A Toronto developer is looking to remodel the 900-block of Yates Street and half of the 1000-block of Yates Street.
The plaza on site, known as the Harris Green Village, currently includes The Market on Yates, London Drugs, Frontrunners, Bosely’s, Bin 4 Burger lounge, and a dozen other businesses. The section on the 1000-block currently hosts the Harris Victoria Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep lot.
Starlight Investments has eyed the Yates Street area for years, purchasing Harris Green Village in 2016, and the 1000-block area in early 2019.
“We recognize that it’s an important area of the city, and more or less a gateway to the rest of the downtown,” said Mark Chemij, senior development manager at Starlight Investments.
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The 900-block and the 1000-block portions are separated by a residential property, which affords Starlight the ability to treat each site “holistically.”
Chemij said that while no solid plans are in place, there will be a focus on building a mixed-use development including “high-quality, purpose-built” rental units.
“We want to start a robust public engagement process,” Chemij said. “We really want to have that information to help us make our plans for the future rezoning applications.”
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It’s too early to tell whether all the businesses will stay, Chemji said, but Starlight has been in communication with current tenants and hopes to work together with them as plans take form.
“We are very excited about a potential re-development of the Harris Green Village,” said Darryl Hein, store manager for the Market on Yates. “We haven’t decided (with Starlight Investments) where exactly in the village we will be located, but we will definitely located somewhere in the village.”
Starlight Investments is hosting a series of open houses to gather public input for the sites. The first meeting is on Thursday, June 13 from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m., with a second meeting on Saturday June 15 from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. Both meetings will be at the Chapel of the New Jerusalem at the Christ Church Cathedral at 930 Burdett Ave.
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