2150 Lake Shore

The focus of significant investment in recent years, Toronto is one of the fastest growing cities in North America. On its current growth trajectory, some estimates project that the city is likely to add a million residents to its population over the next twenty years. Areas such as Humber Bay Shores, on the lakefront and west of the city centre, have been changed significantly by condominium developments that are being built to accommodate much of this growth.

Within this context is a vacant triangular site, that of the former Christie Cookie factory, which after 60 years of operation, has closed. The property is traversed by local and regional rail lines, adjacent to a major expressway and close to significant pedestrian and cycling trails. Canadian developer First Capital Realty acquired the site in 2016, to repurpose it is a mixed-use, transit-oriented urban centre that takes advantage of its unparalleled potential to better service the needs of the emerging community in Humber Bay. In 2018, a team led by Allies and Morrison was selected following a 6-month international search to design its masterplan.

The masterplan takes advantage of the site's waterfront location to deliver a place that is both urban and green, offering the best of city life with access to green open spaces and the lakefront. It completes the void currently existing within Humber Bay Shores, putting in its place, a convivial community with a rich mix of uses - a new high-density centre for this part of Toronto. Buildings will prioritise with their civic responsibilities to work together to create a great public realm with a variety of new spaces, framing squares, parks, a linear ravine landscape, streets and promenades with the experience of pedestrians and cyclists being paramount.

It will also be well-connected to the rest of the city with a new multi-modal transit hub (including a new Park Lawn GO Train Station) and new routes that knit the development into the neighbouring communities. A covered Galleria at the heart of the scheme provides a yearlong destination with a diverse offer that will appeal to residents, workers and visitors alike. Urban character is an important aspect of the masterplan vision, where a rich landscape sequence and enduring architecture provide a strong sense of locality, a Toronto-ness.

In total, there will be 36 buildings of all different types ranging from four to 71 storeys. A quarter of the development will be dedicated to public realm. There will be nearly 7,500 homes (with an average size of 85 sqm) and a range from studio to 3-bed units. The development will incorporate more than 40,000 sqm respectively of retail and office space, a hotel and civic amenity.