The masterplan is designed to breathe new life into the now unrecognizable mid-century vision for this part of Scarborough by creating an unmistakable sense of place. Featuring two proposed Eglinton Crosstown LRT stations, an extensive network of bicycle, pedestrian, and vehicular connections knits together the Golden Mile Plaza Revitalization as a new community that embraces its suburban context while creating new opportunities for urban connectivity and important amenities.

Golden Mile covers approximately 113 hectares of commercial district along Eglinton Avenue in East Toronto. It is bounded by Victoria Park Ave to the west, Ashtonbee Road and the Hydro Corridor (called “The Meadoway”) to the north, Birchmount Road to the east, and an irregular boundary stretching between various low-rise residential neighbourhoods to the south. Our plan defines a new precedent for the dynamic and diverse redevelopment of underutilized suburban sites and begins with strategically relocating the valuable food store, that cannot close to the public, in order to open the site to new, critical north-south connections.

Our site is Golden Mile Plaza, a 19-acre gateway to the district that lies just west of the original industrial ‘mile’ now ripe for intensification. The master plan designs density, massing, and detailed public realms for a sustainable, accessible, and inclusive complete community.

The scheme is anchored by a new east-west public main street, Golden Mile Boulevard, which bends to accommodate the food store footprint laminated with fine-grained retail frontage while slowing the pattern of traffic. The magnetic green square is then placed at the centre of the site adjacent the curving main road intersection with a large park.

The pedestrian-oriented and retail-focused main street creates a more intimate quality that sets the tone for the neighbourhood scale of the plan, alongside the arterial nature of Eglinton Avenue East. New transit stops, which themselves are supported by Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS,) are placed along the south side of the site allowing for new north-south pedestrian connections to The Meadoway.

As design architects for the two blocks that comprise phase 1, we imbue the architecture with a multi-generational mandate that also shapes the two podiums to mitigate strong winds and maximize light and views to the public realms, as a passive sustainability strategy. These culminate in a pedestrian-only central courtyard, dubbed “The Garden,” that sits between the two blocks and features neighbourhood-oriented retail spilling out. This phase also hosts 50,000 square feet of community space, and an institutional space for Centennial College and the University of Toronto Scarborough nearby.

As a complete community, the Golden Mile Redevelopment also strives to be accessible and inclusive for all. Currently, the Golden Mile Block F (Phase 1) is pursuing the Gold rating from the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC). This program is designed to challenge developers as community builders to go beyond the building code and create innovative solutions to make their communities universally accessible. Block F is also designed to house a wide range of demographics, from seniors to young families to empty-nesters. Furthermore, affordable housing is incorporated as part of the overall master plan to ensure appropriate equity and equality for all members of the community.