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Our annual Growth To Watch For series is back for another year, bigger, taller, and more comprehensive than ever before. Over the course of the year, we're bringing you to every significant development happening across the 416 and beyond into the Greater Toronto Area. We're covering everything from brand new proposals, to those inching their way through the planning process, to those already under construction or about to be completed.
A total of 25 reports will be available to subscribers throughout the year, with eight released so far. (Details about how to get them can be found at the bottom of this article.) For a taste of what's offered in the ninth report, here's a sneak peek at the area highlighted.
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This edition of our Growth to Watch For series picks up where our previous report left off on Steeles east of Bathurst. Continuing eastward through North York, we generally go south on Yonge through the heart of North York Centre, and turn east again on Sheppard Avenue, and then follow Don Mills Road northwards, with a number of diversions along the way. This report highlights all the active and proposed projects promising to transform the neighbourhoods on our path.
Projects in this report’s coverage area include a wide variety of development types that range from low-rise townhome blocks all the way up to new multi-tower communities. Among the latter group, Aoyuan International is breaking into the Canadian housing market with their major redevelopment of Newtonbrook Plaza on the southeast corner of Yonge and Cummer. Dubbed M2M Condos, the Wallman Architects-designed complex will add 4 towers plus a mid-rise building, along with a public park, community centre, daycare, and potential library branch to the north end of Yonge's high-density stretch through North York.
Yonge Street itself could be subject to some big changes in the future thanks to the Reimagining Yonge Street study. While the Council vote on the project last year was deferred to a future date at the last-minute, the plan to improve pedestrian and cyclist conditions in North York City Centre will eventually return to Council for consideration. The plan—with some controversy stemming from the area's clash between urban and suburban lifestyles—would reduce the road from six to four lanes between Bishop Avenue in the north and Sheppard Avenue in the south, while removing on-street parking, implementing bike lanes, installing a landscaped median, and widening the sidewalk on both sides.
East of North York Centre, a corridor of density continues to form along Sheppard Avenue East, which include mall intensifications, low-and medium-density residential buildings, and larger multi-tower, master-planned communities. One such community is Concord Adex's Park Place neighbourhood, where several towers are complete and more are on the way. Building new communities from scratch involves the creation of new neighbourhood infrastructure, like Park Place's nearly-complete Woodsy Park, and the Bessarion Community Centre, now under construction west of the park.
In contrast to the new communities built from the ground up, the coverage area also contains a few projects where developers are seeking to intensify Tower-in-the-Park style rental apartment complexes with new housing replacing parking and green space. One such project is Starlight Investments' 12-24 Leith Hill Road, where a 12-storey rental apartment building is planned to rise next to an existing 15-storey tower. Other similar proposals near it have triggered an area context plan from the City that would add three new roads to address the needs of the area.
New Growth to Watch For 2019 reports are being released on an ongoing basis, each covering a different section of the Greater Toronto Area. The series' upcoming tenth report will move east, covering development coming to North Scarborough.
Subscribers can get access to existing and future reports for the year on our Growth to Watch For 2019 landing page. Subscribe today as a standalone subscription purchase for $199+tax, and you'll receive access to all 25 reports.
