Plans revealed for new $800M waterfront neighbourhood
August 19, 2010
Liam Casey
STAFF REPORTER
Waterfront Toronto unveiled plans to build a massive $800 million neighbourhood Thursday.
Developers have dubbed the new neighbourhood Bayside, which will stretch along the water from Sherbourne St. to Parliament St. Waterfront Toronto chose Hines, an American development company based in Houston, to build the project from a field of four finalists.
John Campbell, president of Waterfront Toronto, detailed the size of the project.
“The proposal to revitalize Bayside is the largest single development project undertaken to date by Waterfront Toronto,” Campbell said of the area that will cover about 10 football fields.
Plans include 1,700 condominiums, office space for 2,400 jobs, a boardwalk and public access to a green roof overlooking the water. The heart of the project is Bonnycastle St., according to Stanton Eckstut, one of the principal architects.
“Every neighbourhood in Toronto has one great main street, from Little Italy to Greektown,” Eckstut said, “But the key is Bonnycastle; we need to make this street work.”
Cesar Pelli, the project’s lead architect, gives the plans some star power. Pelli, former dean of Yale University’s School of Architecture, designed the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. His partner, Fred Clarke, designed the World Financial Center in Manhattan.
Pelli wanted “to make the city reach the water comfortably — as part of the city, not as a foreign place. We see this is a place to live, to work, to visit, to shop, every day of the year, all day long.”
The City of Toronto’s executive committee unanimously approved the project on Monday. It will be presented for final approval at the upcoming city council meeting.
If council approves the plans, phase one could be completed as early as 2014 with the entire project completed by 2021.