The Foundry Buildings can be retained and the site intensively developed. That’s good city building.

The Foundry site on Toronto’s West Don Lands is a key parcel of land in a rapidly developing area of the city. This precinct is already demonstrating how bold, progressive, sustainable and inclusive city building can transform our urban environment.

We at Urban Strategies, along with our colleagues at N. Barry Lyon Consultants (NBLC), believe that the Foundry site provides an opportunity to achieve multiple objectives. We put forward several potential design solutions as a contribution to the passionate dialogue already taking place.

Melanie Hare, FCIP, RPP, Partner with Urban Strategies and former Vice-Chair, Ontario Heritage Trust states, “We strongly feel that the conservation and adaptive re-use of the Foundry’s key heritage components are possible, while achieving amenity-rich, complete community objectives and ambitious intensification. We also believe that the affordable housing targets set by the Province can be met, and even exceeded given the scale of development permitted by the Ministerial Zoning Order.”

In fact, conserving the important heritage components of the Foundry site is not only compatible with future development, it will also enhance the tangible place-making and market value for the site. “Condominium buildings that can express a unique sense of identity through the integration of heritage features not only create more interesting neighbourhoods, but have shown to generate above-average sale values,” states Mark Conway, President & Senior Partner, NBLC.

It is our hope that these site concepts — developed independently by our team of Urban Designers, Planners, and Land Economists — will contribute to a meaningful dialogue among community stakeholders, elected officials, investors and government decision-makers about the future of this important asset. Cities are complicated places, and they benefit from complex solutions.

Download the concept booklet.

For more information, please contact Melanie Hare.