The Regent Park Revitalization Plan is an initiative that began in 2005 by the City of Toronto with fellow development, government and community partners, with the focus of rebuilding the neighborhood of Regent Park for 12,500 residents over 15-20 years. This means turning what was once solely a social housing development into a self-sufficient mixed-income, multi-use community.
More than a half-century old, the Regent Park projects were aging rapidly and in need of costly repairs. The city government developed a plan to demolish and rebuild Regent Park over the next many years, with the first phase having started fall 2005. The addition of market units on site will double the number of units in Regent Park. Former street patterns will be restored and housing will be designed to reflect that of adjacent neighbourhoods (including Cabbagetown and Corktown), in order to end Regent Park’s physical isolation from the rest of the city.
In support of the Clean and Beautiful City campaign by former Toronto Mayor David Miller, and to further the goal of renewing architecture in all Toronto Community Housing projects, an architectural competition was held for the design of the first apartment building in the complex. Toronto-based architects Alliance was selected winner of the competition, with a modern glass point tower set on top of a red-brick podium structure in their proposal. The third stage of the revitalization plan, began in May 2014 which will include newer or updated facilities. The revitalization plan has five phases. Phase two of the revitalization plan will be completed by 2017 with the third phase set to be completed by 2019/2020
