Street development indicate yet another two towers—and a small park—south of the 1061 site. At 25 and 15 storeys tall, the two buildings appear to share a 4-storey podium, while an additional 12 townhouse units north of the towers. Unfortunately, further information about the project is not yet available, though we expect to learn more in coming months.
Moving further east, the Queensway Cinemas site at the southwest corner of Islington and Queensway is also the site of a 588-unit proposal. The massive parking lot fronting RioCan's site could become home to 4 residential buildings. Replacing both the parking lot and its row of chain restaurants, the Core Architects-designed project—known as 1001 The Queensway—would meet the corner with a 20-storey tower, with another three 12-storey buildings fronting The Queensway to the west.
Directly north of the Queensway Cinemas site, Loggia Condos, a pair of connected 9-storey residential buildings by Brandy Lane Homes, are slightly older markers of the area's recent growth. Slightly east of Islington, Symmetry's 6-storey Hive Lofts brought an avant-garde Teeple-designed mid-rise presence to The Queensway in the last couple of years while First Avenue Properties' Qube Condos were completed last year another couple of blocks further east.
A public meeting tonight from 6:30 to 8 PM at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall, 110 Jutland Rd, will discuss the 30 Zorra Street application. We will keep you updated as more information about these developments—and anything else that pops up in the area—becomes available. In the meantime, check out our associated dataBase files for more information about individual projects. Want to share your thoughts? Leave a comment below, or contribute to the ongoing discussions on our Forum.
