How Rockport Group’s New Development Will Bring Weston Together

Rockport Group and partners just broke ground on a $100M development in Weston that’ll include a 30-storey rental building plus artist live/work spaces and an Artscape-run community/cultural hub. CEO Jack Winberg tells us more.

Here's Jack beside Mayor John Tory at last week’s dirt-turning. The mayor’s presence signals the significance of the development in sparking a social and economic revitalization of Weston, a city-designated neighbourhood improvement area that's seen no private investment in more than 40 years. The Rockport-led public-private project will replace a Green P lot at 22 John St—north of Lawrence Avenue, east of Weston Road—with a rental building with 370 units, six of them subsidized (half the parking stalls will be relocated to an adjacent parcel).

The podium of the neighbouring 31-storey, 420-unit apartment tower at 33 King St, owned by Woodbourne Capital Management—also Rockport’s partner on its Montgomery Square rental project on Yonge just north of Eglinton—will be transformed into an 8,200 SF arts-and-culture-focused community centre. The building's base will incorporate 26 affordable live/work units for artist-led families. There will be 12,500 SF of publicly accessible outdoor space for community gatherings and a farmers market. All of it will be overseen by Artscape, its first project outside the core.

TPA's lot previously serviced GO Transit commuters, but parking at the new GO/UP Express Weston station farther down Lawrence rendered it redundant. So the city issued an RFP for the site’s redevelopment, including a community cultural hub and artist live/work units. Woodbourne advised Rockport it had vacant space at its building’s base (originally constructed for retail, it never flourished), and Jack’s team devised a plan to build a new tower, which it’ll own long term with partners, and put the amenities in Woodbourne's building. The towers will share 33 King’s under-used parking garage.

A Metrolinx-built bridge spanning the tracks on John Street will tie in with the public space to host the farmers market and other community events (as seen above). The bridge is symbolic, too, says Jack, who brought together three levels of government and Artscape to partner on the redevelopment. Weston's long been divided by train tracks, he points out, with high-rise social housing on one side, and single-family homes on the other. The new bridge, coupled with the cultural facilities his group is delivering here, will provide "real connectivity for this community."

It's a busy summer for Jack. The crane soon rises at Montgomery Square, and renovation of the historic post office is done. Jack won't dish on potential tenants, but stresses they want users who “pay proper tribute to the quality and importance” of the iconic property. Rockport just launched George, an 88-suite condo at 1331 Queen St E. Jack says he expects to be under construction on the Weston project by August. The timeline’s been expedited because the city is “determined to see something good happen here." Also helpful: “They've got a developer who's delivered on all its promises.”