Toronto's old coach terminal to be turned into housing, plaza and health facility

Commuters might remember Toronto's decommissioned old, fumy Coach Terminal.

In five years, some could call it home. 

The city announced the site's fate on Thursday, revealing it will be turned into a mixed-used development that will include new housing, a paramedics hub and a public plaza. 

The terminal's two sites, located across the street from one another at 610 Bay St. and 130 Elizabeth St., will be home to two towers with 873 new rental units, 290 of which will be affordable housing, the city said in a statement. 

Speaking with reporters at the terminal, Mayor Olivia Chow said the site will feature housing options for health-care workers and their families, though it's unclear how many of the affordable units will be dedicated to them. 

"I keep hearing health-care workers, the EMS workers…they said they can't afford to live where they work," Chow said. 

The Bay Street homes are expected to be completed and leased out at the beginning of 2029, while homes on Elizabeth Street are expected to be leased at the beginning of 2030, the city said in a statement. 

The general public could apply to live in some of the homes through a lottery, according to Andrew Joyner, a managing director at Tricon Residential. 

"All the units are integrated in a checkerboard throughout the community, as they should be, so residents, regardless of income, can live together," Joyner said, adding they hope to start construction in 2025. 

An undisclosed number of the other homes will be specifically allocated to health-care workers and three separate housing organizations, Woodgreen Community Services, the March of Dimes and Wigwamen, Chow said. 

Organ repair centre, 'outdoor rooms'

In between the two buildings will be the public plaza that will include what the city describes as "outdoor rooms," that will incorporate green space. 

With the site being walking distance from University Health Network, its new paramedic hub will accommodate between 10 to 15 emergency vehicles and 15 staff, according to Bikram Chawla, the chief of Toronto Paramedic services. 

"[It] will serve as a critical and strategic location for paramedics to sign on, to book on to a truck and be ready to go and be deployed for wherever they're needed in the city," he said. 

The site will also feature an organ repair centre operated by University Health Network for heart, lung, kidney and liver transplants.

Project comes at no cost to the city, CreateTO says

The project will be paid for through the value of the land, which the city owns, according to Vic Gupta, the CEO of CreateTO, which oversees the city's real estate. 

"So there is no net new cost to the city. There is no additional budget that's required," he told reporters. 

Chow said the city will continue to own the land, while the cost to build the new homes will come from a federal financing program meant for purpose-built rental housing. 

"We provide the land, they provide low-cost financing and GST HST exemption, which makes it so much more affordable to build," she said. 

The investment firm Kilmer Group and Tricon Residential were selected to develop the project. 

City plans to preserve building's character

The Coach Bus terminal was built by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1931, according to the city.

Known for its art deco style, the site was declared a heritage building in the late 1980s. But over the years, it's gotten a reputation for its steamy fumes, odd smells and pilled-up garbage that used to accompany Torontonians awaiting their bus. 

The site was decommissioned in 2021, with its bus services moved to Union Station. At that point, the site was already one of eight identified as underutilized and picked to be redeveloped. 

Joyner assured that as construction goes on, the city will preserve the building's character. 

"This is a celebrated heritage building that we are excited to build on the legacy of," he said.