SmartCentre's partnerships with CentreCourt have turned out well so far, and their pipeline up at VMC continues to look generally quite good. Their Caledonia/Eglinton project, not so much..
 
This is just more of the same glass podium/cereal box iteration plaguing the city. The ideal scenario for the Golden Mile would be to invite the top Danish firms to come in and provide the masterplans for each of these chunky plots. And then to design the actual buildings and not have them be value-engineered to the bare bones of the original plans.

Imagine warm toned mid rises lining along Eglinton, with building heights gently ascending away from the arterial.to perhaps 30 stories-tops. But, obviously, that won't happen/can't happen due to various intractable reasons that specifically exist in Toronto.
You've pretty much described my dream scenario for this area. Grey high-rises will just contribute to the barren, windswept feel that plagues much of Scarborough. Mid-rise neighbourhoods tend to feel much more livable and human scaled, while still providing the opportunity for lots of density. Warm tones are a must and make sense too; Toronto's vernacular is largely red brick, especially on the surrounding post-war residential streets. I keep hoping we're done with the monochromatic everything trend but perhaps it's wishful thinking.
 
You hit the nail on the head Northern Light. You explained my sentiments better than I did. By "lazy" I mean the proposal isn't tailored to the site. It's like a step and repeat of the design used in a small cramped downtown site. Podium, set back, tower, etc., etc. This Smart Centre site has lots of space but you wouldn't know it just by looking at the design in isolation. The current proposal is just another tower in a park but with a podium added. It seems to me that this massive site is a perfect place to develop unique mid rise neighborhoods.
 
After spending $5.3 Billion on the Eglinton Subway this beautiful project is a great way to link land use with transportation. Put the people where the high speed transit is located. A masterplan that shows how the pedestrian pocket will be created out of a Walmart parking lot should be relatively straight forward.
The facade is quite beautiful and will animate the Golden Mile.
 
Phase 1 Site Plan Approval application submitted on December 21, 2021:

1900 EGLINTON AVE E
Ward 21: Scarborough Centre


Site Plan application for Phase 1 of the proposed development for the lands at 1900 Eglinton Ave E (SmartCentres lands) to permit two (2) mixed-use buildings on the southwest portion of the lands (Blocks 8 and 9). The proposed 38 and 40-storey buildings would consist of a total gross floor area (GFA) of 59,904 sq. m. (58,685 sq. m for residential uses and 1,219 sq. m for retail uses), 899 residential units and a floor space index (FSI) of approximately 7.32 times the application lands and 1.7 times the entirety of the lands at 1900 Eglinton Ave E. The proposal includes a total of 371 vehicle parking spaces (367 spaces for residents, 4 spaces for car share, 0 spaces for visitors, and 0 spaces for retail uses) to be located below grade and four loading spaces. This application is related to Official Plan Amendment Application No. 19 208733 ESC 21 OZ (under appeal) and Zoning By-law Amendment Application No. 21 111522 ESC 20 OZ (under review).

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Storey count changed from 40 & 38 storey to 48 & 45 storey. Height changed from 131.60m & 125.10m to 151.20m & 160.05m . Total units changed from 899 units to 975 units.
Total parking changed from 383 parking to 348 parking.



Rendering taken from arch plan via SPA



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