Oxford Properties to Build $3.5B Mixed-Use Project in Toronto
The 4.3 million-square-foot development, dubbed Union Park, will rise in the heart of Toronto and will be the largest project of its kind in the city’s history.
Oxford Properties Group has unveiled its vision for a sprawling, $3.5 billion development in Toronto that would be the largest mixed-use project in the city’s history. Dubbed Union Park, the 4-acre site will total 4.3 million square feet of office space, residential housing and retail. The development also has the potential to include a 2-acre urban park.
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The plan by Oxford—the global real estate arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS—will consist of approximately 800 rental apartments, 3.3 million square feet of office space spread across two towers and 200,000 square feet of retail that will include food and beverage options. The project is being designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the firm known for projects like the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco and the International Finance Center in Hong Kong.
A host of offerings
Though still in the early stages of planning, Oxford released details on the residential and commercial aspects of the project. The residential portion of the development will offer a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments across a 44-story and a 54-story tower, as well as a day-care center within the properties. The office portion of the project will comprise two buildings—one 48-story and one 58-story tower—that will house 1.5 million and 1.8 million square feet of office space, respectively. Oxford will seek to have the project certified LEED Platinum or better.
Developers of Union Park hope to build a 2-acre park over the Union Station rail corridor, which runs between Blue Jays Way and the John Street Bridge downtown. The project will need city approval to go forward but Oxford said in its Union Park announcement that the firm has begun the public engagement process and will be working with key stakeholders in order to get the green light for the park.
Making history
Oxford’s unveiling of its Union Park plan comes on the heels of the firm selling a major office asset in Montreal to Bentall Kennedy. Last month, Oxford and its co-owner, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, sold 1250 René-Lévesque, a 1 million-square-foot office tower in downtown Montreal.
Earlier this year, Oxford and the Related Cos. officially opened Hudson Yards, the largest private real estate development in U.S. history, on the far west side of New York City. The 28-acre site, which will include more than 18 million square feet of commercial, residential and retail space, had been in the works for nearly a decade.
