EllisDon Developments will launch sales for a four-building, mixed-use condominium community called Arcadia District in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke in October.

Arcadia District is located at 56-60 Fieldway Rd., just south of Bloor Street West and between the Kipling and Islington Toronto Transit Commission subway stops. It’s also within walking distance of the Kipling GO Transit station.

“When you look at the urban growth centres that have been designated by the province, the price per square foot of being able to buy into these areas is exceptionally high across the city,” EllisDon Developments vice-president Chris Smith told RENX.
 
“This was the one node where it's comparatively affordable to the rest of the city and where you actually have a true multimodal transit hub built.”

Smith noted there have been approximately 35 development applications put forth for within a few kilometres of Arcadia District, largely because of its access to public transit and proximity to Highway 427, the Gardiner Expressway, the Queen Elizabeth Way and Toronto Pearson Airport.

Acquisition of the site

The site — currently composed of low-rise commercial buildings occupied by United Car & Truck Rental, R&F Painting, Auto Loan Solutions, Humberview Wholesale, Humberview Trucks, parking and a rail corridor — was acquired a year ago for $117.28 million from Stowe Holdings Ltd. and Mountsfield Properties Inc.

The previous owner had put forth a development application before taking the site to market.

EllisDon Developments has since refined the design and has been moving the project through the planning and approvals process, which Smith said should be wrapped up shortly.

Windsor Private Capital is EllisDon Developments’ investment partner in Arcadia District.

The Toronto-based merchant banking firm, along with its affiliates, advises and manages more than $3 billion on behalf of institutional and high-net-worth investors.

“We have a long-standing relationship with one of the partners there who had originally been at Fengate,” Smith said.

“Fengate and EllisDon Capital have a long and storied history over the last 20 years of building great projects together.

“When he moved over from Fengate to Windsor, we had the conversation around what they need and what we could need for growing our different groups, and it's been a great partnership.”

Arcadia District

Arcadia District will have BDP Quadrangle-designed buildings of 12, 23, 34 and 42 storeys with a combined 1,340 condo units ranging from studios to three-bedroom suites.

The unit mix, sizes and prices are still being worked on, according to Smith.

All units will come equipped with high-end SMEG appliances – while none will have laminate floors. 

“The base package of what you're going to be getting here is going to be what would be considered an upgrade or premium for a lot of the different components,” Smith said.  

Arcadia District’s amenities will include a 4,000-square-foot gym, a 4,500-square-foot co-working space, a spa, a children’s play room, indoor and outdoor dining and party areas, an outdoor infinity pool and hot tub, a 26,000-square-foot park, bicycle storage space for each unit, and underground parking.

There will also be a day-care centre for 70 children and about 14,000 square feet of retail space in the complex.

Sales will launch in October

The 34-storey tower will be the first to go on sale in October and the rest of the property will follow according to how quickly units are sold.

The first building should be ready for occupancy by late 2027 or early 2028.

“We're a construction company at heart, so we know the efficiencies that can come with building a site of this size and magnitude at once, so that of course would be our preference,” said Smith. 

“But all of these projects are determined by the sales process and the success of sales.” 

The EllisDon structure

EllisDon is a construction services company created in 1951 that now has some 4,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of approximately $5 billion.

EllisDon Developments evolved from EllisDon Capital, an EllisDon division that has delivered 56 public-private partnership projects over the past 20 years.

EllisDon Developments was established to provide turnkey development solutions for a variety of projects, including residential condos, purpose-built rentals, mixed-use and commercial developments.

“We realized that we could really enhance the alignment of interests with our clients by being next to them in the development box,” Smith said.

Thirty Six Zorra was first project

EllisDon Developments’ first non-public-private partnership was Thirty Six Zorra, a 36-storey, 459-unit condo and townhouse development built with Altree Developments south of The Queensway, between Kipling and Islington.

Occupancy for Thirty Six Zorra has begun and will continue through to the end of the year.

Smith said people should expect to see EllisDon Developments’ name come up as a partner alongside some of the Greater Toronto Area’s bigger developers over the next couple of years.

“Our mandate is to support our clients wherever it is they need us,” he observed.

“So if projects were to come down the pipeline with them that ended up not being multires, and they wanted to have a development partner next to them on it, we would support them on it. 

“But as everybody knows, the housing issue and affordability issue in Canada, and the GTA specifically, is where a lot of focus is being put right now. So that's been a big driver of where our focus has been.”