A recent redevelopment application could mean a pause for a popular supermarket serving the heart of Toronto's Iranian community.

Plans to redevelop the Khorak Supermarket at 6125 Yonge Street first emerged via an early 2022 development application, which was recently updated with a revised submission tabled to city planners at the start of September.

Developer Arkfield is planning to replace the supermarket and associated parking lot with a high-density, mixed-use development featuring towers of 23 and 19 storeys containing a retail base and almost 500 condominium units.

Khorak has been in business since 1989 and is considered a staple of Toronto's Persian community centred around the Yonge and Steeles intersection — an area primed for intense change in the coming years thanks to a planned station on the Yonge North Subway Extension project.

The store may be on the chopping block to make way for change, but patrons of the supermarket can rest easy that these plans can take years to come to fruition, and that the brand has apparent plans to return to the location in the not-too-distant future.

Almost 1,390 square metres of retail space is planned at the base of the development, and renderings include signage showing off the Khorak Supermarket brand — indicating that the brand will retain a presence on the site.

Atop the retail component, almost 96 per cent of the building's approximately 33,900 square-metre floor area would be dedicated to residential space.

A total of 491 condominium units are planned for the complex, broken down in a mix of eight studios, 332 one-bedrooms, 107 two-bedrooms, and 44 three-bedroom units.

While not quite as dramatic as an earlier design proposed last year by another architecture firm, the current design from architects Dialog is defined by decorative brick arches framing the base and transitioning up to a combination of brick-patterned and curving balconies that break up the tower mass.

The developer is seeking a rezoning from the City to permit the proposed height and density, and the plan is currently working its way through Toronto's lengthy planning and approvals process. 

That means that wrecking crews probably won't arrive any time soon, giving Khorak Supermarket plenty of time to secure a temporary home during the pending redevelopment should the brand choose to do so.