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Northwest of Fairview Mall and the planned infill redevelopment of its parking lots, Northwest Healthcare Properties REIT has resubmitted plans for a three-tower, mixed-use community at 5 Fairview Mall Drive. Designed by WZMH Architects, the revision adds height to towers previously proposed at 35 and 39 storeys, while adding a third 47-storey tower. The development would rise steps from Don Mills station on Sheppard Line 4 in Toronto’s Don Valley Village area.
Spanning 9,762m² at the southeast corner of Fairview Mall Drive and Don Mills Road, 5 Fairview Mall Drive currently hosts a four-storey medical office building with 8,000m² of Gross Floor Area (GFA), surrounded by surface parking lots. Fairview Mall spans 80,000m² to the southeast, with mid-rise residential buildings found on bordering properties to the north.
Currently functioning simply as a regional shopping centre, the Fairview Mall Redevelopment proposal which is immediately adjacent to the 5 Fairview Mall Drive property is set to reshape its lands with 14 new buildings ranging from 22 to 52 storeys, mostly on what is now surface parking for the mall. Its Phase 1 includes three towers between 38 and 52 storeys. The owners of many regional shopping centre sites in the Greater Golden Horseshoe are considering similar intensifications of their site. UrbanToronto Forum members have drawn a particular comparison to the Scarborough Town Centre Redevelopment to this one, owing to its proximity about 7km to the east, where over 40 towers up to 65 storeys, and over 15,550 residential units are proposed on its larger site. There are 6,163 new residential units proposed on the Fairview Mall site.
The initial proposal for 5 Fairview Mall Drive in August, 2022 entailed two residential towers of 31 and 36 storeys, connected by a five-storey non-residential podium, retaining the medical office building. Following feedback and a changing development scene, Bousfields has now resubmitted Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, and Site Plan Approval applications to the City of Toronto on behalf of the developer.
The new proposal seeks approval for three residential towers of 35, 39, and 47 storeys, ranging from 119.25m to 155.55m high, increased from the previous top height of 134.4m. The tallest tower replaces the office building, while introducing a new public street along the east property boundary. The total GFA now stands at 92,696m², a sharp increase from the previous proposal’s 50,203m², with 82,202m² dedicated to residential space (up from 38,771m² and 9,259m² to office space (down from 10,883m²). The Floor Space Index (FSI) has risen from 5.96 to 8.42.
The three towers would cluster around a new internal courtyard. Office space has been consolidated within the eight-storey podium beneath the 39-storey tower, for continued medical office use. Retail, scaled down from 549m² to 328m², would animate the ground level. There would be 2,755m² of indoor amenities in the podiums, and 2,590m² of outdoor amenities including the courtyard plus terraces, more than doubling the previous 2,428m² total.
The revised layout also introduces a 938m² POP (Privately-Owned Publicly-accessible Space) at the corner of Fairview Mall Drive and Don Mills Road. Development would proceed in three phases: the 39-storey tower and part of the POPS first, followed by demolition for the 47-storey tower and remaining POPS, then the 35-storey tower.
Residential units have more than doubled in number, from 598 to 1,295. The 47-storey tower would have five elevators, the 39-storey tower four (plus three for office use), and the 35-storey tower four, or approximately one for every 108, 90, and 100 units, respectively. A three-level underground garage would provide 388 vehicle parking spaces, a reduction from 544 spaces. This includes 228 office, 142 residential, 15 visitor, and 3 car share spaces. Bicycle parking has been increased from 449 to 1,011 spaces, with 881 long-term and 96 short-term spots, while retaining 28 non-residential spaces.
Don Mills station is a three-minute walk south, with TTC bus routes along Sheppard Avenue East and Don Mills Road serving, as well as York Region Transit (YRT) services from tje north. Looking ahead, Metrolinx is studying potential extensions of Sheppard Line 4 to then Scarborough Town Centre area in the east (interchanging with the Danforth Line 2 Scarborough Subway Extension), and to Sheppard West station on University Line 1 in the west.
There are other development proposals in the area, mostly as infill on existing Tower-in-the-Park style sites. To the north, 20 Godstone Road is proposed at 12 storeys. To the southwest, high-rise proposals include 25 Leith Road (25 storeys) and 1650 Sheppard Avenue East (31 storeys), while at 2600 Don Mills Road, a four-tower development is proposed with heights ranging from 42 to 47 storeys. Nearby, 2500 Don Mills Road is planned to feature two towers rising 43 and 52 storeys.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you’d like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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