We at the Toronto Star’s NewInHomes.com are fascinated with the way that the Greater Toronto Area is constantly transforming, physically and socially, becoming better and better. One area that has undergone considerable change, and is on the verge of a third phase of metamorphosis, is the Entertainment District downtown. The Entertainment District’s three phases span the past century: an industrial period, the entertainment period, and its ongoing transformation into, you guessed it, a vibrant residential area.

In the early 1900s, the area along King Street West and bordered by University Avenue and Spadina, was referred to as the Garment District. The railway occupied the waterfront, so industries took advantage of the easily accessible area to the north. By the 1950s, the Garment District consisted of many industrial buildings, such as warehouses and factories, housing textile and fashion operations. At this point, barely anyone lived in the area.

Deindustrialization in the 1970s caused an abandonment of the majority of the warehouses and factories in the area, and as we know, cities love to convert these historic spaces for new uses. In 1981, The Twilight Zone, Toronto’s first grand nightclub, opened its doors to the public. The success of The Twilight Zone spurred the opening of many clubs in the area, and by the 1990s, the district featured the largest concentration of clubs in North America.

While industrial buildings were being abandoned and these clubs were taking over, the railway land to the south was closed down and was also converted for other uses. The CN Tower was completed in 1976, bringing a number of tourists to Toronto, and The SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) was constructed in 1989, which attracted sports fans from all over. In 1982, Roy Thomson Hall, home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, was completed at King and Simcoe, and added a sense of class to the area. The Mirvish family also made their mark on King West with the purchase of the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 1968, and the construction of the famous Princess of Wales Theatre in 1993. The successful opening of these theatres and other live entertainment venues made Toronto the world’s third-largest centre for English-language theatre, behind London and New York. Many bars and restaurants opened to cater to the hordes of tourists, sports fans, theatre goers, and club attendees. Around the time of the area’s transformation into the Entertainment District, there were easily less than a thousand residents in the area.

The new millennium brought about the Entertainment District’s residential phase. Many of the still-vacant warehouses were transformed into loft spaces, a number of old buildings were demolished to make way for new condominiums, and the number of clubs decreased drastically. By 2005, there were about 7,500 residents in the area, but this number has continued to grow, and in our opinion, will continue to grow exponentially over the next few years. Two established condominiums in the Entertainment District are M5V Condominiums by Lifetime Developments and Tas Design Build, and Festival Tower by The Daniels Corporation. There is also a multitude of residential buildings under construction, including Charlie by Great Gulf Homes, Cinema Tower, also by Daniels, and The Pinnacle on Adelaide by Pinnacle International. These three towers alone will provide the area with more than 1,300 units.

The number of developments in preconstruction is another exciting part of the transformation. The list of projects planned for the area is extensive and it’s a wonder how all these buildings will even fit in the space that is available. Some of the projects in preconstruction include the Bisha Hotel and Residences by Lifetime and INK Entertainment, The Mercer by Beaverhall Homes and Graywood Developments, Picasso Condos by The Goldman Group and Monarch, and King Charlotte by Lamb Development Corp.

The Entertainment District will likely keep its name and definitely its reputation as a vibrant pocket of Toronto. The established venues, bars, and restaurants aren’t going anywhere, so the area will continue to be one of the most popular and lively parts of the city. The addition of residential buildings will actually create a safer environment, a fresh atmosphere, allowing residents to be at the centre of it all, comfortably living in a modern yet historical neighbourhood.