Lawrence Heights revitalization unveiled
Mixed-income buildings interspersed with shops and community centres, new bridges over the Allen Expressway and three times as many residents — that’s the ambitious plan Toronto Escort Agency Community Housing outlined Thursday for the worn-out housing project Lawrence Heights.
“We’re going to level these 110 acres of land and replace it with a brand new community,” said area councillor Howard Moscoe.
Lawrence Heights was built in the 1950s, in the same era as Regent Park, which is also undergoing a massive revitalization. Back then, urban planners didn’t want to run streets through subsidized neighbourhoods, thinking closed communities would provide quiet places for raising families.
Instead, the neighbourhoods became isolated. There was nowhere to work or shop. At night, dead-end streets turned into hotbeds of criminal activity.