Often in our mad pace to rejuvenate, rebuild and reconstruct our city, we tend to forget about what makes a community worth living and working in. A great deal of Toronto's most desirable downtown neighbourhoods were at one point artist enclave's, such as Yorkville or Queen West. Since 1986, Artscape has been staking a claim for artists around the city, redeveloping underused buildings into live/work studio space for Toronto's creative class.

In one of Toronto's most vibrant and exciting communities, the Junction Triangle, Artscape has announced its latest project in partnership with Castlepoint Studio Partners to redevelop the former Tower Automotive Sheet Casting Facility at 158 Sterling Road. They plan to retrofit the facility to house 70 live/work spaces for local artists. The units will range in size from 550 to 1,100 square feet. The development is aiming to be affordable to people from a variety of income levels and is planned to offer the ability to rent or purchase a unit. The ultimate goal is to create a community inside the building so that it helps grow and enliven the community it inhabits.

Artscape is involved with quite a few properties like this around the city. Notably for their work with the Daniels Spectrum and the continued revitalization of Regent Park.

Daniels Spectrum, image by Craig White

The new Sterling Road Location is not the first time Artscape has used this self-financing model for one of its properties. The Triangle Lofts in the Queen West neighbourhood has used the live/work loft model quite successfully. The 56,000-square-foot art space currently houses 68 artists along with their families.

Artscape Triangle Lofts, image from Artscape

As The Junction Triangle grows, assets like this will help this neighbourhood find its own niche. It is early in the planning stages for this development, but we will bring you more updates as they become available.