Toronto supermarket would be demolished for sculptural condo tower

An evolving plan to redevelop a Metro grocery store on Toronto’s Bloor Street West appears to be moving closer to reality.

The Metro location at 425 Bloor Street West is destined to be demolished in the near future, threatening to become just the latest commercial casualty in the city’s unquenchable thirst for housing.

First proposed in October 2022, the project underwent a series of revisions ahead of a December 2023 resubmission and was resubmitted yet again, most recently in September 2024, with additional revisions.

Metro confirmed to blogTO back in 2022 that the property had been conditionally sold to a seasoned condo developer, and the project is now listed as being led by the team of The Brown Group of Companies, Andrin Homes, Lakeview Homes and Streetwise Properties.

Existing Metro location at 425 Bloor Street West. Photo via Google Street View.

As with the 2022 and 2023 versions, the current proposal before City planners would rise 30 storeys and feature prominent arch patterns at its base with a design by architects Arcadis.

The current plan would rise to a height of 104.8 metres, unchanged from the 2023 tower height and marking a slight increase of 1.3 metres taller than the initial proposal from two years ago.

Despite the height of the tower having remained more or less the same, the unit count has actually decreased from the previous versions of the plan. The current plan now calls for 407 condominium units (reduced from 418 units in 2022 and 446 units in 2023). However, a provision to include knock-out panels in walls would boost this figure to a slightly increased total of 451 units.

A minimal parking component of just 60 spaces is proposed for the site, as the majority of building residents would be expected to make use of Spadina Station serving the Line 1 and Line 2 subways, the 510 Spadina streetcar line and a sizeable bike parking component of 507 spaces.

While the Metro location would be lost to the redevelopment, the project is set to include an approximately 528 square metre/5,680 square-foot retail space fronting Bloor Street West, though it appears that the grocery brand will be moving its operations off-site and not setting up shop within the new development.

A website for the project confirms that a new store will replace this location nearby, explaining that “the existing Metro supermarket located at 425 Bloor St. W. will remain open until its new location at 350 Bloor St. W. is ready to open to the public.”