Toronto celebrates start of construction of the new Etobicoke Civic Centre

The City of Toronto held a ground-breaking ceremony for the new Etobicoke Civic Centre at 3755 Bloor St. W. – a project that will mark the City’s first civic centre development in 50 years and lay the foundation for creating a community on City-owned lands at Etobicoke’s Bloor-Kipling precinct.

“The new Etobicoke Civic Centre is a landmark project that is part of a bigger vision to create a city centre in Toronto’s west end. I am excited to see this important development that allows residents to live, work and play in one place come to life and support our goal of getting our city back on track,” said Mayor Olivia Chow.

Designed as a state-of-the-art civic hub, the new $480-million Etobicoke Civic Centre will feature more than 508,000 square feet of accessible public-facing space. This includes municipal office towers, a podium-level multi-purpose council chamber, a child care centre, a new Toronto Public Library branch, a public health clinic for dental services and breastfeeding, a fully equipped recreation centre, ceremonial rooms, public meeting rooms, an art gallery and retail spaces, all leading out to an open civic square with a Sacred Fire Vessel. Two-level parking will be built within the more than 260,000 square feet below-grade space.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with the City of Toronto to create a space that fosters vibrant community engagement. We are excited to bring our expertise to the delivery phase, ensuring the successful realization of the New Etobicoke Civic Centre and its positive impact on the community,” said Mohammad Danesh, project director for Etobicoke Civic Centre, Multiplex Canada, the project’s general contractor.

Notably, the basement level of the new civic centre will house a district energy plant managed by Enwave Energy Corporation which will provide energy to the entire Bloor-Kipling precinct – making this Toronto’s first near-zero emissions community. The structure is targeting Toronto Green Standard (TGS) Version 3, Tier 4 and is aligned with the City’s TransformTO Net Zero Strategy to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto.

The new Etobicoke Civic Centre is located on ‘block 4’ of the City’s Bloor-Kipling Block Plan that enabled the reconfiguration of the former Six Points Interchange or ‘Spaghetti Junction’. The $77 million investment to decommission Six Points unlocked almost 18 acres of City-owned land that was parcelled into seven mixed-use redevelopment blocks connected by a network of streets.

“The City’s ambitious plan to reconfigure Six Points is now paying off in the form of a complete, sustainable community with the new Etobicoke Civic Centre at its heart. I congratulate City staff, our development partners and members of the public for coming together and supporting our collective goal of building Toronto’s first near-zero emissions community,” said Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie (Scarborough-Rouge Park), Chair of the Infrastructure and Environment Committee.

Once built, the new civic centre will be steps away from five Housing Now development blocks including 5207 Dundas Street West that broke ground in August 2023. These sites have been identified for additional rental housing development that will deliver at least 2,781 residential homes, 904 of which will be affordable rental homes.

The centrally located civic centre and surrounding housing sites will be flanked by more than 10,000 square metres of parkland and supported by existing and planned cycle lanes.
The foundational work to develop the new civic centre and broader Bloor-Kipling precinct was led by the City’s real-estate agency, CreateTO, which continues to oversee Housing Now sites in the area.

Featured image: (Adamson Associates Architects, Henning Larsen and PMA Landscape Architects)