Brand-new Toronto Dollarama location already planned for demolition for condos

Dollarama has been on a tear expanding its Toronto presence, but one of the bargain brand's newest locations in town is already on the chopping block.

The ubiquitous Quebec-based dollar store brand opened a new location at 20 Leslie Street in 2024.

However, the brick-and-beam office building home to this Dollarama and a Salvation Army thrift store, known as The Station, is now already the subject of a new development application that would see two high-rises built on this site.

Lifetime Developments has filed plans with the City for a large-scale residential condominium complex featuring a pair of Turner Fleischer Architects-designed towers rising 35 and 25 storeys.

The towers would combine to bring 643 condominium units to what is currently a sparsely populated area.

However, it is apparent from planning documents that these units will be largely geared towards the investor market, with a disproportionate ratio of single-bedroom to multi-bedroom units. Of the total, a whopping 481 units are planned as one-bedrooms.

The vast majority of the proposed floor area is dedicated to residential, though plans call for a trio of retail units along the complex's Mosley Street frontage, adding up to 1,320 square metres.

There is no indication at this time whether the current businesses will return following redevelopment.

Though relatively isolated from transit in 2025 beyond the nearby 501 Queen streetcar, the towers are positioned to be very well-served by transportation in the years to come. Nearby infrastructure projects in the area include the East Harbour Transit Hub and Riverside-Leslieville station on the new Ontario Line subway. 

Future transit improvements are also on the way, like the planned but still unfunded Waterfront East LRT. While this new route is still a long way off, the project team has taken the liberty of including it in renderings of the new complex.

However, much of the transportation load — at least in the near future — is expected to be absorbed by existing transit as well as the nearby Martin Goodman Trail.

Only one underground parking level is planned, with just 73 spaces serving the two towers. The majority of residents, visitors and retail patrons would be expected to make use of the combined 644 bicycle parking spaces within the development.

The proposal is now being circulated among City planning staff.