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1K Council Approves Revised Ookwemin Minising Framework in the Port Lands
A redevelopment framework for Ookwemin Minising has secured Toronto City Council approval, advancing updated Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments alongside a revised Precinct Plan for the emerging Port Lands island community formerly known as Villiers Island. Planned by Waterfront Toronto and CreateTO, with masterplanning and urban design led by Allies and Morrison alongside SLA and Trophic Design, the revised framework would reshape roughly 39.8 hectares in the Lower Don Lands into a mixed-use waterfront neighbourhood containing 15 buildings (some with multiple towers), and heights reaching 46 storeys.
Bounded by the Keating Channel, Toronto Inner Harbour, Polson Slip, and the Don Roadway, Ookwemin Minising is envisioned as a transit-first waterfront community structured around new parks, pedestrian corridors, cycling infrastructure, and the future Waterfront East LRT along Cherry Street and Commissioners Street. The revised framework increases density by roughly 27% above the 2024 Precinct Plan while expanding its focus on ecology, Indigenous placemaking, and climate-responsive urban design.
One of the major privately owned redevelopment parcels within the precinct is 65 Ookwemin Street, formerly known as 309 Cherry Street (shown as Old Cherry Street in the diagram below), occupying a 20,158m² site at the southeast corner with Villiers Street and extending south to Commissioners Street (not including the site of the Cherry Street Bar-B-Que). Previously advancing through separate redevelopment applications, the site now falls within the broader Ookwemin Minising framework through site-specific planning permissions and exemptions.
Much of the island remains vacant or transitional following major flood protection and infrastructure works, although portions of the area continue to contain industrial, port-related, and interim commercial uses. Existing heritage structures across the precinct include the former Bank of Montreal building, former Canadian Oil warehouse, Queen’s City Foundry, Toronto Hydro substation, and the former Ontario Portland Cement silos west of the site.
Formerly to be known as Villiers Island, Ookwemin Minising came about through the Port Lands Flood Protection Project with the rerouting and naturalization of the Don River entry into Toronto Harbour, transforming formerly industrial lands into a new island district intended for long-term mixed-use redevelopment. Toronto City Council adopted the original Villiers Island Precinct Plan in 2017 as part of the broader Port Lands revitalization strategy.
The precinct has since evolved through multiple revisions, including its renaming to Ookwemin Minising (meaning “place of the black cherry trees” in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwemowin) alongside expanded Indigenous engagement involving the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River, the Wendat Nation, Indigenous co-designers, and urban Indigenous communities.
The revised precinct framework organizes Ookwemin Minising into 17 mixed-use development blocks containing approximately 12,370 homes, including 3,000 affordable rental units. Heights would range from low-rise and mid-rise forms to towers reaching 46 storeys, supporting an estimated long-term population of roughly 21,000 residents alongside approximately 2,900 jobs.
The updated concept replaces earlier continuous podium conditions with a mix of building typologies, including mid-rise forms up to 12 storeys, taller mid-scale buildings ranging from 12 to 22 storeys, “fabric towers” within the island core, and taller “Keating towers” framing the northern waterfront edge. Density would be concentrated along the Keating Channel and central blocks while stepping down toward Biidaasige Park and the island’s edges.
The revised built form strategy places greater emphasis on sunlight access, permeability, and environmental performance through expanded separation distances between buildings, including 40m tower-to-tower spacing, 18m spacing between taller mid-scale forms, and 12m separations for mid-rise buildings. Along the Keating Channel, taller buildings and mid-scale forms would create a varied skyline and animated waterfront promenade, while lower-scale buildings line Centre Commons and park edges to improve sunlight access and pedestrian comfort. The updated plan also distinguishes Villiers Street as the island’s primary retail corridor, Centre Commons as a community-focused pedestrian spine, and secondary streets intended to accommodate servicing and circulation more discreetly.
The “Growing Streets” concept prioritizes streetscapes, ecology, and open space ahead of individual buildings. At the centre of the plan is Centre Commons, a roughly 760m-long pedestrianized corridor lined with more than 400 trees and envisioned as the social and ecological spine of the neighbourhood. Other character areas include the Keating Channel entertainment and cultural district, the pedestrian-oriented Foundry Lane heritage corridor, and Ookwemin Street, where the Sandbar Trail traces the alignment of the historic shoreline and Indigenous travel routes once connecting the Don River to the Toronto Islands. Developed alongside Indigenous co-designers Trophic Design, the revised framework incorporates the “Living Legacy” strategy through interpretive landscapes, native planting, ecological restoration measures, and gathering spaces.
Compared to the earlier 2024 Precinct Plan, the updated framework places greater emphasis on biodiversity, climate resilience, and microclimate-responsive urban design. The revised proposal includes habitat creation strategies, stormwater management systems, urban heat island mitigation measures, and layered planting conditions intended to support birds, pollinators, and native vegetation throughout the precinct. Wind, sunlight, and thermal comfort analyses informed both the revised massing and landscape approach, while the updated framework further expands Indigenous placemaking elements throughout the public realm.
The future Waterfront East LRT runs through the precinct along Cherry Street and Commissioners Street along a protected right-of-way, with planned transit stops near Cherry and Commissioners Streets and at Commissioners Street and New Munition Street. Existing reconstructed Cherry Street and Commissioners Street connections would function as the island’s primary vehicular routes, while narrower local streets, including Ookwemin Street and Foundry Street, are planned as one-way corridors to reduce pavement widths and improve pedestrian conditions. The transportation network would also incorporate cycle tracks, pedestrian-oriented streetscapes, and a new Keating Channel pedestrian bridge connection to Biidaasige Park.
The revised framework arrives amid significant redevelopment activity in the area. The Lower Don Lands redevelopment continues to reshape former industrial lands to the south. To the north, proposed large-scale developments include Oak House at Canary Landing, planned at 32 and 46 storeys, the 49-storey 351 Lake Shore East, and The Bend community, which would introduce nine buildings ranging from 8 to 53 storeys. Farther northwest, the Quayside redevelopment includes the proposed Block 4 featuring towers of 15 and 72 storeys at the east end of the site.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on these developments, but in the meantime, you can learn more about them from our Database files, linked below. If you’d like, you can join in on the conversations in the associated Project Forum threads or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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