With the Golden Mile Secondary Plan study wrapping up, laying the ground work for one of Toronto's car-dominated neighbourhoods to be transformed into a vibrant urban centre, a number of developers are submitting master-planned proposals for the area's big-box retail sites, transforming them into mixed-use communities. Following in the footsteps of Madison Group's 1920 Eglinton and KingSett Capital's redevelopment plans for Eglinton Square, SmartCentres has put forth their plan to transform a Walmart SuperCentre into a 23-building neighbourhood at 1900 Eglinton Avenue East. All of this activity is brought on by the upcoming Crosstown LRT, which will have several stops in the Golden Mile Neighbourhood.

Looking northwest across Eglinton to the master plan of the project, image via submission to the City of Toronto

Seeking an Official Plan Amendment, the application calls for the construction of 5,529 residential units, 19,113 m² of retail, and 6,896 m² of office space across 11 blocks, with public parkland and Privately Owned Public Space located in the core of the block. In addition to the Walmart, the site is also currently home to a Winners strip mall complex and a number of other stand alone retail buildings amid a sea of parking. The 11.5 ha/28.4 acre site is bound by Eglinton Avenue to the south, Ashtonbee Road to the north, Hakimi Avenue to the east, and properties owned by Bell and Petro Canada to the west. Residents would be serviced by LRT stops at both Hakimi and Pharmacy Avenues.

Site plan overview at 1900 Eglinton East, image via submission to the City of Toronto

Designed by architectsAlliance, the massing diagrams offer an intriguing design direction, with a number of the towers employing a shifting volumes effect, and a pair of signature towers linked by an X-shaped skybridge. Density is heaviest directly on Eglinton, with the tallest podium streetwalls and towers concentrated there. The 14 tower volumes range in height from 23 to 39 storeys with 8-storey mid-rise volumes often forming the remainder of the blocks for a more human-scaled built form. Many of the blocks house courtyards in the centre, allowing for more green space and pedestrian pathways.

Street level looking south past the public park to the towers at 1900 Eglinton East, image via submission to the City of Toronto

The application is still in an early stage with the Golden Mile Secondary Plan—which will greatly affect the future of the project—yet to be enacted into law. Individual rezoning and site plan applications would still need to be submitted for each of the proposed towers. Given the scale of the project, a phased approach is proposed, focusing first on the south-east corner of the site. Some of the tallest towers in the master-planned development will be constructed in this first phase, taking advantage of the Hakimi-Lebovic LRT stop directly to the east.

Phasing at 1900 Eglinton East, image via submission to the City of Toronto

Additional information and images can be found in our database file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment in the field provided at the bottom of this page.

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