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Taller buildings and expanded green space could soon transform a prominent commercial block along Dufferin Street part way between Eglinton and Lawrence, where State Building Group has submitted a proposal to redevelop with a mix of residential, employment, and retail uses. Designed by WZMH Architects, the concept calls for five new buildings rising to 25 storeys at 2700 Dufferin Street, with a new public park, public roads, and two 3-storey employment blocks along the site’s western edge. The land sits just north of Castlefield Avenue in Toronto’s Briar Hill-Belgravia area, north of Fairbank station on Eglinton Line 5, anticipated to open later this year.
Located on the west side of Dufferin Street, the 4.63-hectare site is currently occupied by four single-storey commercial buildings surrounded by surface parking. Together, the buildings house 78 retail and service tenants at the east edge of a broad employment area that stretches west toward Keele Street. The neighbourhood north of the York Beltline Trail is characterized by low-rise housing, light industrial properties, and commercial plazas.
The neighbourhood has roots in the 1890s streetcar suburb of Fairbank. In recent years, investment in transit has begun to transform the area, with Line 5 bringing higher-density development and intensification pressure to the nearby intersection of Dufferin and Eglinton.
Bousfields has submitted an Official Plan Amendment application to the City of Toronto on behalf of the developer, seeking to redesignate the eastern portion of the site from General Employment Areas to Mixed Use Areas while retaining employment use along the west edge. The concept envisions a total of five new buildings organized across new public streets and blocks, anchored by three mixed-use residential towers in the central and eastern portions of the site and two employment buildings to the west. Building heights range from 3 to 25 storeys, with podiums from one to six storeys, and taller elements positioned closer to the centre and north of the site.
The development concept totals 118,822m² of Gross Floor Area (GFA), yielding a Floor Space Index of 2.6 times coverage of the lot. Of this, 98,570m² is dedicated to residential space, accommodating 1,351 units. Non-residential uses include 17,690m² of employment GFA and 2,562m² of retail, with active ground-floor uses planned along Dufferin and internal roads. There would be three elevators per tower, with four in the 21-storey tower, resulting in elevator-to-unit ratios ranging from approximately one elevator to every 73 to 87 units, indicating short response times.
The plan also includes 3,305m² of public parkland and 9,481m² of new public roads, including extensions of Briar Hill and Ridelle Avenues. A single-level underground garage is planned, but vehicular and bicycle parking are not detailed at this stage. Future Zoning By-law Amendment and Site Plan Approval applications would be required to implement detailed design and built form elements.
The site is located approximately 600m, or about an 8-minute walk, from Fairbank station. TTC buses serve Dufferin Street. Cyclists are supported by nearby on-street bike lanes along Roselawn Avenue and by the York Beltline Trail, located 250m south of the site.
Other intensification is being seen along Dufferin Street and the Eglinton West corridor. Just across the street, 2489 Dufferin is proposed at 9 storeys, while to the south, 1141 Roselawn calls for 9 storeys and 2451 Dufferin proposes 20 and 27 storeys. Closer to Eglinton, a series of taller developments are in the pipeline, including towers of 34 storeys at 1901 Eglinton West and 2402 Dufferin, 35 storeys at 1812 Eglinton West, and 41 storeys at 1801 Eglinton Avenue West.
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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