With all the construction cranes currently up in the Greater Toronto Area, more attention is being given to ‘downtowns’ outside the central core. There are three of these urban nodes in development, in relatively close proximity, that will redefine life in the north of the city.
The Madison, at Yonge and Eglinton, Toronto.
Urban nodes are smartly designed, transit-accessible, pedestrian friendly areas that contain a mix of building types. The neighbourhood of Yonge and Eglinton, one of the city’s early nodes, is an established area with single-family homes centered around a major subway and bus terminus. Now with the Eglinton LRT under construction and the redevelopment of the Yonge Eglinton Centre, the area will be able to support more inhabitants. A few condominiums have already gone up nearby, and our award-winning project, Madison on Eglinton, which is currently being built, will follow suit. It’s located east of Yonge and will, importantly, incorporate a Loblaws store in its base.
Hullmark Centre, Sheppard and Yonge, Toronto.
Directly north of Yonge and Eglinton, the corner of Yonge and Sheppard is being redeveloped and intensified. What was formerly a barren landscape will be filled in with Hullmark Centre our large-scale, mixed-use project at the south east corner that will be the new heart of North York City Centre, with a significant urban plaza surrounding retail including a Whole Foods store. The project is set above two subway lines and includes accessible green roofs and tree-lined streets to encourage pedestrian traffic. Designing this project, with all the stakeholders (gas and hydro, TTC and others) has been extremely complex. But it will provide essential infrastructure for the surrounding condominium projects, including Emerald Park by Bazis developers and the 88 condos by Minto.
21 Clairtrell, at Sheppard and Bayview.
Moving east, along Sheppard to Bayview, is yet another new neighbourhood. Overseen by the elegant ARC condo above the subway, the corner will also see Jade Condos, a nearly completed low-rise project, as well as the more traditional mid-rise development 21 Clairtrell nearby. The adjacent Bayview Village has a large Loblaws store, an O&B Cafe Grill and Chef Claudio Aprile’s upcoming stand-alone new restaurant, Origin North. It is significant that the area is home to a number of types of residential, from high and low rise condominiums, to large, single-family homes and retirement residences.
These emerging neighbourhoods exemplify the changing face of the suburbs. No longer the victim of unplanned sprawl, these areas are developing into rich and diverse living spaces that will become important communities unto themselves. The next step is to link the nodes by encouraging development along arteries and ensuring appropriate transit between them.
- Cliff
