It’s no secret that Toronto is growing fast, and we believe this growth creates new opportunities for bold city-building aspirations and better communities for everyone. On the block bounded by Huntley, Linden, and Selby Streets, we’re proposing to deliver on these aspirations by creating a progressive, mixed-use community that will anchor an important node in downtown-east, while fostering social cohesion and important neighbourhood resources. This website has been launched to share information about our goals, the redevelopment process, and to create a platform for collaboration. Have a look around and help us shape the future.
It’s no secret that Toronto is growing fast, and we believe this growth creates new opportunities for bold city-building aspirations and better communities for everyone. On the block bounded by Huntley, Linden, and Selby Streets, we’re proposing to deliver on these aspirations by creating a progressive, mixed-use community that will anchor an important node in downtown-east, while fostering social cohesion and important neighbourhood resources. This website has been launched to share information about our goals, the redevelopment process, and to create a platform for collaboration. Have a look around and help us shape the future.
Our Vision
Together, we can create a community-centred project that exemplifies the best-practices of city-building. Our initial Development Approval application to the City of Toronto sets out an ambitious framework for two residential towers and a range of housing options (including affordable apartments), as well as exciting community spaces, neighbourhood retail, parkland and open spaces, retained heritage buildings, and thoughtful public realm enhancements. We want to bring these opportunities to life with thoughtful design and a collaborative spirit, guided by our mission to encourage social connections, foster community equity and resilience, promote sustainable growth, and honour the site’s unique character.
Project Foundations
We believe that private development can be leveraged for public good. That’s why the HuntleySelby proposal intends to produce a variety of well-located, high-quality, programmable spaces and some affordable housing units that can be transferred directly to an independent, not-for-profit community-based organization – like a Community Land Trust (CLT), for example – at no cost to the City or its citizens.
The Community Land Trust model aims to put the ownership, programming, and management of valuable real estate directly into the hands of the community. An elected board – comprised of local residents, community leaders, and other stakeholders – will work within the neighbourhood to identify the options and priorities for a number of newly-developed spaces in the project, including affordable housing units. A non-profit platform for community-based ownership and programming can unlock exciting new possibilities for local residents and organizations, while creating community equity and protecting the grassroots fabric of the neighbourhood, all within the context of a major redevelopment project.
The HuntleySelby Community Equity commitment is both a process, as well as a desired outcome. It is the promise of community collaboration and collective imagination, leveraged to create bold new possibilities. While many CLTs work tirelessly for years to come up with the donations of land and funding that are needed to secure properties and to achieve their goals, the HuntleySelby proposal creates significant property assets that could be owned by the community from day-one, as a deliberate outcome of our redevelopment process. In addition to providing the property, the HuntelySelby development team, in partnership with other stakeholders, will facilitate a community-led process to establish governance, an organizational charter, and the inaugural partnerships and programming that will bring these spaces to life. We see this as an opportunity that belongs entirely to the community, prioritizing shared values and creating a strong platform for neighbourhood programs and organizations to flourish. If you’d like to find out more, or to get involved click here.
Affordable housing is a top priority for Torontonians, and indeed, for the team behind HuntleySelby. First and foremost, we want to ensure that individuals and families who currently reside on the project lands will have first-access to return to new high-quality homes with rent protections in place when the project is completed. We are committed to supporting existing tenants throughout the duration of an accessible and transparent relocation process. Additionally, we will create a significant cluster of brand-new, affordable rental apartment units, and a broad mix of housing types and sizes. The HuntleySelby project aims to secure a meaningful amount of the total project inventory as affordable rental apartments.
The HuntleySelby project will feature a safe, best-in-class daycare facility with indoor and outdoor spaces, supporting families and giving young kids in the community exceptional facilities for learning, playing, and social development.
To be designed in collaboration with the community, a large city-owned park will revitalize the block and provide a vibrant new green space that reconnects the neighbourhood to the natural environment. We see it as a place for peaceful coffee-breaks, lively playgroup meetups, and casual evening strolls… but what we’re most excited about is brainstorming with the community and our friends at gh3 about the design ideas and features that will make this one of the city’s most beloved parks.
To accompany the new park, we’re envisioning a lively mid-block courtyard and broad public pathway, retracing the important north-south linkage between Selby and Linden Streets. As a natural extension of the public park, and with active frontages on both sides, the laneway becomes a safe, well-lit, spill-out space for gatherings and activations, public art installations, community markets, and evening performances. It will be a destination for the entire community to enjoy day or night, solo or with friends.
We recognize the critical stakes of the climate emergency, and we are pushing our engineers to hit exceptional sustainability thresholds, including innovative approaches to reduce energy consumption. The teams at IBI and Purpose Building are running parametric design models to optimize building facades, exploring new architectural solutions, and researching advanced technologies. Our goal is that the HuntleySelby project will join the ranks of the most sustainable residential towers in North America.
Our Future Together
We believe big ideas make for better communities; here are a few we’re excited about.
HuntleySelby responds to the existing urban context, expanding upon the pre-existing fabric of numerous and varied tower-form buildings in the northeast quadrant of downtown Toronto. The HuntleySelby proposal locates similar growth in the most logical place: near rapid transit, civic amenities, and community resources.
We’ll retain the rich character of the existing streetscapes by maintaining Victorian homes, preserving mature trees, restoring heritage facades, and integrating these elements into a carefully-composed, community-scaled environment. By incorporating existing heritage buildings into the new building design, HuntleySelby will celebrate the distinct architectural features of Toronto’s past, highlighting the traditional frontages while also strengthening the streetscape and securing the long-term maintenance and preservation of these historical assets.
A range of attainable and affordable housing options, a best-in-class daycare facility, programmable open spaces, and a progressive platform for creating community equity and connectedness -- these are not simply the by-products of a redevelopment project, but instead, are at the foundation of the project itself, rooting it in strong social infrastructure and neighbourhood amenities.
Welcoming public spaces, generous parkland, and an active laneway with a community courtyard will create much more open space on the block, providing new opportunities for gathering and getting to know your neighbours, as well as new enclaves for both quiet R&R and dynamic community programming. More openness and active frontages on and within the block will enhance safety and security, while adding vitality to the neighbourhood.
Welcoming shared-spaces, diverse housing types and common areas, and accessible community destinations will encourage people of all ages and abilities to gather and connect. At the heart of this project is the belief that dense, urban projects can be real neighbourhoods, and HuntleySelby is being designed to achieve this goal, and to create a stronger sense of community and better social connections. We believe that the revitalization of the HuntleySelby block is also an opportunity to use growth, and the construction of a new vertical community, to enrich the social fabric of downtown Toronto.
The Site Today
The redevelopment site is comprised of an assembly of approximately 22 properties, bisected by a public laneway, and spanning roughly 1.4 acres at the north end of Toronto’s Downtown East neighbourhood, just south of Bloor Street and west of Sherbourne Street. Several towers ranging from 38 to 94 storeys are already complete or under construction in the area. The community is well-served by multiple public transit hubs and routes including both Sherbourne and Bloor-Yonge Stations, with multiple connections to the downtown core and surrounding neighbourhoods.
OUR PROPOSAL
59 Storeys
48 Storeys
A grassroots neighbourhood hub for coffee and conversation
Preserved heritage streetscapes, facade and ridgeline retentions, and complete building conservation
Greenspace designed by the community, for the community
A variety of high-value, well-located spaces within the podium of the project, to be owned and operated by a community-focused not-for-profit organization, like a Community Land Trust
Safe, high-quality, indoor and outdoor daycare facility to support young families with children, and to foster kids’ health and growth
* Daycare location not visible from this view
Bright, open, and friendly mid-block connection featuring pop-up programming and public art
TIMELINE
About the Team
This unique community represents the singular vision of a diverse, multidisciplinary group, including Broccolini, Jennifer Keesmaat, ERA Architects, gh3, IBI Group and Bousfields Inc.
Broccolini imagines and constructs remarkable buildings while fostering enduring relationships with their people, their partners, their neighbours, and their clients. It’s Broccolini’s philosophy to build great buildings and great relationships.
An ambitious project requires an expert team, so Broccolini is working closely with Jennifer Keesmaat on one of her first solo projects since her tenure as the Chief Planner for the City of Toronto.
ERA Architects are leading heritage conservation, retention, and integration strategies. They operate under the leadership of Michael McCelland, who has decades of experience in heritage conservation and planning, and a deep understanding of the neighbourhood.
gh3, who has designed some of Canada’s most exciting parks and community spaces, has been engaged to imagine an active, sustainable, and inclusive public realm as the heart of HuntleySelby, and for the whole community to enjoy.
IBI Group is the lead architecture firm working on the project, bringing their global, multidisciplinary experience to the HuntleySelby proposal, and working through the lenses of inclusivity, sustainability, resiliency, and community.
Bousfields Inc. is one of the pre-eminent community planning firms in Ontario with special expertise in urban design, planning policy, community design, development approvals, community consultation and project management and they’ll be bringing their considerable expertise to the project.
This unique community represents the singular vision of a diverse, multidisciplinary group, including Broccolini, Jennifer Keesmaat, ERA Architects, gh3, IBI Group and Bousfields Inc.
Broccolini imagines and constructs remarkable buildings while fostering enduring relationships with their people, their partners, their neighbours, and their clients. It’s Broccolini’s philosophy to build great buildings and great relationships.
An ambitious project requires an expert team, so Broccolini is working closely with Jennifer Keesmaat on one of her first solo projects since her tenure as the Chief Planner for the City of Toronto.
ERA Architects are leading heritage conservation, retention, and integration strategies. They operate under the leadership of Michael McCelland, who has decades of experience in heritage conservation and planning, and a deep understanding of the neighbourhood.
gh3, who has designed some of Canada’s most exciting parks and community spaces, has been engaged to imagine an active, sustainable, and inclusive public realm as the heart of HuntleySelby, and for the whole community to enjoy.
IBI Group is the lead architecture firm working on the project, bringing their global, multidisciplinary experience to the HuntleySelby proposal, and working through the lenses of inclusivity, sustainability, resiliency, and community.
Bousfields Inc. is one of the pre-eminent community planning firms in Ontario with special expertise in urban design, planning policy, community design, development approvals, community consultation and project management and they’ll be bringing their considerable expertise to the project.
Collaboration
Our process is collaborative by design, and we want to hear what you think!
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