The Eglinton Crosstown is almost ready—but at what cost to Little Jamaica?
Retailers are in a “state of emergency,” according to the neighbourhood’s BIA
The people of Little Jamaica have sounded the alarm. Since work on the Eglinton Crosstown began in 2011, more than 300 businesses on Eglinton between Marlee and Keele have closed, forcing the neighbourhood’s BIA to declare a state of emergency this week, with its chair, Jason McDonald, saying its remaining retailers are barely hanging on.
“When you kick a dog and you kick a dog, after a while he gets used to your kicking him,” McDonald told the Grind in February of last year. “That’s how I feel.” He and the Little Jamaica BIA have consistently cited Metrolinx as solely responsible for the district’s demise.
Small businesses like those in Little Jamaica rely on impulse foot traffic—people hopping off transit, walking by and ducking in—so if a sidewalk is torn up or fenced off, people are more likely to reroute than to wander in. Not to mention that studies routinely show that dusty, loud and long-term construction creates a psychological no-go zone. More importantly for mom-and-pops: a dip in revenue may be surmountable over a few months but almost never over many years.
In 2022, Metrolinx gave $1.38 million to the city to support 11 Eglinton West BIAs, but walk the street today and it doesn’t feel as if the business owners of Little Jamaica felt much of that.
And yet, a shiny future is slowly taking shape. There are 14 high-density buildings currently in the works for the area that will eventually house about 3,600 units. Among them is a mixed-use 39-storey skyscraper that will stand between the Crosstown’s soon-to-open Oakwood and Fairbank stations and promises 427 residential units (including 63 two-bedrooms and 54 three-bedrooms designed for families) with indoor and outdoor community spaces.
Related: A proposed 48-storey condo could be developed on top of a downtown church
The lethargic Crosstown completed a major phase of mandatory testing in early December. But, even though the train’s seemingly never-ending timeline smashes the city’s record for delayed, inadequate infrastructure, it really could start running any day now. And the Black-led Little Jamaica Community Land Trust is working hard to balance the development with the neighbourhood’s heritage.
On paper, Little Jamaica is set to become one of midtown’s best-connected neighbourhoods, which should help businesses thrive. The question is whether all that promise can renew what’s left—or whether it will simply pave over what’s been lost.
Lindsey King is a Toronto-based writer and editor whose work can be found in Toronto Life, Maclean’s, Canada’s 100 Best and more. She is interested in arts and culture, food and drink, architecture, design, and real estate stories
