Toronto\u2019s 1930-built College Park is set to enter its next century with one of the most ambitious redevelopment proposals<\/a> in the city\u2019s core. GWL Realty Advisors<\/a> (GWLRA) has submitted plans to the City to transform the landmark site at Yonge and College streets through three new towers, a heritage restoration, and a reimagined public realm. Hariri Pontarini Architects<\/a> leads the design, with ERA Architects<\/a> handling heritage work and Public Work<\/a> overseeing the public realm. The towers are planned at 65 storeys\/228.1m, 75 storeys\/265.2m, and 96 storeys\/333.3m, making the tallest of them a ‘supertall’ tower of 300 metres or more.<\/p>\n \u201cToronto has waited nearly 100 years to see a completed vision for College Park come to life,\u201d Daniel Fama, Vice President of Development, GWLRA, said in a prepared statement. \u201cWe intend to restore and protect College Park\u2019s heritage while introducing 2,334 new housing units, a new hotel, new retail and entertainment space, and new public space that makes sense for the Toronto of today. College Park will be a major cultural destination.\u201d<\/p>\n With the oldest parts of the existing complex having been designed by Ross & Macdonald in the late 1920s, College Park was conceived as a towering Art Deco complex rivalling the ambition of New York\u2019s Rockefeller Center. Economic hardship during the Great Depression halted the full extent of those plans, resulting in the completion of just a seven-storey portion of the structure along with two low-rise wings, one of which was subsequently replaced by a glass office tower. Nearly a century later, GWLRA\u2019s proposal would essentially complete the original Yonge Street frontage and restore the building\u2019s symmetrical podium, while fully retaining the existing structure rather than relying on facadism \u2014 old walls but new structure supporting them \u2014 which is a more typical approach in Toronto.<\/p>\n The interior ground level arcade is proposed to be revitalized as a continuous retail corridor framed by vitrine-style storefronts. On the seventh floor, the Carlu event venue (originally designed by Jacques Carlu and reopened in 2003) would be expanded with additional indoor space and new terraces while preserving its historic existing spaces.<\/p>\n \u201cCollege Park is one of the most significant works of architecture in Toronto,\u201d ERA Architects Principal Scott Weir’s prepared statement reads. Weir also worked on the 2003 restoration of The Carlu, noting \u201cfor its whole existence, College Park has never reached its full potential. This project is our chance to get it right for the beginning of its second century.\u201d<\/p>\n Each new tower would be set back from the expanded\/restored 12-storey podium, and feature vertical articulation that draws from the language of early 20th-century skyscrapers. \u201cOur starting point for the new College Park architecture was to embrace ERA\u2019s heritage work and ideas from the early 1920s,\u201d Founding Partner David Pontarini of Hariri Pontarini Architects stated. \u201cWe intend to respect the building\u2019s architectural DNA and bring that up vertically into modern towers that contribute back to the skyline. If you squint, College Park would look like one development, built at one time.\u201d<\/p>\n Plans for the complex have a Gross Floor Area (GFA) of 236,304 m\u00b2 for a mix of uses. Once all components are complete, the GFA would include 164,263m\u00b2 of residential space, 24,861 m\u00b2 of office space, 21,380 m\u00b2 of retail space, a 18,801 m\u00b2 hotel, a 1,482 m\u00b2 daycare centre, and cultural space of 5,517 m\u00b2.<\/p>\n Tying it all together, a raised, ribbon-like pathway is planned to wind through the interior of the site, linking Yonge and College streets to a glass-enclosed atrium and a new outdoor plaza behind the heritage building that faces onto the existing Barbara Ann Scott Park, which would also be reimagined. The pathway feature is further intended to improve wayfinding between access points around the site, such as College subway station.<\/p>\n The landscape design introduces a denser tree canopy, native plantings, and sculpted landforms. Inspired by the Carlu and the 1920s \u201curban mountain\u201d idea, rooftop gardens would rise from the podium and connect to the towers via a sky lobby.<\/p>\n \u201cCollege Park would mark a new metropolitan culture in Toronto by demonstrating how public and urban vitality can expand from the park and the street, inside and out, from the ground floor into the sky,\u201d PUBLIC WORK Principal and Co-Founder Marc Ryan added in his statement. \u201cWe want to rev up the intensity of the public experience with a stronger sense of urban forest and more access to light. The building would fully embrace the public realm.\u201d<\/p>\n With over 250,000 weekly commuters passing through College station, improvements to the surrounding streetscape at Yonge and College are planned to ease congestion, while interior circulation upgrades would better connect the subway to the site. GWLRA plans to phase construction to minimize disruption in this high-traffic area, although details of that plan have not yet been revealed.<\/p>\n First opened in 1930 as the Eaton\u2019s College Street store, the building was among the largest department stores in North America, showcasing Art Moderne exteriors and lavish Art Deco interiors. Following Eaton\u2019s departure in 1977, the structure went through various uses before GWLRA assumed ownership in 2000 and reopened the seventh-floor auditorium as The Carlu in 2003.\u00a0<\/p>\n The restored Yonge Street frontage would complete the symmetrical podium originally envisioned by Ross & Macdonald, while the internal arcade would return as a curated retail corridor with updated finishes. ERA\u2019s preservation strategy emphasizes continuity through retained massing and materials.<\/p>\n Public consultation is being led through\u00a0College Park 100<\/a>, an engagement initiative launched by GWLRA to mark the site\u2019s approaching centennial. The platform includes a dedicated website and a series of public events designed to gather feedback and share historical context, with the next community engagement event scheduled for Fall 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCommunity engagement has been and will continue to be robust and essential,\u201d says Daniel Fama. \u201cThis is just the beginning of a multi-year, iterative process, and we encourage the public to stay involved and share feedback through College Park 100.\u201d<\/p>\n * * *<\/em><\/p>\n EDITOR’s NOTE:This story has been updated with statistics regarding the tower heights and Gross Floor Area.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n UrbanToronto will update this article as more detailed information becomes available, 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.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n UrbanToronto has a research service,\u00a0UTPro<\/a>, that provides comprehensive data on development projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe \u2014 from proposal through to completion. We also offer\u00a0Instant Reports<\/a>, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter,\u00a0New Development Insider<\/a>, that tracks projects from initial application.<\/p>\n <\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n\n<\/div>\n
July 08, 2025 by Anthony Teles, Craig White<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0
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\u00a02.7K\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\nUPDATED: Three Towers Including a ‘Supertall’ Proposed at College Park<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n