Ontario Construction News staff writer
When Oxford Properties first revealed its proposal to build Union Park in downtown Toronto, the term transformational was used to describe the four-tower, four-acre $3.5-billion project.
An artistic rendering of the development certainly seems to fit that description. With a view north from Lake Ontario, the image shows the sculpted and innovative design of the towers behind the Rogers Centre, with the CN Tower just to the east. It makes a strong case for the transformational label.
“This is a transformational project in one of the most exciting development nodes in Toronto,” Eric Plesman, executive vice-president of North America for Oxford Properties, said in a release announcing the vision last summer.
Still in the preliminary stages of planning, Oxford says the 4.3 million-square-foot “landmark development” will provide:
- Three acres of green space, in the heart of downtown Toronto, including a two-acre urban park built over the Union rail corridor connecting to the future Rail Deck Park
- 3 million square feet of office space
- About 800 rental residential units, including family oriented housing, and 200,000 square feet of high quality retail.
“A key feature of Union Park is an expansive park that will span from Blue Jays Way to the John Street bridge, and connect to the future Rail Deck Park to the west. The two-acre park, designed by award-winning OJB Architects, will aim to deliver much needed green space to downtown Toronto and create opportunities for flexible, programmable community spaces, public art, and installations. Working with the city and adjacent landowners, our aspiration is to create a legacy urban park for Torontonians and visitors to enjoy for decades to come,” says Oxford.
Oxford says the redevelopment will become the best expression of a mixed-use community in Toronto, one that will be a “transformative development that will celebrate Toronto’s great diversity, vibrancy, and success.”
Citing its vision of connecting people to exceptional places, plans for the development include new community amenities, new jobs and employment opportunities, remarkable architectural design, new rental housing for families and young professionals, improved public realm and connections, sustainable design, and smart and technologically innovative design.
“Befitting its status as one of the largest redevelopment projects in North America, and the largest in Toronto’s history, Union Park will feature world-class design from a globally renowned architecture team. Our goal at Oxford is to connect people to exceptional places, so we are creating an ambitious project that adds to Toronto’s ongoing evolution as a world-class city to live and work in,” Plesman continued in the release.
The project had a pre-application open house last year, and Oxford anticipates it moving through the planning process towards a council decision in 2020. Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Adamson Associates has been retained to design the project.
“Founded in 1977, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects has designed some of the world’s most recognizable buildings and shaped iconic skylines all over the world. Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects create stunning towers that re-think the possibilities for tall buildings. Their work for public and private clients includes office buildings, hotels, residences, performing arts centres, museums, academic buildings, libraries, research centres, and master plans,” says Oxford.
Specific details of the project include:
- Parks: Union Park will offer new gathering spaces for the community. New park space will be designed to provide strong visual interest, rich landscaping, and engaging spaces for a diverse community. New and improved park spaces include the two-acre overbuild park over the rail yard, connecting to the future Rail Deck Park, a winter garden (located in between the two office towers), and a one-acre, on-site park (Isabella Valancy Crawford).
- Daycare: Toronto is experiencing a shortage of daycare spaces. A study conducted in 2016 found that the demand for licensed daycare spaces outstripped supply by 4,069 spots. Our family oriented development will include an integrated 8,500-square-foot daycare to support growing families in our community and the surrounding neighbourhood.
- New jobs and employment: Union Park will create new jobs and employment space in the heart of the downtown. Union Park reflects Toronto’s status as a global hub for finance, commerce, innovation, and creativity, supporting a strong employment base and thriving economy. Our proposal includes 3.3 million square feet gross building area of office space across two towers. The base of the two office towers will feature bright, oversized spaces, drawing talented and innovative minds from across the globe, that’s enough space for 18,000 employees. Oxford’s Toronto office tenants employ over 50,000 workers which represents 15 per cent of the total workforce in the City of Toronto’s downtown core.
- New living spaces: Our proposal includes rental residential housing for Toronto’s growing and diverse downtown population, including families and young professionals.