Meeting tonight at Beach United Church on plans for 18-storey building in the Queen and Coxwell area
By MATTHEW STEPHENS
A meeting tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 22) will give residents updated information about a plan for residential buildings on a property just southeast of Coxwell Avenue and Queen Street East that has been the subject of intense community debate over the past five years.
The open house meeting is set for Beaches United Church, 140 Wineva Ave., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Information on the latest proposal for 1631-1641 Queen St. E. will be provided at the meeting. The city-owned property also fronts onto Eastern Avenue at its southern side.
The proposal comes from CreateTO, the City of Toronto agency that manages municipally-owned properties, and is part of Toronto’s Housing Now initiative to help build affordable and mixed-income housing.
An Oct. 3, 2025, architectural plans document on the city’s Application Information Centre website indicated two residential buildings are proposed for the site – one of 18 storeys fronting Eastern Avenue and the other of six storeys fronting Queen Street East.
Between the two buildings, there will be 328 residential units representing a mix of styles and sizes, with a portion dedicated to affordable housing.
The proposal has 24,275 square metres of gross residential floor space; 958 square metres of childcare space, 154 square metres of commercial space at grade facing Queen Street East; 1,353 square metres of amenity space; 331 bicycle parking spaces; and a midblock connection from Kishigo Lane (on the east side of the proposal).
In 2021, a very similar proposal was made and discussed at community meetings.
Currently, the site is home to the Beaches Employment and Social Services Centre, the Coxwell Toronto Early Learning Childcare Centre, a Harvey’s restaurant and a closed road allowance.
The 2021 proposal did not include the land the Harvey’s is on as the city did not own it at that time. However, the city has since purchased the Harvey’s site and the new proposal will include that land.
Land within the block directly to the west of the proposal but east of Coxwell, that includes the East End Community Health Centre and a Toronto Community Housing building to the south, is not included in the plan.
The project for this location was first announced as a 17-storey building back in 2020, with the first community consultation meeting held that same year. The proposal was later changed to 18 storeys in 2021.
During the several consultation meetings that have taken place since the initial proposal, residents frequently stressed that the 18-storey proposal didn’t comply with the Queen Street East Urban Design Guidelines which limit buildings in the area to six storeys.
Many residents feared that the proposed development would set a precedent for other new projects along Queen Street East in the Beach.
The last community consultation for the original project proposal was June of 2021.
At the time, construction was expected to begin in late 2022, with a completion date of 2025. However, nothing else happened on the site and the proposal never went on to the next stage of approvals.
More information can be found at https://createto.ca/projects/1631-queen-street-east
