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“Today, everybody talks about housing,” Jim Ritchie, President and CEO of Tridel, shared in a recent interview with UrbanToronto, “and that’s something that’s been in our DNA going on nine decades.” That's right, Tridel has a lot to celebrate in 2024 as it marks its 90th year in business, having formed the year the City of Toronto itself celebrated its centennial, having been incorporated from the former Town of York in 1834.
Jack DelZotto, an Italian immigrant stonemason, built his first home in the city in 1934. He would go on to found Tridel, eventually handing over the company to his sons. It would become one of the most prominent within the city's development scene, and now with nine decades under its belt, Tridel has delivered over 90,000 homes in the Greater Toronto Area.
"We're a homebuilder first and foremost,” Ritchie told UrbanToronto, “whether that home happens to be a high-rise building in a wonderful location on the waterfront or a community we're building for families. This perspective has not changed over the years and continues to guide us."
From Suburban to Urban Living
In the 1960s, as Toronto began to shift towards higher-density living, Tridel was at the forefront, transitioning from suburban developments to pioneering some of the city's first condominiums. The 1980s marked another significant pivot as Tridel honed its focus on high-rise development, responding to the growing demand for urban residential spaces. This expansion saw Tridel's portfolio grow to diverse communities across the GTA.
"I'd like to tell you that it was like a master plan that we're going to do this and we're going to be very successful,” Ritchie reflected. “We were an early adopter and created our very first condo developments in Oakville, and evolved from there.”
Since then, Tridel has instituted a Customer Care program, a post-sale service ensuring every homeowner feels supported, informed, and valued throughout their journey. When it comes to sustainability, the company's "Built Green. Built for Life." philosophy is not just a catchy slogan; as proven by their record of 14 BILD Green Builder of the Year awards, Tridel have been demonstrating leadership in sustainable development.
Tridel’s Portfolio
Tridel's influence on the GTA’s real estate market is a legacy of constructing over 90,000 homes, and their portfolio is now too large to cover in a quick overview, but Ritchie shared some of his favourites:
The Well
The Well is one of the country’s most ambitious mixed-use endeavours, with 1,700 residential units across seven buildings. Located at 410 Front Street, it featured a powerhouse team at the helm, with the architectural talents of Hariri Pontarini Architects, BDP Quadrangle, architects—Alliance, Wallman Architects, and Adamson Associates Architects, as well as Tridel’s development partners RioCan REIT, Allied Properties REIT, and Woodbourne Canada Management, Inc. Ritchie highlighted its complexity and scale: "We had the best participants in building three million square feet above grade, and a million and a half square feet of infrastructure below grade, to keep this community humming along."
Bayside Toronto
Bayside Toronto is a shining example of waterfront revitalization, built in partnership with Hines and transforming a former industrial port area into a residential and community hub. With Aqualuna currently under construction — and featuring a unique wave-like design by Denmark’s 3XN architects — it joins the Aqualina, Aquavista, and Aquabella buildings situated to the west. Their architectural adventurousness and diversity plus a focus on sustainable living set new standards for urban waterfront developments, with Ritchie noting that Aqualuna “looks like an island on its own, designed to maximize view lines to the water.”
Lakeview Village
“A bit similar to Bayside, the work we’re doing in Mississauga at Lakeview Village shows there can be different homes of shapes and sizes for buyers in different locations, so we tend to be diversified that way,” Ritchie remarked about this large-scale development soon to break ground. It is expected to bring an influx of 20,000 residents, with 8,000 units including townhouses. The 10 to 12 acres of land are allocated for campus and cultural development, with a layout and architectural design emphasizing eco-friendly practices. With a masterpln by Sasaki Associates Inc., and a team involving Argo Developments, Greenpark Homes, Branthaven Homes, Caivan, Opus Corporation, and Deco Homes, the site at 1300 Lakeshore Road East will also reroute a section of the Waterfront Trail closer to the lake.
MRKT
Tridel is actively revitalizing the Alexandra Park community near Kensington Market, working alongside the Toronto Community Housing Corporation on its 18-acre master plan. Along with the completed SQ and SQ2 condos, Ritchie highlighted MRKT and its design by CS&P Architects and SvN. With construction ongoing, he notes that MRKT's “architectural expression is just starting to come through now, an expression that is unique in a particular environment, appealing to small families, singles, and professionals.”
A Century of Building Communities
As Tridel approaches the centennial mark, the company is poised to continue doing what it does best. “I’m happy to say that our development pipeline for the future is going to take us past 10 years and beyond,” Ritchie concluded. “We can't think of another urban centre in Canada or the US that we're better served to do what we do. We’re very much looking forward to the future housing market in the GTA with great things to come."
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on these developments, but in the meantime, you can learn more about them from our Database files, 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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