Renderings provided courtesy of Hines.

The Hines plan will transform the Bayside development site into an active and diverse mixed-use community connected by major parks and public spaces.   Complete with 1,700 homes, a bustling main street and office and employment space for 2,400 jobs, Bayside is the single largest parcel of land to be developed by Waterfront Toronto.

“Council’s approval is a huge milestone not only for waterfront revitalization but for the City of Toronto,” said John Campbell, President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto. “With Hines, we can now move forward with reconnecting the city to the waterfront by building a liveable, walkable, community defined by beautiful parks and public spaces.”

Backed by an $800 million private sector investment, the Bayside development will result in approximately $1.6 billion in total economic activity and $20 million in development charges for the City of Toronto.  To promote lasting economic development, Bayside is being targeted as an employment hub on the waterfront, particularly for knowledge-based industries such as information and communication technology companies and the creative sector.

The new neighbourhood, located on a 4 hectare (10 acre) site between Lower Sherbourne and Parliament Streets, is expected to be constructed in phases with first occupancy of buildings and completion of new public spaces as early as 2014.  The entire project is expected to be completed by 2021.

“We are delighted with City Council’s approval and to be working with Waterfront Toronto in creating a dynamic new live/work/play neighbourhood on the harbour,” said Avi Tesciuba, Hines vice president of Canadian operations.  “Bayside is an extremely important development for Hines, and we look forward to the excitement of bringing the vision to fruition.”

Renderings provided courtesy of Hines.

Hines assembled an internationally renowned design team led by luminary architects Cesar Pelli, Fred Clarke and Stanton Eckstut to develop its plans for Bayside. The plans will deliver a vibrant new neighbourhood built on a human scale, with mews and small streets that promote a sense of closeness and community all year round.  The neighbourhood’s main street — Bonnycastle Street — will draw visitors from across the city and will provide connections to neighbouring public spaces, including the soon-to-be-completed Sherbourne Common, Queens Quay linear park, and the Water’s Edge Promenade.

The Bayside development is an integral part of the remarkable transformation already well underway in the new East Bayfront precinct that Waterfront Toronto is developing. Employees have now moved into the area’s first commercial building, Corus Quay, the new headquarters of Corus Entertainment.   Construction is well underway on George Brown College’s new state-of-the-art Health Sciences Campus. Canada’s Sugar Beach and the first stretch of the Water’s Edge Promenade are now open and next month Waterfront Toronto will open Sherbourne Common, the area’s other major new park.

The Governments of Canada and Ontario and the City of Toronto created Waterfront Toronto to oversee and lead the renewal of Toronto’s waterfront. Public accessibility, design excellence, sustainable development, economic development and fiscal sustainability are the key drivers of waterfront revitalization.

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Media Kit:

NEWS RELEASE
BAYSIDE BACKGROUNDER
EAST BAYFRONT BACKGROUNDER
BAYSIDE DEVELOPMENT SELECTION PROCESS BACKGROUNDER
HINES DESIGN TEAM BACKGROUNDER

For more information, please contact:

•    Samantha Gileno, Waterfront Toronto 416-214-1344 x264 or 416-271-1316, sgileno@waterfrontoronto.ca

•    George Lancaster, Hines 713-966-7676 or George.lancaster@hines.com

To learn more about the project, developer and design teams:

Waterfront Toronto
Hines
Pelli Clarke Pelli
Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects
Adamson Associates

Bayside Image and Video Gallery:

High-resolution renderings and a project animation video are available for download below.  Please note that any use of the animation video and/or renderings should credit Hines.

Bayside Animation Video

Bayside Aitken Place. Renderings provided courtesy of Hines.

Following an extensive competitive selection process, Waterfront Toronto has chosen Hines, one of the world’s premier real estate firms, to develop Toronto’s next great waterfront neighbourhood.

Hines will help Waterfront Toronto transform the Bayside development site into a vibrant and diverse mixed-use neighbourhood, complete with 1,700 homes, a bustling retail, restaurant and entertainment corridor, and office and employment space for 2,400 jobs. Situated in a prime downtown location in the emerging East Bayfront waterfront district, the Bayside site consists of 4 hectares (10 acres) of underutilized city-owned land south of Queens Quay Boulevard between Lower Sherbourne and Parliament streets.

Having received unanimous approval from Toronto City Council’s Executive Committee on August 16, the development agreement for the Bayside project will be presented to City Council for final approval at the August 25/26 council meeting.  If approved, the new neighbourhood will be constructed in phases with first occupancy of buildings and completion of dynamic new public spaces as early as 2014.  The entire project is expected to be completed by 2021.

To develop its winning proposal, Hines assembled an internationally renowned design team led by luminary architect Cesar Pelli, who is responsible for such iconic buildings as the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur and Manhattan’s World Financial Center, and Stanton Eckstut, the visionary behind New York’s celebrated Battery Park City waterfront development.

The Bayside site will be the single largest parcel of land developed to date by Waterfront Toronto.  Backed by an $800 million private sector investment, the development will result in approximately $1.6 billion in total economic activity and $20 million in development charges for the City of Toronto.  To promote lasting economic development, Bayside is being targeted as an employment hub on the waterfront, particularly for knowledge-based industries such as information and communication technology companies and the creative sector.

“The Bayside development is another major step forward in the complete revitalization of our waterfront and it will be an integral part of East Bayfront, which is already taking shape into a showcase 21st century community,” said John Campbell, President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto. “We look forward to working in partnership with Hines, a company with an extraordinary track record for sustainable development, energy efficiency and innovative operational practices, to ensure that Bayside will be a model for green building across the city and around the globe.”

In addition to meeting or exceeding Waterfront Toronto’s Mandatory Green Building Requirements, Hines is planning a number of strategic green programs for Bayside, including the implementation of the Hines GREEN OFFICE Tenant Program, which enhances the sustainable features and operations of employer spaces in commercial buildings.  The firm has also proposed the creation of an ENERGY STAR® pilot program for commercial construction, which would see Hines partner with Natural Resources Canada to expand the Canadian Building Standard for single-family residential construction into commercial development.

“We are elated by the opportunity to be part of the remarkable transformation underway along Toronto’s waterfront, and especially with a project of this importance and magnitude”, said Gerald D. Hines, Chairman and Founder of Hines.  “With a presence in more than 100 cities around the globe, Hines has the breadth of experience, network of expertise and financial strength required to ensure the timely development of this large and complex waterfront site.”

Bayside Bonnycastle Street at night. Renderings provided courtesy of Hines.

Hines’ plans for Bayside will deliver a vibrant and dynamic neighbourhood that is full of life and activity all year round.  A significant retail and entertainment destination on Bonnycastle Street will draw visitors from across the city and will provide connections to neighbouring public spaces, including the soon-to-be-completed Sherbourne Common, Queens Quay linear park, and the Water’s Edge Promenade. To ensure the neighbourhood is just as vibrant during the colder months, the design team drew inspiration from successful winter environments like Québec City, Montréal and Stockholm.  These considerations are evident in the area’s non-linear street network, which creates a variety of intimate and weather protected spaces, and the planned construction of a winter garden.

“The people, who will eventually live, work and play here, were our first and foremost design consideration,” said architect Cesar Pelli.  “The neighbourhood will be built on a decidedly human scale, with mews and small streets that promote a sense of closeness and community.”

“Among other things, we are trying to create the most walkable neighbourhood in all of Toronto,“ added architect Stanton Eckstut. “The most walkable is also the most sustainable approach to city design.”

Rounding out the Bayside design team is award-winning Toronto-based Adamson Architects, with their local knowledge and years of collaborative experience on large-scale development projects, including London’s Canary Wharf.

Waterfront Toronto

Since 2005, Waterfront Toronto has opened 16 new or improved parks or public spaces including wavedecks, sports fields, revitalized trails and new waterfront parks.  Waterfront Toronto has also finalized development agreements with Great Gulf Homes and Urban Capital for the first private sector developments on the waterfront.

The Governments of Canada and Ontario and the City of Toronto created Waterfront Toronto to oversee and lead the renewal of Toronto’s waterfront. Public accessibility, design excellence, sustainable development, economic development and fiscal sustainability are the key drivers of waterfront revitalization.

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Media Kit:
NEWS RELEASE
BAYSIDE BACKGROUNDER
EAST BAYFRONT BACKGROUNDER
BAYSIDE DEVELOPMENT SELECTION PROCESS BACKGROUNDER
BAYSIDE DEVELOPMENT MEDIA BRIEFING SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
HINES DESIGN TEAM BACKGROUNDER

For more information, please contact:

•    Samantha Gileno, Waterfront Toronto 416-214-1344 x264 or 416-271-1316, sgileno@waterfrontoronto.ca

•    George Lancaster, Hines 713-966-7676 or George.lancaster@hines.com

To learn more about the project, developer and design teams:

Waterfront Toronto
Hines
Pelli Clarke Pelli
Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects
Adamson Associates

Bayside Image and Video Gallery:

High-resolution renderings and a project animation video are available for download below.  Please note that any use of the animation video and/or renderings should credit Hines.

Bayside Animation Video

In a keynote address at the Toronto Board of Trade, John Campbell, President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto, reviewed progress on waterfront revitalization and released the findings of a detailed economic impact analysis, which examined the results of investments made by Waterfront Toronto and its government partners since the organization’s inception in 2001 through March 31, 2009.

The study, conducted by urbanMetrics inc., found that the $642 million invested to date in waterfront renewal has generated $1.6 billion in gross output for the Canadian economy and approximately 8,400 full-time years of employment, 70 per cent of which were in the Toronto region.

The largest portion, approximately $219.5 million or 34 percent, was invested in waterfront construction projects including the Spadina, Simcoe and Rees wavedecks, Port Union and Mimico waterfront parks, the Cherry Beach Sports Fields, Marilyn Bell Park, York and John Quay Promenade, the flood protection landform in the West Don Lands, and the development of infrastructure in East Bayfront and the West Don Lands.

A second major share of expenditures was directed towards creative and knowledge-based industries, industries expected to be the primary drivers of future economic development. As part of its design and planning work, as well as other necessary preliminary work on various waterfront projects, Waterfront Toronto has invested approximately 30 percent of expenditures in the professional, scientific and technical services industries.

“Our investments to revitalize Toronto’s waterfront are delivering on the promise to support local, provincial and national economic development as well as to support the growth of key industry sectors,” said John Campbell. “While the economic returns already generated are solid, they will pale in comparison to the lasting benefits anticipated once the comprehensive vision for the waterfront is more fully realized.”

The study found that 95 per cent of all of Waterfront Toronto’s expenditures were made in Ontario, and nearly 90 per cent were made within Toronto.

All levels of government have also seen a return on their investments. As a result of waterfront renewal activity, new revenues worth approximately $180 million were generated for the Government of Canada, $124 million for the Government of Ontario and $20 million for the City of Toronto.

A second phase of analysis measuring the expected impacts of future investments and benefits once the waterfront plan is more fully realized (permanent jobs, property taxes and tourism spending), will be completed in the coming months.

The Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto created Waterfront Toronto to oversee and lead the renewal of Toronto’s waterfront. Public accessibility, design excellence, sustainable development, economic development and fiscal sustainability are the key drivers of waterfront revitalization.

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For more information:

Michelle Noble, Waterfront Toronto Director of Communications, 416-214-1344 ext. 263

Media Kit

News Release (pdf)
EIA Executive Summary (pdf)
Remarks by John Campbell (pdf)
Presentation by John Campbell (pdf)

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure George Smitherman, and Toronto Mayor David Miller, joined Waterfront Toronto and George Brown College officials in making the announcement.

“George Brown College will join Waterfront Toronto’s revitalization efforts and its new campus will be a cornerstone of the East Bayfront community,” said Mark Wilson, Waterfront Toronto Chairman.

The new campus, slated to open in 2011, will house the college’s Centre for Health Sciences, its first student residences and a recreational complex. The waterfront campus will be located on a 0.83 hectare (two-acre) parcel of land located on the south side of Queens Quay Boulevard between Lower Jarvis and Lower Sherbourne Streets.

“George Brown officials had been looking for the right location to expand its Centre for Health Sciences and residence for several years, and situating the new campus along the waterfront and in the process helping Waterfront Toronto regenerate the area was an easy decision,” said George Brown College President Anne Sado. “This new campus is fundamental to helping us better support the career aspirations of students across the GTA and meet employers’ growing demand for workplace-ready graduates. To be able to achieve those goals in a green community built with high design standards that provides fantastic parks and surrounding infrastructure will help us create the kind of campus neighbourhood we want our students to experience,” added Sado.

“George Brown students will help create a vibrant lakeshore community. East Bayfront will come alive with the student population living, working and socializing during the day, and in the evenings all year round,” said Wilson. “A post secondary institution is a cornerstone of Waterfront Toronto’s East Bayfront master plan and we are pleased to welcome a progressive institution like George Brown College,” added Wilson.

“Visible progress on the waterfront is becoming a reality. Today’s announcement about George Brown College is just one of many exciting developments taking root as we revitalize the lakeshore,” said Wilson.

Construction is well underway on Toronto Economic Development Corporation’s First Waterfront Place, the future home of Corus Entertainment Inc. which is also located in East Bayfront. Next month, Waterfront Toronto cuts the ribbon on the new Spadina Head of Slip, and this fall infrastructure construction begins in East Bayfront. In 2009, construction begins on two showcase new parks, Sherbourne Park and Sugar Beach as well as on the new water’s edge promenade.

Waterfront Toronto The Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto created Waterfront Toronto to oversee and lead the renewal of Toronto’s waterfront. Public accessibility, design excellence, sustainable development, economic development and fiscal sustainability are the key drivers of waterfront revitalization.

Media Contact:

Waterfront Toronto – Marisa Piattelli 416-214-1476

Media Kit

News Release (pdf)
East Bayfront Backgrounder (pdf)
Images (pdf)
George Brown College’s news release
Province of Ontario’s news release