Proposal for northwest corner of Queen and Lee calls for six-storey residential building and new, larger grocery store
By ALAN SHACKLETON
A proposal to build a six-storey residential building at an iconic corner on Queen Street East in the Beach has captured the attention of the community.
The plan will see the northwest corner of Lee Avenue and Queen Street East transformed from what is now the Beach Foodland grocery store and four other two-storey buildings to the west into a six-storey 60-unit residential building. The proposal includes the address 2026, 2028, 2030, 2032-2038 and 2040 Queen St. E.
In the proposal, the grocery store will be returned to the site at street level and almost triple it from its current size, though it is not known at this time whether that new grocery store will operate under the Foodland banner.
The 2040 Queen East proposal is being put forward by current property owner Sobey’s Inc. grocery chain (which owns Foodland), and Crombie REIT which is a Canadian real estate investment trust.
According to information on the 2040 Queen East website, at https://2040queeneast.ca/ , the vision for the proposal is to “build a larger, modernized grocery store and introduce new housing units to meet the growing needs of the neighbourhood”.
“The expanded grocery store footprint will allow for more selection, improve the overall shopping experience, and provide more employment opportunities on site. We’re proposing a mid-rise building that complements the existing character of The Beaches: a six-storey mixed-use building that would include 60 new residential units and 1,140 square metres of retail grocery space,” said the website.
Given the location is in what is considered to be the “heart” of the Beach since it is across the street from Kew Gardens park, The Beaches Branch Library and the historic former bank building from 1911 that is now home to a Coles book store, there is a lot of community interest in this proposal and the impact it will have.
Both Sobey’s/Crombie REIT, and Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford are promising there will be significant opportunities for concerned residents to have input on the proposal.
However, Bradford said the formal community consultation process can only begin once the rezoning application for the project has been officially “received” by the City of Toronto, and as of Feb. 1 it was not appearing on the Toronto Application Information Centre website.
A spokesperson for Crombie REIT told Beach Metro Community News this week that the application was submitted to the city in late December “and is currently being processed for intake”.
“The application is not available yet on the city’s Application Information Centre, however our project website, 2040queeneast.ca, was recently launched to begin sharing information and gather feedback from the community early in the process,” said Elizabeth Engram, Senior Manager, Marketing & Public Relations Crombie REIT.
Bradford said residents can expect a community meeting on the proposal in the near future.
“The moment that the City receives a formal application for this address, my team will work to urgently schedule a community meeting to discuss the proposal,” Bradford told Beach Metro Community News.
“That’s a critical piece of what will be an extensive review process because it allows neighbours to hear directly from our City Planning division on what is being proposed and for them to gather feedback from the community. It’s also an opportunity for neighbours to hear directly from the applicant – and for the applicant to hear directly from them.”
On its website, 2040 Queen East also said community input will be part of the planning process for the redevelopment.
“We anticipate that the City of Toronto will host a community consultation meeting in Spring 2024. Community members that live within a 120-metre radius of the site will receive an invitation from the City of Toronto in the mail. In the meantime, continue to check here for updated information and send us your questions or comments. We welcome your feedback,” said the website.
The 2040 Queen East website makes a point of letting residents know that the proposal follows the Queen Street East Urban Design Guidelines (UDG) for the Beach.
One of those guidelines is a maximum of six-storeys for buildings along Queen Street East between Coxwell Avenue and Nursewood Road. Adopted in 2012, the Queen Street East UDG also calls for “strong vertical and horizontal” elements in mid-rise buildings to avoid the appearance of a six-storey “glass window or window walls” coming up from the sidewalk. For more on the Queen Street East UDG, please go to https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-51604.pdf
This architect’s drawing of the proposed building shows the east side facing Lee Avenue, with angular planes highlighting how the building will slope back from Queen Street East at the left of the image frame.
The architect’s image shows how the south side of the proposed building facing Queen Street East will look.
Bradford said those guidelines and how they are being followed will be part of the city’s review of the proposal for Queen and Lee.
“Once the application has been processed, City Planning will assign a dedicated city planner to review the application with an eye for ensuring that the proposal conforms with the City’s Official Plan and that it meets the intent of the Queen Street East Urban Design Guidelines,” he said. “As both a local councillor and an urban planner by training, I want to see high quality applications that add more housing options while delivering benefits for the local community.”
According to the 2040 Queen East website, the proposal’s 60 residential units will be made up of one, two and three bedroom designs. At this point in time none of the units are being considered as affordable housing.
“Affordable units aren’t required on a site of this size, and none are proposed at this time,” said the website. “The tenure of these units will likely be condominium and will be determined later in the process.”
The buildings on the northwest corner of Queen and Lee have a long history, and the site of the Foodland store has been an IGA and also a Kresge’s department store. The Foodland store building, right at the corner at 2040 Queen St. E., has a long run of wall heading north on Lee Avenue that is the site of a colourful mural depicting the Beach area.
Originally a Kresge’s, the building has been on the corner since 1932. It is believed to have been designed by architect Garnett Andrew McElroy, who designed a number of Kresge stores in Toronto at that time. Robert Hill, editor of the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada (BDAC), said it is “highly likely” that McElroy designed the Queen and Lee store for the S.S. Kresge Company Limited.
While the Foodland building has a long history it is not listed on the City of Toronto’s Heritage Register, nor are any of the other buildings included in the 2040 Queen East proposal.
However, along with the popular mural the grocery store also has a tin ceiling which is a relatively rare (and much loved in the community) feature nowadays.
As for the buildings to the west of the current Foodland, they contain a Freshii store at ground level, the Afterglow yoga studio on the second floor and four empty storefronts. The proposal does not include the building that is home to the Green Eggplant restaurant or the Grace & Co. building at the northeast corner of Queen Street East and Wheeler Avenue.
The current view of the Beach Foodland grocery store at the northwest corner of Queen Street East and Lee Avenue. Photo by Alan Shackleton.
Those four empty storefronts have been in that state for years, and are considered by many in the community to be an eyesore and a point of anger and frustration. One of the empty stores still has its Blacks cameras signage on its awning. The Blacks chain ceased operations in August of 2015.
Bradford said the stretch of those stores “has been a poster child for vacant storefronts here in Toronto for far too long.”
He said he wants to ensure the proposal for 2040 Queen East rectifies that situation and is an improvement to the area.
“I want to see a proposal that will make significant improvements to the streetscape here on Queen Street East and add much-needed housing while preserving our critical grocery store within the local community,” said Bradford.
