Massive towers are on tap for the Toronto Coach Terminal site at 610 Bay Street, and the public was offered a peek inside the transformative plan to replace the shuttered bus terminal in the heart of downtown on Thursday.

CreateTO, an agency managing the City of Toronto's real estate assets, announced that it has selected a shortlist of teams to redevelop the bus terminal site under the City's ModernTO program.

The bus terminal site is one of eight City-owned properties that have been earmarked for affordable housing and other program uses under ModernTO's mission of modernizing City office space and better utilizing its land assets.

CreateTO selected seven potential proponents through a Request for Expression of Interest (REOI), and this shortlist was approved during a June 14 Toronto City Council meeting.

• Capital Developments
• Hines Canada
• Kilmer Group & EllisDon Inc.
• MOD Developments
• TAS Developments
• Tricon Residential
• Tridel Group & Woodbourne Capital Management

The announcement was accompanied by a pair of concept renderings produced by Cicada Design, designed to offer an idea of the development potential for the site.

Though these renderings are purely illustrative and do not represent an approved or even proposed plan, they offer insight into the preservation plan for the Art Deco bus terminal. All proponents have been instructed to adaptively reuse the former bus terminal in their proposals.

Other details offered up in the project vision include plans to accommodate a mix of incomes through the creation of both affordable and market-rate housing, along with a new Paramedic Services Multi-Hub and employment/office uses associated with the life science and biomedical sectors.

With the candidates narrowed to the current shortlist, proponents will now be invited to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP) as a second stage of the project's planning. The RFP is expected to be released in the third quarter of this year, and a successful proponent and winning design is anticipated to be revealed this fall.