May 15, 2025

The ULI Awards for Excellence recognizes truly superior development efforts in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, with winning projects representing the highest standards of achievement in the development industry. 

Revitalizing one of the most historically significant blocks in downtown Toronto, Waterworks is a 350,000 sq. feet mixed-use development that rehabilitates, conserves, and expands an industrial heritage site—a City of Toronto Waterworks building—through the integration of diverse programs that support the life of residents and enhance the urban experience for the greater community. 

Named a ULI Americas Awards for Excellence finalist, the design combines food-focused retail, a fully serviced YMCA with extensive social facilities dedicated to health and wellness, and a mid-rise condominium with family-oriented dwellings, including affordable units and an existing youth shelter. The combination of these elements breaks down socio-economic barriers, catalyzing and activating the neighbourhood.

When the developers acquired the site in 2015, they shared the city’s vision of creating a “complete community”, re-integrating the buildings back into the urban fabric, enhancing the public realm, going beyond the minimum in applying the city’s urban design guidelines with regards to massing and terracing, and setting a precedent for new developments through design excellence, combining cutting-edge modern architecture with meticulous heritage restoration. 

A U-shaped 10-storey residential component is positioned above the three-storey heritage base, which includes the façade retention of the original Art Deco building and the preservation of the entire block-long former machine hall at the south end of the site, which has been converted into a Food Hall. It reclaims the original St. Andrew’s Market site, transforming it into a contemporary food hub to serve the community, including public gathering spaces and an open-air courtyard at grade level—the intersection of the pedestrian through-block routes that integrate seamlessly with the surrounding neighbourhood and enhance the urban experience.

The YMCA is defined on the exterior by a glazed reveal on the north facade, above the heritage building’s original brick and limestone Art Deco façade which has been carefully preserved. 

By bringing new life to an industrial heritage site, Waterworks expresses a holistic approach to retaining the stories of our cities, while setting the stage for new narratives and opportunities for urban transformation, making a significant contribution to the quality of life within the neighbourhood.

Winners will be announced on June 30, 2025.

Learn more about Waterworks’ recognition as a ULI Americas Awards for Excellence finalist here.