Graywood Developments is kicking off a mixed-use project along St Clair West aimed at rejuvenating the area linking the Stockyards to Corso Italia. Development director Adidharma Purnomo tells us more.
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We snapped Adi at 1771 St Clair W, where in a few weeks his firm—which built Toronto’s Ritz-Carlton and Five St Joseph—launches SCOOP, a 72-unit condo that’s the first phase of a 300k SF development spanning several blocks along a stretch they've dubbed West St Clair West. The mid-rise community will ultimately include 300-plus residential units and 20k SF of ground-floor retail on a streetcar line—precisely the sort of development the city wants to see in spots like these, notes Adi. “This will be a model for how avenues along transit lines can be developed.”
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Graywood knows the area well, having years ago built a townhouse project nearby, St Clair Gardens. The private investment management firm acquired the SCOOP site, currently occupied by a car dealership, last year. Adi says his team loved that the property backs onto a residential neighbourhood, and notes SCOOP and the development's other buildings will step down to three storeys to respect the existing community. But the St Clair West frontage could use new energy. “This project will transform the area," he says, "by bringing it the density and retail it needs.”
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SCOOP is six storeys, but Graywood will consider going higher with subsequent buildings as the development moves westward (a Cash Money store stands in the way of the project reaching all the way to Old Weston Road.) The 3,500 SF of retail space at SCOOP is well-suited for a coffee shop, eatery or bookstore, but Adi says future phases will have a more substantial commercial component, ideally a grocery or drug store to serve the broader community (RioCan’s The Stockyards, above, is down the road). “The site is under-used right now. So this retail space will bring new excitement.”
Adi's plate is full these days. Graywood is seeking approval for a mixed-use project at Peter and Adelaide Streets, with plans for a 40k SF retail podium. “It’ll help make it a 24-7 neighbourhood,” says Adi, previously a development manager for Concord Adex, who guided the proposal for CityPlace’s tallest towers (above). Graywood is also planning a 260-unit mid-rise at 250 Lawrence Ave W, just east of Avenue Road. Given the dizzying cost of detached homes in the posh locale ($2M-plus), Adi anticipates the project, backing onto Pusateri’s Fine Foods, will attract loads of interest. “This gives more people access to a great area.”
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