Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf Group have been selected to negotiate with Waterfront Toronto to develop the downtown Quayside property. (Courtesy Waterfront Toronto)

A joint venture of Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf Group has been selected to negotiate with Waterfront Toronto to develop the high-profile Quayside site in downtown Toronto.

In an announcement Tuesday afternoon, Waterfront Ontario said the two firms, to be known as the Quayside Impact Limited Partnership, were chosen among four finalists for the development.

The 12-acre site at the foot of Parliament Street and Lake Shore Boulevard East was formerly the site of docks and industrial buildings.

Among the highlights of the submission from Dream and Great Gulf are proposals to create a 3.4-million-square-foot project with five towers plus one of Canada’s largest residential mass timber buildings, over 800 affordable housing units with many delivered in the earliest stages of the project and a commitment to make the site the first all-electric master-planned, net-zero community.

The proposal also includes a two-acre forested greenspace, an urban farm atop the mass timber building, and a community care hub offering a range of programs and services to support aging-in-place, recreation and wellness for residents.

“Perfect development . . . perfect time”

“The opportunity to develop Quayside with Waterfront Toronto is the perfect development at the perfect time,” said Michael Cooper, chair of the Quayside Impact Limited Partnership and the chief responsible officer of Dream, in the announcement. “Dream and Great Gulf regard our activities in real estate as a canvas on which we can make our communities more inclusive, sustainable and healthier.

“With Quayside, Waterfront Toronto has created the greatest opportunity for impact development in the country and we believe that the partnership is ideally suited to deliver on this opportunity.”

An illustration of the Toronto Quayside property. Building designs and heights are preliminary and have yet to receive approvals. (Courtesy Waterfront Toronto)

Waterfront Toronto and Quayside Impact Limited Partnership will now negotiate a project agreement. Negotiations are expected to be completed by fall 2022, at which time more information is expected to be available about the the development plans,

Quayside Impact Limited Partnership also includes Adjaye Associates, Alison Brooks Architects and Henning Larsen as lead architects.

Sidewalk Labs plan fell through

Waterfront Toronto has been working to create a new vision for the site since Google subsidiary Sidewalk Labs dropped its plans for a major tech-based sustainable development on the site about two years ago.

“Today we take an important next step in unlocking the full potential of the city’s waterfront. Dream Unlimited and Great Gulf together with their team of architects and local partners have a strong proposal to make Quayside and Toronto’s waterfront among the best in the world,” said Jack Winberg, chair of Waterfront Toronto’s Investment and Real Estate Committee (IREC), in the release.

“As we begin negotiations on a project agreement, we are more confident than ever in the transformative power of the Quayside project to the economic and social recovery of Toronto, Ontario and Canada.”

Other finalists involved in the process were:

– Hines Canada with Tridel Builders, and architects Fosters + Partners;

– Developers Kilmer, Mattamy and Tricon with architects MVRDV and Cobe; and

– The Daniels Corp. and Hullmark Developments, with Diamond Schmitt Architects.