Two condo developments creep into the Junction, we are witnessing the erasure of the areas history, forever altering the character of these communities. The city has received another condo application for an intensive project to add to the application at 108–162 Vine Avenue in the Junction, to change the land use from employment uses to mixed use that would include retention of large-scale buildings and now another has been filed for 65 McCormack Street in Harwood. Decades old industrial sites are on the chopping block, and very important buildings are in danger of destruction, threatening to replace tangible links to the past with generic towering residential buildings. The Junction’s and Harwood communities’ stories are inseparable from their Toronto industrial and residential roots.
Emerging in the late 19th century as a hub for railways and manufacturing, the Junction and Harwood became one of Toronto’s key employment centers in the late 1890s to the 1920s, rivaling the waterfront districts in economic vitality. Factories producing everything from pianos to food lined the streets, employing workers and fostering a grey- and blue-collar identity that still exists to this day,j ust take a walk on Mulock Ave and through the two levels of the 500 Keele St rail industrial complex.
In fact, the building at 108 Vine Ave still has its share of blue-collar workers today. Chipped away in the 1990s, a major blow came with the closure of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) yards. Once a vital repair and maintenance hub, the yards were declared surplus, sold off, and demolished. The pattern continues with two condo proposals that prioritize density over preservation, character loss over combined work and living areas.
At 108–162 Vine Avenue in the Junction, an Official Plan Amendment seeks to rezone the site from Core Employment to Mixed Use, possibly for three towering condo buildings. Just north in Harwood, the project at 65 McCormack Street involves two mid-rise condos (10 and 12 storeys) with 263 units, recently endorsed by city council as part of a settlement.
Both will further diluting the area’s manufacturing legacy, and remove employment.
65 McCormack St Condos, Address, 65 McCormack St is a proposed mixed-use development with approximately 263 residential units and some non-residential space, revised from an earlier plan of 10- and 12-storey buildings. It’s located in the Harwood neighborhood just north of St Clair Ave off of Old Weston Rd., (York South-Weston area) and faces ongoing city review due to environmental and massing concerns.
65 McCormack St Condos, Address, 65 McCormack St
65 McCormack St Condos, Address 65 McCormack St, Toronto, ON M6N 3W6 Developer Greenline Renovations Plus Architect TACT Architecture Category Residential (Condo), Commercial/Mixed- UseStatus Pre-Construction Completion TBD Height 196 ft / 59.78 m 17 storeys
