Toronto turning parking lot to first new, large park in the area in 20 years

A parking lot between Adelaide and Richmond in downtown Toronto is set to become a new city park space.

The lot, located at 229 Richmond Street, is already owned by the City. This week, the CreateTO Board of Directors adopted a proposed Master Plan to redevelop it.

The City plans to build a 24,000 sq ft park with a new three-level, 144-space underground parking lot below it. According to City Councillor Joe Cressy, this will be the first new, large park in the King-Spadina area in 20 years.

“During this time, the King-Spadina community has grown from 230 residents to a projected 44,000 people, once current development is complete,” Cressy tweeted. “We clearly need more greenspace and parkland for people in our community.”

5 years ago I committed to turning a vacant parking lot into a new park for the growing downtown King-Spadina community. This morning I’m proud to join Mayor Tory, Deputy Mayor Bailão, and CreateTO to announce the next step in the revitalization of 260 Adelaide & 229 Richmond. pic.twitter.com/7AJ0A7UxnX

— Joe Cressy (@joe_cressy) May 14, 2021

The property next to the parking lot — an aging fire station at 260 Adelaide Street West — will also undergo a massive redevelopment. The City plans to relocate the fire station to a new state-of-the-art facility at Metro Hall and sell the Adelaide property to a developer.

The developer will then build a new high-rise residential building on the property with 456 market-rate units, 196 affordable units, and 10,000 sq ft of community space. And in exchange for zoning exemptions, the developer will also pay for the construction of the new park.

• See also:
• • Queen West KFC and sneaker store to be replaced by a new park
  • Tribunal quashes dreams of Toronto’s future Rail Deck Park

This announcement comes just a few days after the City’s plan to build Rail Deck Park, a 21-acre downtown park above a set of rail tracks, was quashed after a provincial tribunal sided with a developer looking to build a mixed-use community on the site.

According to a City staff report, the Adelaide fire station will be relocated in 2024, but no timeline for the construction of the park has yet been given.