Address­ing the chal­lenges fac­ing many sub­ur­ban malls of its kind, our pro­pos­al engages in sus­tain­able, long-term solu­tions, offer­ing expe­ri­ence-focused retail ameni­ties com­plete­ly inte­grat­ed into a vibrant mixed-use com­mu­ni­ty orga­nized around robust new streets, squares, and parks.

Our approach to large-scale sub­ur­ban inten­si­fi­ca­tion is dri­ven by a cura­tion of designed, mul­ti-scaled expe­ri­ences which begin with the pedes­tri­an and are orga­nized by four pri­ma­ry oper­a­tions: refo­cus­ing the neigh­bor­hood retail expe­ri­ence, cre­at­ing a new ful­some pub­lic realm, build­ing a com­plete mixed-use com­mu­ni­ty, and achiev­ing excel­lence in sus­tain­able com­mu­ni­ty design. GPA approached these goals by spear­head­ing the design of the mas­ter plan to both com­ple­ment and lever­age the antic­i­pat­ed growth of Eto­bi­coke in the future, charged by its prox­im­i­ty to the city’s urban and region­al expan­sion.

The pub­lic con­sul­ta­tion process for this project set a new prece­dent for pub­lic involve­ment in rede­vel­op­ment design. Cloverdale Com­mon was cre­at­ed and staffed by Toron­to Met­ro­pol­i­tan Uni­ver­si­ty Urban Plan­ning Ambas­sadors to solic­it feed­back and engage in con­ver­sa­tions with the com­mu­ni­ty.

The pub­lic realm cre­at­ed by the new plan address­es the unique, inhos­pitable edges of the site, which include the high­way ramp, major indus­tri­al lands, and the mall col­lec­tor lane. East Mall is rein­tro­duced as a green­way along which new parks are locat­ed to act as buffers and ‘green bridges’ to stitch new bonds between the exist­ing and pro­posed neigh­bor­hoods. The ‘high street,’ Cloverdale Square, the neigh­bor­hood park, the mar­ket build­ing, a com­mu­ni­ty ameni­ty, the edge trail, and a green prom­e­nade togeth­er define the mixed-use design to cre­ate a “Vil­lage on the Park” that instills a sense of place, and gen­tly tran­si­tions the sub­ur­ban land­scape to the qua­si-urban for­mat.

The curv­ing, main retail street extends from the East Mall Cres­cent to the Park Mews, pro­vid­ing sceno­graph­ic, street-lev­el retail expe­ri­ences. Wide pedes­tri­an side­walks, canopies, and con­trolled cross­walks ensure acces­si­bil­i­ty for all ages. Cloverdale Square is envi­sioned to be a cov­ered and inti­mate pedes­tri­an-focused retail zone, that serves as a cen­tral gath­er­ing and meet­ing space. Events and fes­ti­vals are pro­ject­ed to take place on the site as open-air, but weath­er pro­tect­ed expe­ri­ences.

Green space is para­mount to the design and con­cept of the devel­op­ment, facil­i­tat­ed by the pro­posed neigh­bor­hood park along the East Mall, at the cen­ter of the com­mu­ni­ty. The park is envi­sioned for all-sea­son activ­i­ties, with active and pas­sive pro­gram­ming led by the com­mu­ni­ty. It also engages an active Green Edge Trail added along High­way 427. The pro­posed mar­ket build­ing anchors the south side of the park, pro­vid­ing large indoor com­mu­nal seat­ing areas, as well as a cov­ered seat­ing area that spills out onto the park. In con­junc­tion, des­ig­nat­ed space for com­mu­ni­ty ameni­ties is reserved on the park, with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­vide arts and cul­ture pro­gram­ming that is com­ple­men­tary to the new, near­by Eto­bi­coke Civic Cen­tre.

Offer­ing a con­cen­tra­tion of ameni­ties for inter-gen­er­a­tional use, the mixed pro­gram­ming of high, mid, and low-rise build­ings cre­ates a diverse sky­line with res­i­den­tial oppor­tu­ni­ties for vary­ing indi­vid­ual and fam­i­ly needs. The rede­vel­op­ment of Cloverdale at once pre­serves the beloved cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance of the site, while accom­mo­dat­ing con­tem­po­rary and inno­v­a­tive shifts in its built form. It projects a new­found vision root­ed in com­mu­ni­ty by empha­siz­ing the con­nec­tion between the pri­vate and pub­lic realms.