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J U N E 2 0 2 4 | 65 Mirvish Village R EN D ER I N GS CO U RT E S Y H EN R I Q U EZ PA RT N ER S A RC H I T EC T S MIRVISH VILLAGE by ROBIN BRUNET L ong-time Toronto residents fondly remember Honest Ed's as being a place that for decades brought the community together with festivals, street parties, and food. Historically, the immediate surroundings were also home to an artists' colony and for Jewish, Italian, Portuguese, Jamaican, and other immigrants. When Westbank and Peterson purchased the site from the Mirvish family in 2013, they understood its importance. Over three years of plan- ning, they engaged upwards of 30,000 Torontonians on their proposal for the redevelopment of Honest Ed's into Mirvish Village (named after the store's founder, Ed Mirvish), work- ing with the community to ensure the Village would continue the site's legacy as a community hub. When designing the project, rather than create a single monolithic building, Westbank and Henriquez Partners Architects were inspired by the smaller floorplates so abundant in Tokyo and came up with a design integrating varying façade typologies, including low- and mid-rise build- ings and a series of micro-towers. The resulting project is of a fine grain character, conserving 24 heritage buildings across the 4.5-acre site and restoring two heritage facades, effec- tively creating narrow shop fronts at street level that form the character of the new buildings. Additionally, the project encom- passed the restoration of Markham Street as a pedestrian-focused thor- oughfare of boutiques, restaurants, and a new public park. When com- pleted, Mirvish Village, with nearly 900 rental homes, will be home to over 2,000 Torontonians – and will be designed to LEED Platinum ND stan- dards and Toronto Green Standard Tier 2 designations. With Henriquez as the master plan- ner responsible for creating the overall vision of Mirvish Village, Diamond Schmitt Architects was retained as the executive architects. "Also on board was ER A Architects who acted as our heri- tage architects, as well as Batay-Csorba Architects," says Diamond Schmitt principal Donald Schmitt, adding that the latter designed the 30,000-square- foot indoor/outdoor Mirvish Village Kitchen and Music Venue. "Westbank wanted this project to have a mix of different design strategies, in keeping with the complex's mixed-use vision." As the heritage consultant to the project, ER A undertook extensive research and prepared a multi-fac- eted heritage interpretation strategy, contributing to the overall goal of achieving balance between heritage conservation and renewal. Five buildings, ranging from eight to 28 floors, were dedicated to the residences (including 366 afford- able units) and incorporated into the Village tapestry, which Henriquez points out is infused with echoes of the past, "including the bazaar-like quality of Honest Ed's in the new Market, the narrow 19th and 20th cen- tury store frontages on Bathurst Street in the towers, and the theatrical- ity of Honest Ed's signage in the new alley." Adaptive re-use and landscap- ing also conserved the intimate scale of Markham Street and its turn of the 20th century buildings. Construction commenced on the residential and retail components in 2017, and soon five tower cranes dominated the site. Schmitt says of the challenges faced by Icon West Construction, "They had lots of lay- down areas but otherwise had to cope with the usual complexities, including co-ordinating work and deliveries in a tight urban setting. Also, many differ- ent cladding systems meant dealing with many, many trades, so everyone had to be at the top of their game." With sustainability in mind, a cen- tralized heating and cooling district energy system coupled with a 'behind- the-meter' micro-grid with combined heat-and-power (CHP) was designed. This system, designed and operated by Creative Energy to adhere to the Toronto Green Standards at the time of design, is climate resilient, grid resil- ient, and unlocks additional low-carbon solutions through electrification. Commercial tenants including Niagara College and an LCBO began moving into the Village in mid-2023 while construction continued, and the long pedestrian thoroughfare cut- ting through the eastern block of the site was finished enough for retailers to prepare setting up shop. The proj- ect's retail is now largely completed, save for the Markham Street Heritage Houses and the Kitchen Music and Food Hall. The park and landscap- ing elements, as well as the residential components remain under construc- tion, with expected completions to begin soon. Mirvish Village is considered a model for collaboration between the City, community, and developers as well as for taking an holistic approach to urban redevelopment. Westbank states that each one of the Village's components "could stand alone as precedent-setting for the City of Toronto, but together, they provide the building blocks for a project we hope sets the standard for city-building and lives up to the legacy of Ed Mirvish." A LOCATION 589 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ontario OWNER /DEVELOPER Westbank and Peterson ARCHITECT Henriquez Partners Architects EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT Diamond Schmitt Architects HERITAGE ARCHITECT ERA Architects KITCHEN AND MUSIC VENUE ARCHITECT Batay Csorba Architects CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Icon West Construction STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT Glotman Simpson MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Reinbold Engineering Group ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Nemetz (S/A) & Associates Ltd. L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Janet Rosenberg & Studios Inc. TOTAL SIZE 900,000 square feet TOTAL COST Undisclosed

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