Feb. 11, 2014 was an exciting day, not only for Tridel, Toronto Community Housing (TCH), and the Atkinson Housing Co-operative, but for the entire City of Toronto. Demolition for Phase 1 of the Alexandra Park revitalization in Toronto commenced!

Dianne Williams, Vice-President of Atkinson Housing Co-operative

The story of Alexandra Park

The Alexandra Park neighbourhood is bordered by Queen Street West to the south, Cameron Street at the east, Dundas to the north, and Augusta Avenue on the west. Between 1968 and the 1980s, this 18-acre neighbourhood was developed as public housing managed by the province, and other units were managed by the City of Toronto. In 1998, the province converted a good chunk of Alexandra Park to Atkinson Housing, who has since been managing 410 townhome units in the neighbourhood. The TCH currently manages another 396 units.

Bricks from the old townhomes were gifted to many long-standing residents of Alexandra Park.

Dianne Williams, Vice-President of Atkinson Housing, has lived in Alexandra Park for over 20 years, and she had a few words to say on this momentous day: “We are very excited to see the start of our shared vision for our community. This revitalization will bring quality homes and a brand new community centre that will serve the needs of the community and the surrounding area. Most importantly, revitalization will also provide the chance for everyone to benefit from employment, training and other social opportunities here in the community.”

President and CEO of TCH, Gene Jones said,“Through this first-of-its-kind partnership with an independent housing co-operative, and with the support of our amazing residents, we are bringing our proven revitalization process to Alexandra Park. This approach to city building is truly a win-win-win. Our residents get new housing and improved infrastructure. The neighbourhood gets new amenities, new services, and new vitality. And the city gets world-class urban development.”

Steve Upton, Vice-President of Planning & Development at Tridel

The future of Alexandra Park

The beginning of Phase 1 involves the demolition of a few townhomes. Tridel, TCH, and Atkinson Housing will be building 61 Rent-Geared-to-Income townhome units and two market condos, the first of which is called SQ and is over 50% sold!

“This company [Tridel] has been in existence for about 80 years and in those 80 years, it’s probably seen over 80,000 units built for various communities and lifestyles, from young families to seniors,” said Steve Upton, Vice-President of Planning & Development at Tridel. Upton continued, explaining that Alexandra Park is an opportunity to build high quality affordable housing, making the dream of homeownership easier to achieve.

“As a residential community, it [the Alexandra Park development] has the power not only to revitalize the urban landscape, but also the lives of people who live here. It means a lot to them to be able to see buildings knocked down, new lifestyles start, and new communities start to grow.”

What else can you expect at Alexandra Park?

Phase 1 of Alexandra Park will take approximately five years to complete, and the whole revitalization will take an estimated 15 years. It may sound like a long time, but there’s a lot coming!

When the Alexandra Park revitalization is finished, the neighbourhood will feature 473 refurbished rental units, 333 new replacement rental units, and 1,540 private market condo units.

As for amenities, a new park will be built, the existing community centre will be expanded, there will be additional retail space, new and improved pedestrian access, and new connection streets to improve east-west traffic.

We think we speak for everyone in the City of Toronto when we say we are very excited to watch Alexandra Park develop over the coming decade. Demolition is just the beginning; we should see shovels in the ground soon!