25 Liberty Street
- Location
- Toronto, Canada
- Client
- BentallGreenOak
- Expertise
- Architecture
- Urban Design
- Size
- 509,520 sf
25 Liberty Street reimagines a key Liberty Village block as a residential-led, mixed-use community anchored by heritage, transit-oriented living and a generous public realm.
Located at the intersection of Liberty Street, Atlantic Avenue and Jefferson Avenue, the project sits within one of Toronto’s most storied industrial districts, steps from future rapid transit and significant public realm investment.
At the heart of the site is The Foundry Building, an Edwardian industrial landmark that captures the earliest phase of Liberty Village’s evolution. Rather than treating heritage as a backdrop, the design retains the building fully in place and reveals all four façades, including the long-concealed west elevation. This careful approach re-establishes The Foundry as a visible, legible landmark and an anchoring presence within the block, celebrating its role in the neighbourhood’s past while giving it renewed civic presence.
Rising above a series of three- and six-storey podiums, a 50-storey purpose-built rental tower introduces much-needed housing to the area. The podium volumes draw directly from Liberty Village’s fine-grained warehouse character, using scale, rhythm and materiality to create a contextual transition between the historic fabric and the contemporary tower above. Together, the tower and podium deliver a diverse mix of homes, including affordable and rental replacement units alongside community-serving spaces and active ground-floor retail that animate the surrounding streets.
A defining feature of the project is its layered and generous public realm. A landscaped pedestrian mews runs north–south through the site, linking Liberty Street to the future park at 34 Hanna Avenue and establishing a clear mid-block connection toward Lamport Stadium. At the southeast corner, a prominent privately owned publicly accessible space (POPs) extends the public realm with seating, planting and places to gather. Widened sidewalks, patio zones and a network of terraces and rooftops further enrich the pedestrian experience, creating a porous, walkable environment that supports daily life and social connection.
Throughout the design, the heritage building remains the focal point, framed by open spaces and new architecture that reinforce its prominence rather than compete with it. The result is a redevelopment that strengthens Liberty Village’s physical and social connections, aligns with the area’s public realm strategy, and balances growth with continuity.
“At 25 Liberty Street, we saw an opportunity to let heritage, housing and public space work together as a single urban idea. By fully revealing and celebrating The Foundry Building while introducing diverse rental housing and a rich public realm network, the project reinforces Liberty Village’s identity and supports a more connected, inclusive neighbourhood.”
By integrating adaptive reuse, purpose-built rental housing and a carefully choreographed public realm, 25 Liberty Street positions a historic industrial site at the centre of a contemporary, transit-oriented community - one that reflects Liberty Village’s past while supporting its continued evolution.