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FOCUS: Robert Street Parkette to grow (Sept. 2025)

December 15th, 2025 · No Comments

425 Bloor St. W. development includes expansion of public space

An artist’s rendering of the expanded Robert Street Parkette. COURTESY DTAH/BLOOR ANNEX BIA

By Gleaner Staff

Plans to demolish Metro at 425 Bloor St. W. and replace it with a 35-storey condo have not changed;  however, the schedule is delayed due to market conditions affecting all new condo builds. 

However, design work for an expanded parkette on Robert Street south of the playing field has continued.

Metro will be moving to the lower level of the new development on the northwest corner of Bloor Street West and Spadina Road (where 7-Eleven and Tim Hortons are currently located). 

Since that development is delayed, so is the one at 425 Bloor St. W.  

The Bloor Annex BIA currently occupies the city-owned right-of-way on the west side of Robert Street with a year-round CaféTO parklet; this is the only permanent one in the city. 

“People do sit at the tables all year and the BIA has a winter planting scheme for the planter boxes there,” said Brian Burchell, general manager of the Bloor Annex BIA and publisher of this newspaper. 

The east side of Robert Street has the existing parkette which will be expanded south and will repeat many of the elements: boulders, decking, trees, and pollinator gardens. 

The public realm at the top of the street will be a unified space with soft curbs and road surface that would bring the two sides together. Cars could still pass through, but the design elements would significantly calm their movement. 

The elimination of the grocery store and associated parking lot will diminish vehicular traffic to a fraction of what it is now.

As part of this plan, the developer will contribute community benefits funding (previously known as Section 37 funds) which the BIA will use to fund this new capital project. 

This BIA-conceived plan enjoys full support from local Councillor Dianne Saxe, the developer, the Harbord Street Residents’ association, and Trinity St. Paul’s Church.

The BIA has built five parkettes along Bloor Street. 

In 2023, the parkette designs won city council’s Toronto Urban Design Award for Small Open Spaces for their attention to detail, unique granite rock landscaping, and environmental considerations.

The plan is to expand upon this design success using the same landscape architect DTAH.

The parkette expansion would extend from where it currently terminates all the way to the south end of the existing parking lot. It will also include a redesign of the CaféTO parklet on the other side of the street. COURTESY DTAH/BLOOR ANNEX BIA

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