East Harbour transit hub
East Harbour station is a transit hub, in Toronto.[1][2][3] Several transit routes will intersect there, including GO Transit's Lakeshore East line, the Toronto Transit Commission's (TTC) Ontario Line, and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) streetcars.
The GO Transit system, like commuter rail in many other North American systems, is constructed on a spoke design, where all its routes intersect at its Union Station. While the Lakeshore East line does connect with the Bloor-Danforth subway, those connections are not near Toronto's downtown. East Harbour station is approximately 2 kilometres east of downtown. So it will be more convenient for some commuters to get off there, and transfer to the Ontario line, or the 501, then it would be to make a transfer at Union Station. These early transfers are expected to reduce congestion at Union Station.
The transit hub lies next to a large parcel of land, known as the Unilever site, currently under development, where 50,000 office workers are expected to be employed.[1][4]
In March 2025 Metrolinx published the design for the hub.[5] Shawn Micallef, the Toronto Star's architecture critic, voiced disappointment over the failure to pick a beautiful design, particularly after the original artistic conceptions, showed a beautiful modern design, with a vaulted ceiling. He called the final design "shed-like", with the "ambiance of an aircraft hanger."
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1
"Will East Harbour be the city's hot new business hub?". CBC News. 2017-02-24. Archived from the original on 2017-02-25. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
While there may be questions about developing a site not currently well-served by public transit, other projects will make the site accessible via various transportation networks. The current proposal for the TTC's downtown relief subway line calls for a station at the site, and the proposed SmartTrack regional rail plan also runs through the neighbourhood.
- ↑ "Resubmission Proposes Residential Additions to East Harbour Plan". Urban Toronto. 2025-01-02. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
- ↑
"East Harbour Transit Hub takes shape in Toronto" (video). Metrolinx via YouTube. 2025-11-04. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
The new East Harbour Transit Hub is taking shape. Once complete it will connect GO, TTC and the future Ontario Line to reshape how we move throughout the region.
- ↑
"Up-And-Coming Or Over-And-Out? Cadillac Fairview's East Harbour Development In Toronto – Urbaneer". Cadillac Fairview Urbaneer. 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
Designed as a transit-oriented community – with planned stops on the new Ontario Line and a GO train station, when completed – the development will be easily accessible for the estimated 50,000 employees that will commute to work there.
- ↑
Shawn Micallef (2025-03-16). "Shawn Micallef: There were once ambitious plans for this major new Toronto transit hub. How did it go from grand to bland?". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
Consider, too the amount of effort that went into preparing this site, with the tear down of the massive Unilever factory that was, for a very long time, a landmark near the bottom of the Don River and DVP. It was a great shame that some of the industrial structures couldn’t be incorporated into the new developments, but it was cleared to a clean slate. The only thing that replaces the sense of place heritage buildings can provide is great, new architecture, not buildings that have the ambiance of aircraft hangers.