The Wallace Emerson Community and Child Care Centre broke ground this week at the site of the future 20-acre Galleria on the Park master-planned community.
Developer Almadev (formally Elad Canada) partnered with the City of Toronto to bring the project to fruition.
“The design fosters connections between the interior space and surrounding parkland,” said Andrew Frontini, principal and design director at Perkins&Will. “To us it demonstrates the potential for a community building to dynamically showcase programs and embrace urban space.”
The plans call for a facility divided into two pavilions, both clad in green terracotta tiles that emphasize the fluid shape of the building and enhance the interior to exterior connections.
The centre will bring flexible and programmed spaces to the community and those who visit. Activities are geared to a multi-generational demographic, including an aquatic centre, a childcare centre, a dance and aerobics studio, a gym with a running track, and a community kitchen.
The Wallace Emerson Community and Child Care Centre is a partnership between Almadev and the City of Toronto.
“We hosted over 40 community consultation meetings to develop community infrastructure that serves everyone, and we’re proud that Galleria on the Park will be a place where everyone is welcome,” Almadev CEO Rafael Lazer said at a groundbreaking ceremony at the site. “We look forward to seeing this community become a destination in Toronto.”
Phase one of Wallace Emerson Park also began. Landscape architecture firm Public Work is creating an almost eight-acre park to connect to the new centre and designed a tree-lined boulevard, a children’s garden, and an active roof atop the community centre.
Activities planned for the expanded greenspace include a central plaza and performance area that converts to a winter leisure skating pad and trail, a BMX/skateboard park, a multi-purpose court with basketball hoops and a splash pad.
As it sets out to transform the existing 1970’s-era Galleria Shopping Centre, Galleria on the Park will also bring together eight mixed-use buildings with nearly 2,900 condo residences, 150 affordable rental units and about 300,000 square feet of retail.
Photo: From left to right: Warren Saks, Development Manager, Almadev; Ana Ana Bailão, Deputy Mayor; Rafael Lazer, CEO, Almadav; Vadim Granovski, Vice President, Finance, Almadev.
