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While many Torontonians still lament the day that the last of the iconic Honest Ed’s signs were torn down, life in this city has continued at its blistering pace, and the site that once housed the storied discount store has followed suit. With the larger five buildings that make up the new Mirvish Village development, designed by Henriquez Partners Architects and Diamond Schmitt Architects, now topped off and marching through external finishing, the corner of Bathurst and Bloor Streets is entering a new era that will be defined by increased density, with the promise of a vibrant and rejuvenated public realm to be introduced as well.
The multi-tower project from the development team of Westbank Corp and Peterson has been a growing physical presence in the predominantly low-rise Annex neighbourhood for several seasons now, with buildings of 24, 25, and 26 storeys rounding out the high end. However, while these towering volumes accommodate a large share of the 909 rental units that the development will bring, the project’s ability to create a thriving community also relies heavily on its heritage buildings on Markham Street.
Throughout the construction process of the new buildings, the grand Victorian era houses on both sides of Markham Street that made up the original Mirvish Village years ago have been under wraps - literally. Existing as exceptional representations of the late 19th century architecture found extensively throughout the Annex, the buildings were protected in a robust wrapping to shield the exteriors from danger. It wasn’t until the summer of this year that the wrapping came down and workers began to oversee the retrofitting and preservation process, which has advanced to the removal of windows for replacement since that time.
The Markham Street buildings will play a vital role in the programming of the public realm and retail aspect of the development, according to the site's masterplan. Under the care of heritage specialists ERA Architects, each of the houses are being retrofitted to host either a restaurant or a retail unit, with as many as three levels available in the larger houses, contributing towards the total 16,193m² of non-residential floor space.
Moving east to the development’s Bathurst Street frontage, another set of heritage buildings are found in a more advanced state of restoration and retrofitting. These properties also allow the development to expand beyond residential programming, offering more retail opportunities at an appropriate pedestrian scale while also hosting two levels of commercial office space with a total area of 2,808m². The offices will enjoy an open concept floor plan that spans across the entirety of the width of the existing buildings, suggesting that significant interior reconstruction has occurred to open up the dividing walls in order to unite these commercial spaces.
Finally, the development’s northern street-wall is also the home of a preserved heritage facade that is currently in the process of being restored and incorporated into a mid-rise building that transitions the Mirvish Village site to the scale of neighbouring buildings along Bloor Street. In the fall, the building was pictured with the windows removed, and now weeks later, we can see that it has been wrapped entirely ahead of the winter season. Upon completion, this facade will create the entrance for another restaurant with rental units planned above, and will act as a contextually appropriate buffer for pedestrians entering the Markham Street thoroughfare from Bloor.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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