Last week, the VANDYK Group of Companies invited condo purchasers, local politicians and neighbourhood representatives to celebrate with them as they broke ground ceremonially for the retail and community health centre component at their Backyard Neighbourhood Condos project in Etobicoke.

Ground Breaking at Backyard Neighbourhood Condos, image by Craig White

Joining officials from the VANDYK Group of Companies for the shovels-in-the-ground photograph above were local Ward 5 Councillor Justin Di Ciano (in the beige sweater above), and on the other side of President and CEO John Vandyk, local Etobicoke Lakeshore MPP Peter Milczyn (with the red tie).

The Shoppes at Stonegate and The Humberside are the first two phases at Backyard Neighbourhood Condos, image courtesy of Vandyk

The first phase of the development will be a 32,000 square foot two-storey high retail pavilion designed by Kohn Partnership Architects. It will be anchored by the Berry Road Food Co-op, an 8,000 square foot not-for-profit store and cafe which will concentrate on produce and meats from about 100 local farmers, with an emphasis on organically produced food. Part of the Co-op will also include a cooking school, and meals prepared in house will be available for sale.

The Shoppes at Stonegate at Backyard Neighbourhood Condos, image courtesy of Vandyk Homes

Another of the suites will include a street-front doctor's office, while on the second storey of the retail pavilion will be the Stonegate Community Health Centre, a long time service to those in the community. More retailers are to be announced.

Just to the north of the retail phase will be a landscaped central park for the site with a children's play area, while three phases of condominiums will surround the other three sides of the park. Phase One, The Humberside, is now over 80% sold out, with construction scheduled to commence next spring.

The Humberside at Backyard Neighbourhood Condos, image courtesy of Vandyk Group of Companies

Occasionally we attend ground breaking ceremonies where the work is actually weeks away, often leading to disappointment that things are not moving quickly. Here at the Backyard site, however, digging is already underway on the first phase, with significant site preparation work having taken place on other parts of the site. 

Digging has already begun for The Shoppes at Stonegate, image by Craig White

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.