It’s been around a decade since plans were put in motion for Grand Park Village: a multi-block, mixed-use community proposed for 2 and 10 Audley Street and 29, 31, 39, 59, and 71 Portland Street. The series of addresses are a five-minute walk from Mimico GO, which has drawn plenty of development focus in recent years. (Think: Grand Central Mimico, which was at one point on track to be Ontario’s first transit-oriented community.)
The most recent iteration of the plans come from Minto Communities and call for 42-, 54-, 52-, 39-, and 34-storey towers that would sit in a triangular cluster around an interior courtyard, the GO Transit Rail Corridor running past the south side of the site. True to its name, the community is set to be a contemporary urban village that’s not only a hub for residents, but draws in the public with new retail, daycare, roads, and parkland dedication occupying around 10% of the site.
A total of 2,631 units — all rental in tenure — are planned across the five towers, including 281 studios, 1,417 one-bedrooms, 669 two-bedrooms, and 264 three-bedrooms. Given the proximity to high-order transit, the development would include just 415 parking spaces, with 329 reserved for residents. The number of proposed bicycle spaces is more than double the share of parking spots, at 994, and will be disbursed across all five buildings.
The drawings prepared by Wallman Architects show “Building A” with a six-storey podium, located at the northwest corner of the site fronting Audley and Portland streets. “Building B” has an eight-storey podium and is located to the south fronting Audley Street. “Building C” is situated mid-block at the southern end of the site fronting Newcastle Street. Finally, buildings D and E share a five-storey podium, with the former located mid-block at the northern end of the site fronting Portland Street and the latter at the northeast corner of the site fronting Audley and Portland streets.
View from interior courtyard looking south/Wallman Architects
The plans for the Mimico site have been through a few iterations over the years, and it was only in 2022 that Minto acquired the properties for around $129 million from Freed Developments, operating under Freed Grand Park Development Inc.
Freed’s original proposal from 2016 was also for five buildings, although they were considerably smaller — “six- to eight-storey elements along Portland Street, 12-storey elements located internal to the subject site and along Audley Street and the southern property boundary, and four high-rise residential condominiums located along the southern portion of the site, with heights of 16, 23, 25 and 32 storeys,” according to Freed’s planning report. A total of 1,824 units were proposed, all condo in tenure.
In 2022, the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) brought the Mimico-Judson Secondary Plan into force, shifting the area’s designation from ‘employment’ to ‘regeneration.’ Mimico also became a Protected Major Transit Station Area (PMTSA) last summer, which is helping to pave the way for more height and density. Directly west of the site, there are a dozen City Council-approved projects with heights ranging from 10 to 42 storeys. That includes a 39-, 39-, and 49-storey development at 39 Newcastle Street and a pair of 43-storey towers at 327 Royal York Road. Both were parcels in Vandyk Properties’ Grand Central Mimico project that was supposed to be central to Mimico’s TOC.
Goldberg Group
