Galleria Mall Redevelopment
Toronto

Date: 2002-2004
Partner-in-charge: Laurie McPherson, Robert Glover

The Galleria Mall was developed in the early 1970s at the southwest corner at Dufferin Street and Dupont Avenue, on the edge of an existing residential neighbourhood and facing an obsolete industrial area.  In 2002, Marca Development Corporation, the owners of the Galleria Mall property, filed applications to permit a mixed-use redevelopment consisting of 1,610 residential units in six buildings ranging from 7 to 20 storeys in height.  The City Planning Department recommended that the applications be refused in their original form and that they be revised to address issues related to height, urban design and phasing.

As a result, Bousfields was retained in late 2002 to carry out a planning and urban design study for the phased redevelopment of the site as a residential and mixed-use community.  Working with the project team (including Quadrangle Architects) and community representatives, Bousfields developed an urban design plan capable of phased implementation which would increase the size and public accessibility of an adjacent public park, create a street and block plan to integrate the site into the larger community, and introduce a pattern of built form compatible with the existing neighbourhood including low-rise, mid-rise and higher-rise forms of development. 

The amendments to the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment were adopted by the City in July 2004 with community support.  As approved, the plan provides for up to 1,600 residential units, including townhouses, 6 to 8-storey mid-rise buildings, two terraced buildings of up to 15 storeys and a 19-storey landmark building.