Projects

625 Church

Honouring the past to meet the needs of a modern community.

The ask: to redevelop the site with new housing, office, retail and open space uses while conserving elevations of the existing “Traders Building”, which was constructed in 1956.

Website
625church.com
Collaborators
RAW Architects
ERA Architects
Colliers Strategy and Consulting
Sussex Strategy Group
The Planning Partnership
Client
Manulife Investment Management
Location
625 Church Street, Toronto

Tags:

  • Community Engagement
  • Planning
  • Urban Design

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Team Members

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Partner

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The Challenge

We were challenged to intensify the site while retaining and integrating the heritage designated Traders building, replacing all of the existing office GFA, improving the public realm, and diversifying the existing housing stock in the Downtown.

Our Solution

The project team was committed to active community stakeholder engagement both prior to a formal application and during the application review process. 

These meetings together with a collaborative approach with City staff resulted in a project that fulfilled the needs of the community and met the overarching policy and guideline framework of the City.

The Outcome

Our multidisciplinary project team led the approvals of a highly desirable transit-oriented development in the heart of Toronto’s downtown.

The result was a highly articulated 56-storey mixed-use tower consisting of purpose built rental units in Toronto’s Downtown Core, full replacement of existing office uses within the retained Trader’s Building and within a modern extension to its east, active ground floor retail uses which framed a new POPS (Privately Owned Publicly Accessible Space) at the south end of the site, and the creation of a new north-south pedestrian connection through the site, linking an informal pedestrian network running parallel to Church Street.

625 Church

Manulife Investment Management

Address: 625 Church Street, Toronto

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Tyler Grinyer

Partner

Planning
416-947-9744x246
tgrinyer@bousfields.ca

Tyler is a Registered Professional Planner and a Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, having joined Bousfields Inc. in 2014 and becoming a Partner in 2018. Since joining the firm, Tyler has successfully led the planning approvals for a wide variety of projects including high-rise residential/mixed-use developments, low-rise residential infill projects, and large-scale master planned communities. Tyler also provides expert evidence at the OLT and TLAB.

In addition to Tyler’s experience at Bousfields Inc., Tyler has assisted in teaching an urban planning studio course at Ryerson University for the past 4 years and brings with him international development experience through his work with Habitat for Humanity in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, providing site planning and project management services for the development of low-income housing.

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Projects Include:

625 Church

Honouring the past to meet the needs of a modern community.

Mike Dror

Partner

Planning
416-947-9744x241
mdror@bousfields.ca

Mike provides planning services in support of private and public sector projects across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, in Eastern Ontario and in Northern Canada. He is currently involved in a wide range of projects throughout the GTA and beyond, helping manage complex development applications, preparing Planning and Urban Design Rationale reports and other associated studies, and preparing evidence for Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) and Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB) hearings. 

Mike also has experience with expropriation, arbitration and land acquisition and sale matters, and regularly prepares highest and best use studies to help Bousfields’ clients understand the value of land.

Mike holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and a Master of Planning from Queen’s University, and is a Full Member of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) and the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP). Mike is also a passionate volunteer, having previously served on CIP’s Honours & Awards Committee and having mentored up and coming planners through the OPPI, the University of Toronto’s Innis Alumni Mentorship Program, and the Mentorship Initiative for Indigenous and Planners of Colour.

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Projects Include:

625 Church

Honouring the past to meet the needs of a modern community.