Theatre District Residences and RIU Hotels and Resorts

At 8-30 Widmer Street, Theatre District Residences + RIU Hotels and Resorts brings these layers together, introducing new homes and hospitality while retaining a tangible connection to the neighbourhood’s past.

Designed by BDP Quadrangle for Plazacorp and RIU Hotels, the 658,000-square-foot development combines two slender towers with a restored row of six heritage townhouses. Rising 48 and 49 storeys, the towers add a contemporary presence to the skyline, while brick podiums establish a relationship with the surrounding streets. The composition brings different building types, uses and eras into a cohesive urban setting.

The design takes its cues from the district’s warehouse architecture, including the adjacent Commodore Building. Brick façades, metal accents and fine-grain detailing give the 11-storey podiums a sense of depth and texture. Above them, clean vertical lines emphasize the towers’ slender proportions, creating a clear transition between the substantial street-facing architecture and the lighter expression overhead.

Along Widmer Street, the six restored townhouses retain their residential use and familiar rhythm of individual frontages. Their continued presence preserves a smaller scale within an increasingly dense neighbourhood. Retaining these buildings also keeps existing materials in use, connecting heritage conservation with a resource-conscious approach to city-building.

The mix of uses extends that approach into the buildings. The south tower is entirely residential; the north tower places residences above the hotel. Careful planning of entrances, circulation and building services accommodates the different rhythms of a permanent home and a temporary stay. Within the podiums, indoor and outdoor amenities provide places for residents to exercise, gather and spend time outside, with terraces extending daily life beyond the suite.

At ground level, the hotel lobby and bar, retail frontage and landscaped setbacks add activity and opportunities to pause. Together with the restored houses, these elements create a varied pedestrian experience that connects the development to the cultural and social life around it.

Theatre District Residences + RIU Hotels and Resorts accommodates downtown growth through an architecture rooted in its surroundings, adding new possibilities for living and visiting while carrying Widmer Street’s history forward.