NEWS PLANNING
July 08, 2025 2.5k
Updated: Three towers, including a “Supertall” proposed in College Park
The 1930 College Park in Toronto will enter its next century with one of the most ambitious renovation suggestions in the core of the city. The GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA) submitted plans to the city to transform the landmark in Yonge and College Street through three new towers, a restored heir and a newly designed public area. Hariri Pontarini Architects leads the design, with ERA architect cultural heritage and public work supervision of the public sector. The towers are planned on 65 floors/228.1 m, 75 floors/265.2 m and 96 floors/333.3 m, which makes the highest of them a “superstall” tower of 300 meters or more.
“Toronto has waited almost 100 years that a completed vision for College Park will be brought to life,” said Daniel Fama, Vice President of Development at Gwlra, in a prepared explanation. “We intend to restore and protect the legacy of College Park, while we introduce 2,334 new housing units, a new hotel, a new retail and entertainment areas and new public areas that make sense for today's Toronto. College Park will be a big cultural goal.”
View to the northeast for the renovation of College Park, designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects for GWL Realty Advisors
With the oldest parts of the existing complex, College Park was designed by Ross & Macdonald in the late 1920s as a high -towering Art -deco complex, which was confronted with the ambitions of the New York Rockefeller Center. The economic difficulty during the global economic crisis stopped the full extent of these plans, which caused only a seven-story part of the structure to be completed together with two low wings, one of which was then replaced by a glass office tower. Almost a century later, Gwlrra's proposal would essentially complete the original Yonge Street Frontage and restore the symmetrical podium of the building, while maintaining the existing structure, instead of relying on facadism -old walls, but new structure -which is a more typical approach in Toronto.
Look at the southwest in College Park, picture with the kind permission of GWL Realty Advisors
It is proposed that the arcade of the interior is revived as a continuous retail corridor, which is framed by the vitrine style shop fronts. On the seventh floor, the Carlu Event venue (originally designed by Jacques Carlu and reopened in 2003) would be expanded with an additional interior and new terraces and at the same time retained its historical existing rooms.
“College Park is one of the most important architectural works in Toronto,” says the prepared explanation of ERA Architects, director of Scott Weir. Weir also worked on the restoration of the Carlu from 2003 and found that College Park has never achieved his full potential for his entire existence. This project is our chance to do it right for the beginning of its second century. “
With a view of the southwest to the restored Heritage facade along the Yonge Street, which was supervised by ERA architects for GWL Realty Advisors
Each new tower would be withdrawn from the extended/restored 12-story podium and contained vertical articulation, which is supported by the language of the skyscrapers of the early 20th century. “Our starting point for the new College Park Architecture was to include the work and ideas and ideas of the era from the early 1920s,” said founding partner David Pontarini by Hariri Pontarini Architects. “We intend to respect the architectural DNA of the building and to bring them vertically to modern towers that return to the skyline. If they scold, College Park would look like a development that was built at a time.”
Plans for the complex have a rough floor area (GFA) of 236,304 m² for a mixture of uses. As soon as all components have been completed, the GFA 164,263 m² of living space, 24,861 m² of office space, 21,380 m² retail surfaces, an 18,801 m² hotel, a 1,482 m² daycare center and a cultural area of ​​5.517 m².
An increased, ribbon-like path that ties everything together is planned to wrap yourself through the interior of the site and to connect with a glass-linked atrium and a new outdoor square behind the cultural heritage building, which is also directed to the existing Barbara Ann Scott Park, which would also be undermined. The path function is also intended to improve the path between access points around the location such as the university's U -train station.
Glass atrium and landscape design, landscape design that were designed by public work for GWL Realty Advisors
The landscape design introduces a denser tree baldachin, local plantings and shaped land forms. Inspired by the idea of ​​Carlu and the “Urban Mountain” idea from the 1920s, the roof gardens would rise from the podium and connect via a sky lobby to the towers.
“College Park would mark a new metropolitan culture in Toronto by showing how publicly and urban vitality from the park and the road from the inside and outside from the ground floor to the sky can be expanded,” added public work and co -founder Marc Ryan. “We want to improve the intensity of public experiences with a stronger feeling for the urban forest and more access to light. The building would hug the public empire.”
A newly defined Barbara Ann Scott Park designed by public work for GWL Realty Advisors
With over 250,000 weekly commuters who drive through the College station, improvements to the surrounding street landscape in Yonge and College are planned to make the overload easier, while the inner course would better connect the U -Bahn to the location. Gwlra plans to phase the construction phase to minimize the disorder in this area with high trade, although details of this plan have not yet become known.
The building was opened in 1930 as Eaton's College Street Store. After the departure of Eaton in 1977, the structure went through various uses before Gwlra took over ownership in 2000 and reopened the auditorium on the seventh floor in 2003.
The restored Yonge Street Frontage would complete the symmetrical podium originally intended by Ross & MacDonald, while the internal arcade would return as a curated retail corridor with updated surfaces. Era's conservation strategy emphasizes continuity through masses and materials.
View to the southwest of the Hariri Pontarini
The public consultation is led via College Park 100, a commitment initiative initiated by GWLRA to mark the location of the location. The platform includes a committed website and a number of public events that are supposed to collect feedback and share the historical context, whereby the next community engagement event is planned for autumn 2025.
“The commitment of the community was and will continue to be robust and essential,” says Daniel Fama. “This is only the beginning of a multi -year iterative process, and we encourage the public to stay involved and share feedback about College Park 100.”
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Note from the publisher: This story has been updated with statistics over the tower heights and the gross floor area.
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