Massive Condo Proposal for Yonge & Gerrard

You may have heard of the two-tower project set for the south east corner of Yonge & Gerrard, and I’m sure you’ve by now seen or heard of Aura Condos if you live in Toronto, but a new proposal just submitted to the City for review will completely intensify the density of the the area to a whole new level on the south west corner of the intersection if it goes through as requested.

Located on the site of the current Eaton Chelsea hotel are plans to create four new towers consisting of 80, 74, 50 and 46 stories. All told, this will add around 1900 new residential condo units and 300 hotel rooms to the lot.

Plans are still in the extremely early stages, and will likely be modified as they proceed, but still, this is a massive addition to the neighbourhood.

My hope is that through these development plans, along with those for the previous site of the World’s Biggest Book store on Edward Street just south of there, an underground connection can be created to link The PATH system that currently terminates at The Atrium on Bay with The Shops At Aura & College Park shops that have been locked out of the underground network. If so many residents and towers will be included in the neighbourhood in 10 years time, it will be imperative to have networks and means for pedestrian traffic to flow effectively. And with surface sidewalks potentially being too jammed with people traffic, having an underground network will help alleviate some of the congestion.

The next things to work out, of course, are whether the area can handle the extra density on the subway system, green spaces, and surrounding existing infrastructure. It’s exciting to see changes happening to the neighbourhood, but I do want to see them done with future-thinking and sensitivity in mind, so that what ends up being created is a neighbourhood to fully enjoy by everyone in every respect.