As local real estate experts, we are often being asked if there are options outside of costly freehold houses for growing families in downtown Toronto. Is it possible to comfortably raise a family in Liberty Village and what is being done to address the situation of making this a reality? We have come up with a few answers for you.
Right now Liberty Village is primarily singles in their 20s and 30s, but increasingly couples want to stay in the city and raise families in the downtown core so they can enjoy the many great amenities of downtown and avoid the grinding commutes and perpetual rush hour gridlock to the suburbs which can take all the joy and quality time out of trying to raise a family.
Liberty Village offers the possibility of raising a family because, for example, there are a variety of 3 bedroom townhomes in the Liberty Village area. However, what is lacking in the area is the full range of family-friendly amenities. The area is lacking parks, pools, a community centre, childcare facilities, a wider range of regular shopping and services, a wider range of easy transportation options such as dedicated bicycle and pedestrian overpasses. A lot of the infrastructure has not been properly planned for enable convenient compact family living. Liberty Village is not yet what might be called a “complete community.” But thankfully, proposed changes are underway to address these issues and to fulfil the promise of Liberty Village. For example, some of the area developers are planning projects that will help to make it much easier for families to raise kids downtown along without having to resort to the use of a car.
The one exciting project that is worth highlighting with respect to addressing these deficiencies of making Liberty Village a complete community is the proposed project of Garrison Point. The so-called Garrison Point project is located on what’s referred to as the Ordnance Triangle – this is the area of presently unoccupied land to the east of liberty village, just east of Strachan ave and East Liberty St, and bounded to the north and south by CN tracks and the Go Train tracks. The developer is Cityzen Developments, Fernbrook Homes and Diamond Corp. These are the same people that that built the now world-famous Marilyn Monroe Towers in Mississauga and currently working on the distinctively styled L-Tower in the St Lawrence Market. This development team has an award winning reputation and excellent track record for thoughtfully designed condo projects.
In speaking with the developer and even in the sales literature the developer specifically talks about this being an area where you can raise your family. This is something that is so incredibly unusual to see in the downtown condo market and it’s definitely newsworthy. The developer is talking about having an area with plenty of public spaces, amenities, street level shops and services and amenity spaces. Parks, Pools, Local Shops, even a proposed community fitness centre such as hopefully a YMCA. For example, there are drawings available that show a publicly-available Olympic sized outdoor pool surrounded by parklands. Where do you get that in a condo development in Toronto these days? Apart from family-friendly amenities, the second serious deficiency that the Garrison Point condo project addresses is the access in and out of Liberty Village via bicycle and by walking. Liberty Village is currently at 100 percent capacity in terms of automobile traffic and nothing has really been done to ease the congestion by offering a variety of alternative means of access to Liberty Village. Talks of a pedestrian bridge have been around for years, with no actual progress. However, Garrison Point will have a fancy ribbon-shaped pedestrian and bicycle friendly bridge that will connect Liberty Village with King West to the north and Fort york to the south so you can actually get to the lakeshore or attend to shopping and commuting without having to get in your car and to do so in a peaceful and relaxing way with the dedicated bridge.
The project will be comprised of about 5 towers and several podiums which will act as host to the multi-level retail and services for the area.
We have VIP access to the Garrison Point project along with all the floor plans for the first two towers. [email protected] for more info
[…] little over two years ago, I wrote an article about the increasing trend towards families settling in Liberty Village. I documented some of the […]