[ad_1]
Michael Garron Hospital’s campus renewal has entered a new stage with demolition of the hospital’s shuttered mid-century wings fronting Coxwell Avenue, following a few years after the completion of the Ken and Marilyn Thomson Patient Care Centre along Sammon Avenue. Construction started along Sammon in 2018, and the eight-storey wing opened in 2022, delivering 218 single-patient rooms and modern facilities in Toronto’s East York area. The new phase involves the demolition of the A, B, C, and F Wings, while the adjacent D Wing is being retained and renovated to remain in service.
From a drone view looking southeast in June, 2025, the brick legacy wings of Michael Garron Hospital can be seen extending north–south along Coxwell Avenue and centrally in the site, with an east–west spine tying them together. The masonry of the older wings contrasts with the newer Patient Care Centre visible to the south on the right, with its green roof and modern curtainwall. The renewal of the buildings is designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, B+H Architects, and Cannon Design for Infrastructure Ontario.
Hospitals are among the building types most quickly rendered obsolete, as rapid advances in medical technology, infection-control protocols, and patient-care models outpace older ward designs. Outdated layouts with multi-bed rooms and limited infrastructure adaptability are being phased out in favour of private rooms, flexible units, and environments engineered to accommodate specialized equipment. Now, the removal of these older wings clears the way for a reconfigured Coxwell entrance and landscaped frontage.
This overhead view looking down to the west captures the early stages of demolition along the Coxwell-facing wings. Piles of fragmented debris are gathered at grade, sorted into stockpiles for removal, while multiple green excavators work within the demolition zone.
In this July, 2025 view, selective demolition is underway on the upper floors, where a high-reach excavator’s shear is working through window openings to pull out sections of interior framing. Large debris is being cast down the facade, while a crew member stationed at an adjacent opening sprays water to suppress dust and control airborne particulate.
This month, looking south, demolition has advanced into the central spine that linked the north-south wings, with several upper floors now deconstructed. A compact excavator is positioned atop the fourth floor, ringed by safety pylons. Below, debris has been tossed directly from window openings, leaving telltale streaks of dust along the facade. To the left, temporary scaffolding and protective rigging are in place around rooftop ductwork.
Looking north from Coxwell Avenue, the southwest wing reveals its stripped interiors, where the upper four floors have been partially dismantled to expose the steel frame. Sections of brick cladding have been removed, leaving shear walls, beams, and remnant partition walls hanging against the open bays. Ceiling systems, ductwork, and electrical conduit remain visible.
In this recent northeast-facing view, demolition has advanced to leave the southern end of the Coxwell-facing wing fully stripped, exposing seven storeys of open floor plates and structural framing. Two large green excavators fitted with pulverizers are actively breaking down masonry and concrete into piles, while a blue mobile all-terrain crane sits nearby. To the east, the adjoining wing has been reduced to a single standing floor with partial second-storey framing still in place.
This east-facing drone view shows the central connecting wing now fully demolished to grade. The gutted interiors and damaged roof illustrate the phased dismantling, while sections of the rooftop ducting and service piping have been severed and removed.
Demolition is slated for completion in 2026, when the cleared Coxwell frontage will be rebuilt as the hospital’s new address point, introducing a reconfigured main entrance with a vehicle drop-off loop and driveway. The project will replace the mid-century wings with a landscaped forecourt designed by Ferris and Associates Inc that incorporates new planting, upgraded lighting, and widened pedestrian routes, linking directly back to the Ken and Marilyn Thomson Patient Care Centre. These changes will shift the hospital’s orientation from its long-established Coxwell streetwall toward the newer Sammon Avenue-facing facilities.
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.
* * *
UrbanToronto has a research service, UTPro, that provides comprehensive data on development projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe — from proposal through to completion. We also offer Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.