Quayside

The Quayside development area is bounded by 
Bonnycastle Street in the west from
Queens Quay East north to Lake Shore Boulevard,
and the Victory Soya Mills Silos in the east,
from Lake Shore Boulevard south
to Lake Ontario and the Water’s Edge. 

Parks and Public Realm 
 

At Quayside, Waterfront Toronto will again design and deliver groundbreaking public spaces to activate the waterfront, meet the needs of residents and establish Quayside as a destination, including: 
 

• Parliament Plaza: On either side of the realigned and narrowed Parliament Street will be two green spaces totalling about 0.3 hectares (0.8 acres). The aspiration is for these spaces to provide a lush green transition from Lake Shore to Queens Quay and complement the retail and other nearby ground floor amenities. 
• Silo Park: This local park will be 0.4 hectares (1.1 acres) and serve the Quayside and Keating communities. Waterfront Toronto will host a design competition seeking a proposal for Silo Park. 
• Water’s Edge Promenade: The Water’s Edge Promenade, featuring the signature granite mosaic with a double row of trees, provides a continuous public space along the lakefront. Nearly 4.3 kilometers of promenade have already been completed and soon will be extended into Quayside. 
• Local Streets: A series of local streets will support Quayside. Two existing streets (Bonnycastle Street and Small Street) will be revitalized, and two new streets will be created – each designed in a manner consistent with others delivered elsewhere in East Bayfront.  
   

And, it’s hard to talk about the public spaces at Quayside without talking about Parliament Slip. The Quayside community and its public spaces wrap around this underused industrial berth called Parliament Slip. Waterfront Toronto views this as a special opportunity to create a bustling year-round gathering place by the water – offering recreation, entertainment and dining.

Read more on the Parliament Slip project page.  

Development 
 

Working together, local developers Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf Group (known as Quayside Impact) will transform Quayside into an extraordinary mixed-use, mixed-income community where residents can live, work and play. When complete, Quayside will be Canada’s largest all-electric, zero-carbon master-planned community and be home to about 7,500 people and 1,600 jobs.  
 

Included among the highlights are: 
 

• More than 800 affordable housing units with more than half the units being family-sized (2+ bedroom). And, affordable housing will be included in each phase of the development, including 458 units in the first phase of development. 
• 2 acre green space, called the Community Forest, stretching from Bonnycastle to Parliament Streets 
• A rooftop urban farm 
• Five towers plus one of Canada’s largest residential mass timber buildings  
   

The Quayside Impact team also includes Adjaye Associates, Alison Brooks Architects and Henning Larsen as Lead Architects. This team will be responsible for designing the buildings in the first phase of development and, through establishing urban design guidelines, will coordinate the design of subsequent blocks by others to ensure a curated collection of buildings that are distinct yet work together.  SLA Landscape Architects will design the Community Forest public space. 
 

Like all projects, the development of Quayside is following the municipal approvals process, including development approvals, as well as review by Waterfront Toronto’s Design Review Panel and public consultation. 

On July 24, 2024, Toronto City Council adopted a Zoning By-law Amendment for the first phase of development (Blocks 1 and 2). The rezoning increases the permitted density for these blocks and allows for taller buildings with reduced building footprints. This sets the stage for much needed housing on the waterfront, including 2,353 market rate residential units and 458 affordable rental homes in phase one, while also providing more room at street level for green space and other public areas.

In addition to advancing housing, the rezoning includes requirements for retail animation, and secures other community benefits – like childcare space, community space, and publicly accessible greenspace with patios, pathways, outdoor seating, children’s play areas and pet facilities.

The next step is to advance the designs for the public spaces and buildings through the City’s site plan approval process and to advance the planning applications for phase two of the development (Blocks 3, 4 and 5).

Continued public engagement will be a defining characteristic of how Quayside evolves as it gets further designed and built.  All upcoming applications will be refined and informed by Waterfront Toronto, the Waterfront Design Review Panel, the Quayside Stakeholder Advisory Committee, and the public.