Toronto's next cluster of waterfront skyscrapers is moving closer to reality

Rising from the dust of Google's ill-fated Sidewalk Labs smart city proposal, an ambitious plan to reshape Toronto's waterfront is now one step closer to reality.

The futuristic new Quayside project is set to transform a section of Toronto's waterfront into an architectural wonderland, one that will include some significantly tall buildings that have the potential to redefine the city skyline in the process.

Following years of behind-the-scenes tweaks, Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf's plans for the bold new project were resubmitted with City planners back in March, with an aim to have the proposal approved as early as June.

If the plan moves forward, these would be among the tallest and flashiest buildings on the waterfront, cooked up by a team of world-renowned architects, including U.K.-based firms Adjaye Associates and Alison Brooks, and Danish architects Henning Larsen working with local firm architects—Alliance.

Seven buildings planned within the Quayside development call for building heights of 72, 70, 64, 56, 55, 12 and 12 storeys.

Proposed building heights have increased since the previous submission with City planners last June — most notably, a 70-storey tower that would rise to 230.5 metres and a 72-storey tower that would be slightly shorter at 226 metres.

Blocks 1 and 2 call for three residential towers of 70, 64 and 55 storeys, along with a 12-storey mid-rise building. The blocks would collectively house 2,811 residential units, including 458 affordable homes.

They would also feature over 12,000 square metres of new educational institutional and community hub space and almost 1,600 square metres of retail.

Blocks 3B, 4 and 5 of the five-block development would be home to 72-, 56-, and 12-storey buildings constructed around the Parliament and Queens Quay intersection.

These phases would introduce almost 120,000 square metres of residential and close to 9,000 square metres of non-residential floor space. That residential component proposes 1,475 condo units and 407 affordable units.

One notable element of the Quayside plan is a portion of a 14,350 square metre "community forest" running through the complex on an east-west axis, just one of many impressive public realm plans for the site.

Another interesting element of the community is a proposed rooftop urban farm that will extend across the tops of mid-rise buildings. The 12-storey buildings planned in these submissions would host a multi-building urban farming component, with rooftops linked via a suspended pedestrian bridge spanning across Small Street.

One block not covered in these submissions is the future Block 5 building. Planned to be submitted separately at a later date, all the public has to go on for now are conceptual renderings hinting at a potential event venue overlooking Lake Ontario.

Along with these Block 5 lands, Quayside's proposed public park, Silo Park, will also go through a separate design process.