Parkway Forest is a neighbourhood in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It is located in the north of the city, in the former suburb of

North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...

. Parkway Forest is bounded on the west by Don Mills Road, on the north by Sheppard Avenue, on the east by the

Don Valley Parkway The Don Valley Parkway (DVP) is a municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which connects the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Highway 401. North of Highway 401, it continues as Highway 404. The parkway run ...

, and on the south by

Highway 401 King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one, is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...

. It is contained within the city's officially designated neighbourhood of

Henry Farm Henry Farm is a neighbourhood in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the north central part of the city within the former city of North York. The City of Toronto has officially designated the neighbourhood of Henry Farm to enc ...

, although it is distinct in character from the residential community of that same name west of Don Mills Road. Parkway Forest is part of Ward 17 in the Toronto City Council, part of the new

Don Valley North Don Valley North (french: Don Valley-Nord) is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997 and since 2015. Don Valley North ...

federal electoral district, and part of the

Don Valley East Don Valley East (french: Don Valley-Est) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada that covers the northeast section of the North York part of Toronto. The federal riding was created in 1976 from parts of Willowdale, York East, Yor ...

provincial electoral district. Parkway Forest is primarily residential, with luxury condominiums, high-rise rental apartment buildings, low-rise rental apartment buildings and

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

complexes. The community has a large open park (Parkway Forest Park), a firehouse, a community center with outdoor pool, a shopping plaza (Parkway Forest Plaza) consisting of the neighbourhood's main grocery store (Foodland), and a public school (Forest Manor Public School) which goes from junior kindergarten to Grade 5. During the summer months, you can find many families with children playing in the large open park. It sits directly to the south of the Fairview Mall shopping centre, and is served by the Don Mills subway station on the Toronto Transit Commission's

Sheppard subway line Line 4 Sheppard is the newest and shortest subway line of the Toronto subway system, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It opened on November 22, 2002, and has five stations along of track, which is built without any open sectio ...

. Parkway Forest was initially developed as a "garden city" beginning in the late 1960s, with a mix of high- and low-rise apartments and townhouses. The majority of the neighbourhood's high-rise buildings were constructed between 1966 and 1972. An additional "affordable-housing development" was constructed at 121 Parkway Forest Drive in 2006, occupying what was previously the heavily wooded Forest Manor Park. In early 2005, the North York Community Council committee of the Toronto City Council rejected a proposal to replace many of the low-rise apartment buildings and townhouses by seven high-rise

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

towers ranging in height from 39 to 49 storeys. A more modest proposal for neighbourhood redevelopment was later accepted as a new development called Emerald City. This plan included the demolition of mid-rise apartment buildings and townhouses with replacement units built as in-fill developments elsewhere in Parkway Forest. New condominium units were to be built to a maximum height of 36 storeys. In July 2009, construction of two 9-storey replacement rental towers began at the corner of Parkway Forest Drive and Sheppard Avenue. Construction has continued since that time; primarily with the addition of new townhouse, mid-rise, and high-rise residential buildings, but also with a new community centre, and public art. Parkway Forest has a community association called the Parkway Forest Community Association, which represents local residents and seeks to address issues and opportunities within the neighbourhood.

References

{{Authority control Neighbourhoods in Toronto North York