The East Harbour transit hub will be built in the rail corridor just off Broadview and Eastern Avenues. It will support the Lakeshore East / Stouffville GO Lines, the new Ontario Line subway and future TTC streetcars. It will also include ten million square feet of office space, four thousand residential units, and three and a half acres of public park space, retail and open space. Completion is projected for 2028.
The CDNA is in frequent communication with Metrolinx in order to provide community guidance and perspectives as plans unfold.
Why It’s Important
This Ontario Line station will be our nearest connection to the TTC/Ontario Line transit as well as GO trains. Unfortunately there is no plan to allow pedestrians or cyclists to get there directly via a bridge over the lower Don River: we will have to walk up to Queen Street and cross there. This seems like a huge oversight and we are in talks with Metrolinx and the City about it.
The development also includes a millions of square feet of office space as well as an estimated 4,000 homes, bringing thousands of workers and residents into the area next door.
The Story
In 2014 City of Toronto planners began looking at how to use existing rail lines passing to the south of Canary District for a new transit line from Union Station Danforth Avenue. East Harbour, a site near the closed-down Unilever Soap Factory, would be used for one of the stations, with the surrounding area redeveloped to provide housing and office space.
In April 2019, the province announced the Ontario Line, replacing the city's plans. The notion of a station and development at East Harbour has been retained and developed further. They are promoting it as the "Union Station of the East", connecting commuters to local transit as well as to the GO system.
Construction on the section of Ontario Line nearest us began in 2023 with track improvements, including replacement of the railway bridge over Eastern Avenue with a wider bridge in order to handle the six tracks to pass through the station. Completion date is unclear, although completion of Ontario Line as a whole is estimated to be 2031.
What You Can Do
- Learn about the East Harbour development at Metrolinx and at Urban Toronto.
- Stay in touch with us by newsletter and social media to stay abreast of developments.
- Be prepared to contact Metrolinx and/or Infrastructure Ontario if need be to give feedback on the development.