Abandoned Toronto houses owned by Rogers to be replaced by huge towers

A group of abandoned Toronto houses owned by Canadian telecom giant Rogers could soon be replaced by a towering new complex.

A new development application filed by Osmington Gerofsky Development Corp. on behalf of Rogers calls for the redevelopment of properties at 30-40 Huntley St. and 112-124 Isabella St., proposing a pair of huge residential towers.

With heights of 60 and 56 storeys, the proposed towers would dwarf the adjacent Rogers headquarters complex.

The site is currently home to a group of five 3-storey homes at 112-120 Isabella St. and four 2- to 3-storey buildings at 122-124 Isabella St. and 30-40 Huntley St. 

Among the properties currently on site, the homes at 122-124 Isabella, 30-32 Huntley St., 34 Huntley St. and 38-40 Huntley St. are all currently listed on the City of Toronto's Heritage Register. 

Of the 33 rental homes and four rental rooms that exist on the proposal site, only one unit is occupied as of late 2025, while the building at 34 Huntley St. is currently in use by Rogers as a product testing centre.

Portions of these heritage-listed buildings would be retained and incorporated into the base of the new complex, anchoring the new density with established forms.

The towers, planned to rise to heights of 186.5 and 198.1 metres, would stand among the tallest in the Bloor and Jarvis area. 

Towers would feature design by Diamond Schmitt Architects, a firm that has attracted criticism for its role in the provincial government's controversial redevelopment of Ontario Place.

A significant boost of density in the form of 1,362 residential units would vastly increase the local housing stock and place residents just steps from the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth subway.

Ahead of the December application, the abandoned properties had attracted controversy. One local resident petitioned the City to expropriate the homes due to Rogers' underuse of the site amid a housing crisis.

In 2024, local historian and researcher Adam Wynne tabled a motion on the City's Ward 13 engagement website, Toronto Centre Projects, urging the City to "expropriate the multiple blocks of vacant houses owned by Rogers Telecommunications at Huntley Street and Isabella Street."

The proposal explained that "Rogers Communications — a multibillion-dollar Canadian telecommunications company — owns multiple blocks of houses on Huntley Street and Isabella Street," and criticized the homes' long-term vacancy, asking the City to "pursue expropriation of these vacant homes for use as affordable housing."

Ultimately, Rogers has decided to instead press forward with market-rate rentals for the site, along with 33 replacement units for existing rentals, which would be lost to demolition.