Location: 2150 Lakeshore Boulevard West
Developer: First Capital
Architect: Allies and Morrison LLP and Adamson Associates Architects
More park space, daycare facilities and a variety of other community uses are among the big updates proposed in the latest version of the master-planned development slated for the former Mr. Christie cookie factory site in Humber Bay.
In early March, revisions to the multi-building proposal were submitted to Toronto City planners for the 27-acre development that is in the works at 2150-2194 Lake Shore Boulevard West and 23 Park Lawn Road.
The initial master-plan for the Mr. Christie site, submitted in October 2019, envisioned the creation of a one-acre community park, retail space, the Park Lawn GO station and 7,500 new residential units distributed between 15 22- to 71-storey towers. The plan also sought to retain the Mr. Christie water tower as a historic landmark.
A revised proposal was put forward in May 2020, which included the expansion of the community park to approximately 2.4 acres, and the addition of a pedestrian plaza and two elementary schools fronting the park. In this third version, the Mr. Christie plan builds upon recommendations put forth by the public and various City of Toronto departments.
Now, the newest proposal will see the inclusion of new community uses in the form of two daycare facilities with capacity for 62 children, a 65,000-square-foot recreation centre, a public library, and a two-storey ‘not-for-profit human agency space’ that would be located in the podium of one of the buildings.
In addition to the existing 2.4-acre community park, the updated proposal seeks to add an additional 26,909-square-foot greenspace called Boulevard Square Park. This would increase the total parkland in the master-plan to a little over three acres. Previously, this section of the plan was presented as a privately-owned, publicly-accessible space with an underground parking garage. This new concept would be ideal for hosting holiday markets and fairs, says the application.
“Now proposed as a public park, Boulevard Square Park aspires to be the collective front porch for the area at large, connecting 2150 Lake Shore with the existing Humber Bay Shores community with a space to linger and connect with neighbours,” explains the application’s planning rationale authored by Urban Strategies Inc. and Allies and Morrison.
The community park would also see changes in the latest master-plan iteration. By altering the proposal’s building height and density away from the south and east sides of the park, the new plan would boost the available sunlight in the greenspace without creating new shadows.
To facilitate the new community spaces and the increased sunlight in the park, the site’s density has changed to lower or increase the size of some of the towers. In the 2021 version, the building heights now range from 28 to 70 storeys, slightly taller than the 2019 and 2020 master-plan editions. A reduction of street wall heights and the widening of a central loop road has also been proposed in order to accommodate wider pedestrian zones and transit.
Instead of the community park, the Mr. Christie water tower would be relocated to the plan’s Station Square, a civic area that occupies the northern section of the site. This would give the tower ‘visual prominence’ from the Gardiner Expressway and nearby locations, according to the application’s 2021 planning rationale.
Spanning over 6.2 million square feet of residential gross floor area, the development would provide 7,504 new residences. While the tenure of the units has not been determined yet, according to the application’s project data sheet, the breakdown of the suites would include 373 bachelor units along with 3,755 one-bedroom, 2,627 two-bedroom and 749 three-bedroom units.
If approved, the Mr. Christie master-plan would roll out across six development phases over several years.
In the neighbourhood, sales are ongoing at Cove at Waterways, while construction continues at Empire Phoenix Condos.
