Ground broken on 38-storey rental tower in Flemingdon Park

A new purpose-built rental building is now under construction in Flemingdon Park, as Osmington Gerofsky Development Corporation (OGDC) and WJ Properties have broken ground on the first phase of a multi-phase redevelopment at 9 St. Dennis Drive.

The first phase will see a 38-storey, 474-unit rental tower rise near the intersection of Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue East, directly across from the future Ontario Line Flemingdon Park station.

The project will introduce a mix of new rental housing, affordable units, public parkland, pedestrian connections, and a geothermal energy system to the site. Of the 474 rental units, 20% will be designated as affordable housing.

“This groundbreaking reflects a substantial new investment in the neighbourhood. Designed to bring new housing options as quickly as possible,” says David Gerofsky, Principal & CEO at OGDC.

The development is being delivered on lands owned and managed by WJ Properties, whose Weinbaum family has been involved in Flemingdon Park for more than six decades.

Designed by Architects Alliance, the building takes inspiration from the Modernist planning principles that shaped much of Flemingdon Park. The tower will feature a slender residential form wrapped in glass and precast concrete framing, sitting above a black porcelain-clad base. At ground level, the base will fold upward around a glazed, double-height atrium, creating a more prominent entrance and connection between the building and surrounding landscape.

“At 9 St. Dennis, we wanted to work with that original morphology of the area and evolve the Modernist idea of the ‘tower in the park’ for contemporary life. The building rises directly from a generous, contoured common landscape, maintaining the clarity and simplicity of the original planning idea while addressing the expectations of a new generation of residents,” says Peter Clewes, Principal at Architects Alliance, “That idea is expressed in the building’s composition: a slender tower, wrapped in glass and precast concrete frames, sits elegantly on a black porcelain-clad base that folds up and over a glazed double-height atrium.”

The approach is intended to retain the openness associated with Flemingdon Park’s original planning while introducing a contemporary residential building.

One of the project’s most notable features will be largely hidden below ground. The building will be heated and cooled using a 100% geothermal energy system, supported by 99 boreholes drilled hundreds of feet into the ground. According to the development team, the system is expected to reduce energy consumption by approximately 60% and greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared with a comparable code-built building. The system represents a significant investment in building performance and is intended to reduce the tower’s long-term environmental impact.

The redevelopment will also contribute approximately 0.7 acres of new public parkland to the City of Toronto. New pedestrian connections are planned as part of the site redevelopment, helping improve connections through the property and surrounding neighbourhood.

Notably, the 9 St. Dennis is located immediately across from the future Flemingdon Park  Subway Station, placing the development within a rapidly emerging transit-oriented development node.

The project is also accompanied by several community investments. OGDC and WJ Properties have funded renovations to the nearby Flemingdon Park branch of the Toronto Public Library. Since 2025, the development partners have also provided 25 annual scholarships to graduating students at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, in partnership with The Neighbourhood Organization. The project is also receiving federal support through the Apartment Construction Loan Program, with $185 million in federal funding allocated toward the development.

 “Our Government is committed to driving housing supply to bring housing costs down. Through the Apartment Construction Loan program, $185 million in federal funding toward 7 St. Dennis project in Flemingdon Park will create more much-needed rental homes for the people living and working in Toronto. By working with partners in the private sector, we are helping deliver more homes, more quickly, and building stronger communities here in Toronto and across Canada.” says the honourable Robert Oliphant, Member of Parliament for Don Valley West.

9 St. Dennis will be the initial phase of a multi-phase redevelopment, with the surrounding area also expected to see continued change as construction progresses on the Ontario Line.