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Plans are advancing for a high-density redevelopment at 50 Worsley Street in Downtown Barrie, where a pair of 33-storey towers would become two of the tallest high-rises in the city. Designed by Architecture Unfolded for Cortel Group, the proposal builds on a City of Barrie-initiated rezoning approved in 2024 aimed at delivering rental housing.
The site occupies the northeast corner of Worsley and Clapperton streets, extending north to McDonald Street and abutting the Barrie Public Library’s downtown branch to the east. The lands are currently used as a City surface parking lot. The surrounding neighbourhood is a mix of uses typical of Barrie’s downtown, including nearby low-rise homes, apartment buildings, civic uses, and a range of commercial and office properties.
In 2024, Barrie approved a rezoning to permit intensified use, shifting the lands to a site-specific Central Area Commercial designation. That approval was based on a concept designed by Smart Density featuring two 33-storey towers with 628 units atop a three-storey podium, including affordable units, and incorporating retail frontage and townhome-style units along the park edge, with a mix of underground and structured parking. Now under Cortel Group, the revised submission increases the scale of development and replaces above-grade parking with a fully underground solution.
The proposal envisions a two-tower development rising from a shared podium, with both buildings topping out at 33 storeys and a height of 112m. The towers would be connected at grade and linked by a second-floor terrace, with the podium accommodating institutional uses, including City administrative space. The design introduces streetscape improvements along Worsley, Clapperton, and McDonald streets, alongside enhancements to John Edwin Coupe Park to the east. Although construction is anticipated to proceed in a single phase, the buildout would be sequenced with the north tower delivered first, and full completion targeted around 2030.
The development would deliver 64,439m² of Gross Floor Area, including 59,809m² dedicated to residential use and 4,630m² for institutional space, resulting in a Floor Space Index of 10.46 times coverage of the 6,416m² site. A total of 882 rental units are proposed, including 706 market units and 176 affordable units, with a unit mix comprised of 630 one-bedroom and 252 two-bedroom suites. The proposal also incorporates 133 accessible units. Each tower would be served by four elevators, translating to about one elevator per 110 units, indicating high speed motors would be required to provide prompt service when all elevators are in operation.
Amenity space would be distributed between 874m² indoors and 2,676m² outdoors. Parking and servicing functions would be consolidated below grade within a two-level underground garage, providing 458 vehicular parking spaces. Bicycle parking totals 138 spaces, including 116 long-term spaces located underground and 22 short-term spaces at grade.
The site is close to multiple bus routes, with Barrie’s downtown bus hub located roughly 500m to the south, providing connections across the municipality and to regional GO Transit services at Allandale Waterfront station, to Georgian College, and more. At present, active transportation infrastructure is limited to sidewalks on surrounding streets, though planned improvements include the introduction of buffered bike lanes on downtown routes.
The proposal is within a growing cluster of mid- and high-rise development activity. To the west, 115 Bayfield Street is under construction at 8 storeys, while 136 Bayfield Street and Sophia McDonald Residences are proposed at 12 and 21 storeys, respectively. To the east, The Residences on Owen are rising to 20 storeys. South of the site, additional proposals include Bayside Apartments at 17 storeys, the 27-storey Grand Opera Tower, and a 32-storey development at 47–53 Collier Street. Southwest, the first 33-storey tower of Debut Waterfront Residences is virtually complete, with a second planned.
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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| Related Companies: | Cortel Group, Jablonsky, Ast and Partners, Smart Density, STUDIO tla |
