GWL Realty Advisors has announced plans for a major redevelopment of Toronto’s College Park.

A development application has been submitted to the city.

The plan aims to restore the heritage site’s original 1920s vision while transforming the property into a cultural and residential hub.

The ambitious proposal includes a full heritage restoration, three mixed-use towers, and reimagined public spaces, all timed to coincide with the site’s centennial in 2030.

“Toronto has waited nearly 100 years to see a completed vision for College Park come to life,” said Daniel Fama, vice-president of development at GWLRA. “We intend to restore and protect College Park’s heritage, while introducing 2,334 new housing units, a new hotel, new retail and entertainment space, and new public space that makes sense for the Toronto of today. College Park will be a major cultural destination.”

Developed in collaboration with Hariri Pontarini Architects, ERA Architects and PUBLIC WORK, the project will complete the vision originally conceived by Ross & Macdonald in the 1920s for a grand Art Deco complex at Yonge and College streets, said GWLRA.

The plan includes a full restoration of the existing building, rejecting facadism in favour of retaining the structure in its entirety. The historic Yonge Street podium will be completed as originally designed, and the interior arcade will be restored to recreate a Parisian-style vitrine shopping experience. The Carlu, the iconic Art Deco venue on the seventh floor, will be preserved and expanded.

“College Park is one of the most significant works of architecture in Toronto,” said Scott Weir, principal at ERA Architects. “For its whole existence, College Park has never reached its full potential. This project is our chance to get it right for the beginning of its second century.”

Three sculptural towers designed by Hariri Pontarini will rise above the podium, echoing 1920s architectural language through setbacks and vertical elements. A raised, ribbon-like pathway through the site will link College and Yonge streets to a central atrium and outdoor plaza in a bid to enhance pedestrian flow and the connection to transit.

“Our starting point for the new College Park architecture was to embrace ERA’s heritage work and ideas from the early 1920s,” said David Pontarini, his namesake firm’s founding partner. “We intend to respect the building’s architectural DNA and [bring] that up vertically into modern towers that contribute back to the skyline. If you squint, College Park would look like one development, built at one time.”

PUBLIC WORK will lead the redesign of the surrounding public realm, introducing topographic features, native planting, and rooftop gardens that reinterpret the “urban mountain” concept popular a century ago.

“College Park would mark a new metropolitan culture in Toronto by demonstrating how public and urban vitality can expand from the park and the street, inside and out, from the ground floor into the sky,” said Marc Ryan, principal and co-founder of PUBLIC WORK. “We want to rev up the intensity of the public experience with a stronger sense of urban forest and more access to light. The building would fully embrace the public realm.”

The project also includes upgrades to streetscapes and transit access in one of Toronto’s most densely populated areas. GWLRA has launched College Park 100, a website and event series to gather public feedback throughout the multi-year process.

“Community engagement has been and will continue to be robust and essential,” said Fama. “This is just the beginning of a multi-year, iterative process, and we encourage the public to stay involved and share feedback through College Park 100.”

The project is being developed on behalf of The Canada Life Assurance Company and will be allocated to its participating life insurance account. Canada Life is GWLRA’s parent.

A construction timeline has not yet been announced.

Pictured: The proposed future College Park in Toronto.

Rendering: Courtesy of GWLRA