Platforms Centre platform Structure type Underground Status Under construction Platform Island platform | Connections TTC buses Disabled access Yes Province Ontario Tracks 2 | |
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Location Eglinton Av/Bayview Av
Toronto, Ontario
Canada Similar Science Centre station, Sunnybrook Park stop, Laird station, Finch West, Donlands | ||
Demolition work for leaside station
Leaside, which had a working name of Bayview, is an LRT station under construction on the Toronto Transit Commission's Eglinton Crosstown line. It will be located in the Leaside neighbourhood at the intersection of Bayview Avenue and Eglinton Avenue. It is scheduled to open in 2020.
Contents
Located at the intersection with Bayview Avenue, this underground station will have two entrances on opposite corners; the main entry at the southeast (replacing a McDonald's) and a secondary on the northwest (in the corner of a retail parking lot).
In October 2013 local residents learned that Metrolinx negotiations with Countrywide Homes, the current owner, allowed the owner to propose to build a new condominium over the station. Metrolinx will be acquiring several adjacent properties, not necessary for constructing the station, because they fit within the plan to put the property to dual use. Sam Balsamo, an executive with the developer, characterized the dual use plan "a unique opportunity because it will potentially be one of the only stops where you’ll have residential right above a subway stop." Councilor Jon Burnside voiced concern that the developer will use the association with the Crosstown to argue for an exemption to the current height restrictions of nine storeys, for the area, and build a high-rise.
Destinations include Howard Talbot Park, Leaside High School, the Leaside neighbourhood, Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery, and the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre complex.
In a report to the TTC Board on November 23, 2015, it was recommended that stations on Line 5 Eglinton LRT should be given unique names.
Station site
The McDonald's, on the southwest corner of Bayview and Eglinton Avenues, was closed on September 24, 2015 to make way for the Leaside LRT station. The restaurant had been part of the community for over 30 years. It had been a contentious subject during town hall meetings, as the construction of the new light-rail system that is replacing it will have a great impact on the community. The McDonald’s had been a neighbourhood icon thanks to its distinctive design, with the restaurant perched on top of a ground-floor parking lot, and its proximity to neighbouring Howard Talbot Park, where residents could often watch students from nearby Leaside High School play baseball after buying dinner.