The proposed three-tower redevelopment at Toronto’s College Park would include 65-, 75- and 96-storey buildings and create 2,334 residential units, retail and commercial space, a hotel and daycare centre.Supplied/GWLRA
Even in the booming 1920s, it seemed audacious. Plans for Eaton’s Art Deco-style College Park store in Toronto included a grand, residential tower rising 37 storeys — a height that was unheard of at that time.
The plan was cut short by the economic slump that became the Great Depression, and though the store opened with fanfare in 1930, only its seven-storey retail base had been built.
Almost a century later, owner GWL Realty Advisors Inc. (GWLRA), is aiming to honour the development’s original vision and reach for the skies above the historic building at Toronto’s downtown crossroads of Yonge and College streets. This time, there will be three towers, including one rising to a supertall 333 metres — or 96 storeys.
Upgrading a historic icon
The proposed College Park redevelopment will preserve and restore the original building, with the north tower rising within the existing structure. The remaining two towers will be built behind the retained façade.
The three 65-, 75- and 96-storey towers will create 2,334 residential units, retail and commercial space, a hotel and a daycare centre. The development will also preserve the historic Carlu event venue.
Over the years, College Park has been recognized as a City of Toronto landmark.
“We want it to continue to be a landmark in a fast-growing city,” says Daniel Fama, GWLRA’s vice-president of development. “We really gave the architects a blank canvas in terms of telling them we want a bold vision. We’re not only preserving it — we’re building on it, and we don’t want to shy away from what it should be.”
College Park’s 1920s “city within a block” vision, designed by Montreal architecture firm Ross & Macdonald and Toronto architect Henry Sproatt, would have made it the tallest building in Canada at the time, Mr. Fama notes.
“Now we have a chance to bring that ambition to life in a more modern form as we reach its centennial in 2030.”
College Park is a designated heritage building under the Ontario Heritage Act, making it challenging to alter. However, the architect plans to build three separate towers around the heritage elements.Wallace Immen
Preserving the site’s heritage
Making changes to the original building is challenging because it has multiple heritage protections, says Scott Weir, principal at ERA Architects, which is responsible for the site’s heritage planning.
College Park is a designated heritage building under the Ontario Heritage Act, containing Toronto heritage easements — legal agreements protecting it from demolition or inappropriate alterations — for its exterior. The seventh floor of The Carlu theatre and event space, designed by French architect Jacques Carlu, is also designated as a national historic site.
“Building three separate towers allows us to build around the heritage elements while creating the density we want,” Mr. Weir explains.
The three-tower College Park redevelopment has been in conceptual planning since 2022, when Toronto-based Hariri Pontarini Architects took on the assignment from GWLRA.
“It’s taken a long time to work out what was possible, but it’s ended up being a fun project because GWLRA said they want something that holds together both internally and externally,” Mr. Weir says.
The exterior of the heritage building was built using several types of Canadian granite and Tyndall limestone with decorative metal trims, while its interiors feature marble.
“We haven’t worked out the exact palette we will be using, but we’re looking at what we could do to translate those elements in a way that’s current, but ties to the existing building,” Mr. Weir adds of the new towers.
If approved, the College Park redevelopment will add to the neighbourhood’s towering buildings. One nearby tower — dubbed Aura — is 78 storeys tall, while another under construction at Yonge and Gerrard streets will top out at 300 metres.Supplied/GWLRA
A towering new neighbourhood
GWLRA has formally submitted an application to the City of Toronto for its three-tower College Park development. The proposal has yet to be approved, and a construction timeline has not been confirmed.
“The goal of the project is to maximize the use of the space that’s on a major transit node, and it seems a logical place to have this kind of height,” explains David Pontarini, founding partner of Hariri Pontarini Architects, the project’s lead architect. “We intend to respect the building’s architectural DNA and bring that up vertically into modern towers that contribute to Toronto’s growing skyline.”
College Park already has some tall neighbours. The Aura retail and residential tower to the south on the same Yonge Street block is 78 storeys tall, while the Concord Sky tower, under construction by Concord Adex Inc., at Yonge and Gerrard streets, will top out at 300 metres.
The historic building will be preserved, with its heritage facade extended along the base of a new podium inspired by the original 1920s designs, supporting the middle and south towers. To make way for the project, a 1978 residential building will be demolished, but its tenants will be given the opportunity to return to new rental units within the new towers.
The middle tower, rising to 333 metres, would become one of the tallest skyscrapers in Toronto, the only city in Canada with buildings more than 300 metres tall.
Sky Tower at Pinnacle One Yonge, under construction by Pinnacle International, at Toronto’s waterfront is rising to 106 storeys and 351 metres. It has also been designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects.
Conducting architectural surgery
College Park’s 75-storey north tower would rise from inside the 1930 heritage building, north of The Carlu.
“It’s going to be like surgery,” Mr. Pontarini says. “We will have to cut an opening into the existing building to allow us to build a new foundation from the ground up.”
The heritage building has a number of retail tenants, including Winners and The Brick. While it might not be possible to keep them all open during construction, the details are still being ironed out.
The design team wanted to maximize porosity and connect College Street with its streetcar line, Yonge Street with its subway line and public space behind the complex, Mr. Pontarini says. This includes reconnecting an original heritage walkway through the building that was cut off by later renovations and introducing more flexible retail areas that facilitate pedestrian flow.
The outdoor park at the rear of the complex is also being redesigned by PUBLIC WORK, the studio known for projects such as The Bentway, a park beneath part of Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway.
“College Park has never reached its full potential,” Mr. Pontarini says. “This project is our chance to get it right for the beginning of its second century.”