Some of Toronto's aging suburban shopping centres are seeing proposals for an urban transformation. While some malls have seen an end to their lifespan, others are finding a new life through revitalization. Most recently reported was the Reimagine Galleria plan for a large mixed-use development of the eponymous shopping centre at Dupont and Dufferin, intensifying the large under-utilized site. Now, the Eglinton Square Shopping Centre in Scarborough has plans for its own mixed-use project, but without a complete teardown in this case.

Rendering of Eglinton Square Piazza, image retrieved via submission to the City of Toronto

Currently, the redevelopment site is made up of the Eglinton Square Shopping Centre, surface parking lots, and 3-storey residential apartments to the south of the shopping centre. Overall, the properties include 1-70 Eglinton Square, 1431 & 1437 Victoria Park Avenue, 14, 18, 19, 23, & 26 Engelhard Crescent, and 64, 68 Harris Park Drive.

With an Official Plan Amendment application submitted to the City by Kingsett Capital, the Quadrangle Architects-designed project would see the Eglinton Square Mall remain untouched, while the majority of the surrounding surface parking lot would be divided into five separate development blocks. This would facilitate the construction of five mixed-use towers ranging in height from 25 to 40 storeys, along with stacked townhouse rows totalling 3 storeys each. A new private east-west road is proposed to run south of the mall.

Concept Site and Landscape Plan, image retrieved via submission to the City of Toronto

Blocks A, B, and C would have mixed-use residential towers with three levels of underground parking and retail at-grade, while Blocks D and E would consist of the residential townhouses with an underground parking garage. The tallest buildings are located at the north end of the site, and descend in height toward the south along Victoria Park and Pharmacy Avenues. One notable feature of Block A is the creation of a new public piazza, located at the north end of the site, and to the east of Victoria Park-Eglinton Parkette.

The site is located within the planning department's Golden Mile Focus Area; an area where growth is expected to occur along the Eglinton Connects corridor where the Crosstown LRT line is now under construction and targeted to be in operation in 2021. A pair of stations will be located at the northern corners of the site at Victoria Park and Pharmacy Avenues. The added transit capacity will accommodate new residential density that will be added through this development. Upon completion of the corridor, the goal is to achieve a walkable, mixed-use complete community with a high-quality public realm.

Rendering of the podium, image retrieved via submission to the City of Toronto

The residential units are composed of 852 1-Bedroom units, 629 2-Bedroom units, and 159 3-or-more-Bedroom units, with a variety of housing types available (affordable housing, rental, or ownership). While the southern portion of the site currently consists of 91 apartment units, the proposal would demolish and replace the existing housing stock with the same number of units, with similar size and floor plans.

Rendering of the stacked townhouses, image retrieved via submission to the City of Toronto

The development would encompass about 170,768 m² of the total gross floor area (GFA), approximately 144,770 m² of which would be residential space. The remaining 26,004m² would be new commercial space. In total, 2,606 parking spaces are proposed: 1,127 for retail, and 1,317 for residential plus 162 visitor spaces. 1,250 spaces will be located below grade, 1,155 spaces above grade, and 201 will be surface parking.

Rendering of the townhouses, image retrieved via submission to the City of Toronto

As the proposal is in its early stages of planning, changes to the development are sure to come. Moving forward, we will keep you updated as more information becomes available. In the meantime, you can find more renderings in our dataBase file for the development, linked below. Want to share your thoughts about this project? Feel free to comment in the space provided on this page, or join in the discussion in the associated Forum thread.