Toronto strip mall to be totally demolished for huge 13-tower complex

Another Toronto retail complex could soon bite the dust thanks to an enormous proposal that seeks to bring over a dozen towers to a suburban Etobicoke site.

Documents filed with the City of Toronto in late June spell out plans to build an entirely new neighbourhood centred on the southeast corner of Kipling Avenue and The Queensway.

Developer Figtree Holdings Limited has signed on architects Studio JCI to master-plan the new community of 13 towers, with heights ranging from 12 storeys along The Queensway to as tall as 65 storeys along Kipling Avenue — a massive shift in density compared to the current car-oriented expanse of pavement and aging retail space.

The land parcel in question. Photo from City of Toronto.

No renderings for the proposal have been shared, though plans and diagrams offer up a pretty good idea of what's to come.

The preliminary blueprint for the proposed development. Photo from City of Toronto.

The buildings would combine for a total of 7,360 residential condominium units, representing a significant increase in residential density for the area. 

City of Toronto

Municipal planning policies place the site within Toronto's Inclusionary Zoning Market Area 3, which stipulates that new condominium developments are "required to either provide a purpose-built rental development or ensure a portion of the new condominium units will be affordable."

In practice, this would translate to a minimum of 7 per cent of the total new residential floor area as affordable ownership housing, or a minimum of 5 per cent of the total new residential floor area as affordable rental housing.

City of Toronto

Building a community of this magnitude would put an obvious strain on local public amenities. However, the plan incorporates over one hectare of public green space that would be dedicated to the City as new parkland, as well as the potential to construct a future Catholic elementary school that would serve the burgeoning area.

But will this island of urbanity among the suburban expanse of Etobicoke just wind up being a Potemkin village?

Plans for the almost 7.5-hectare site call for a cavernous parking component that would provide space for almost 4,200 cars, putting thousands of motorists a stone's throw from the already-gridlocked Gardiner Expressway.

Almost 3,700 of these spaces would be allocated to residents, along with over 5,500 bicycle parking spaces.

The plan joins a growing list of Toronto malls and shopping centres targeted for redevelopment amid a major shift away from the long-established brick-and-mortar retail model.