Toronto proposal would replace local grocery store and huge parking lots

A major density boost could soon transform the area around Toronto’s Main and Danforth intersection, and another large-scale project has just been added to the pipeline for this area on the brink of transformation.

Developer First Capital has applied to redevelop its property at 2451 Danforth Avenue, a large site at the southeast corner of Danforth Avenue and Westlake Avenue, just west of Main Street.

Currently home to a Sobeys grocery store, the location is primed for a major intensification thanks to its proximity to both Main Street Station on the TTC’s Line 2-Bloor Danforth line, and Danforth Station on GO Transit’s Lakeshore East line.

First Capital has signed on architects Superkul to design a pair of mixed-use buildings rising 13 and 35 storeys, which would be connected by a two-storey podium housing new retail space.

The towers would add 620 residential units to the neighbourhood, including an affordable housing component.

A statement on the project’s website explains that “First Capital understands the need for affordable housing in the community and is proposing 13 affordable housing units.”

As for the current retail on site, shoppers relying on the current Sobeys location for their grocery needs can rest easy for the time being. The project team states that the grocery store “holds a long-term lease on the site, and it will be many years before redevelopment can occur.”

Though the development application may unnerve locals worried about their local grocer, the project website asserts that “a planning application is being submitted now to be prudent about the long-term future of the site.”

“For these reasons, it will be many years before redevelopment.”

Even through the eventual transformation, locals would potentially regain a community staple with the developer exploring an “opportunity for an urban-format grocery store space to enable a grocery operator to return to the site, while also allowing for smaller-scale retail units to increase the diversity of services onsite for the community.”

“We understand that a grocery store is a key service for the community at this location,” reads the project website, stressing that “the proposal is designed to provide ample space to allow a grocery store to return to the site with access to below-grade commercial parking.”

It remains to be determined which banner the new grocery store would operate under, with First Capital stating that it is “working to create a viable grocery store space as part of the redevelopment.”

“Given the early stage in the process, a specific operator will be determined later in the process.”

In addition to a replacement grocery store, the neighbourhood is also set to gain a privately-owned publicly accessible space at the east end of the site along Danforth Avenue. 

According to the project team, this still-in-development spot “may include a patio area associated with the at-grade retail that will wrap around the north and east sides of the building and help to activate the space,” but notes that its “design and programming will be refined and determined throughout the process.”