The Madison, a 700-unit, two-tower mixed-use condo complex going up on Eglinton Avenue just east of Yonge Street, promises to enliven this tired stretch—and just in time for the new Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

Madison Group principal Miguel Singer, whom we snapped on site, tells us the project—with two floors of retail, including a 40k SF Loblaws and a 7,500 SF LCBO at ground level—is already spurring a rejuvenation of Eglinton East. Miguel, whose firm owns the building across the street, 90 Eglinton, points to the recent addition of a Fresh eatery there—evidence of the “continuous changes you’re going to see up and down Eglinton over the next few years." That doesn’t mean the smaller retailers will disappear, he insists. "They’ll get retrofitted and upscaled a bit."

The Madison is being built on the site where the York Theatre once stood. Miguel recalls how the theatre was an anchor for Eglinton East, generating pedestrian traffic on evenings and weekends. When the theatre closed down, he says, “there was a bit of a vacuum” in the area. Miguel's hope is that The Madison—with its injection of 60k SF of retail space and hundreds of new residents—will become a new anchor, particularly with the opening of the LRT line. “With the appropriate new mix of retail, we believe Eglinton east of Yonge could become something special again.”

Designed by Kirkor Architects—the firm behind high-profile mixed-use projects like the TIFF Bell Lightbox/Festival Tower, and Hullmark Centre at Yonge and Sheppard—The Madison occupies an entire block of Eglinton between Dunfield Avenue and Lillian Street. The tower on the Dunfield side will be 36 storeys; the one facing Lillian will be 33 floors, and there'll be a commercial parking lot under the first floor. Miguel says he'll be bringing the final 7,500 SF ground-floor retail space to market in the new year. “We held off until the glass goes in, so future retailers can see the type of new product we’re offering."