A grocery store in Toronto would be demolished to make way for a proposed mid-rise development, but locals in The Beaches neighbourhood probably shouldn't fret too much, as the food store will be returning to the site, bigger and better.

An early 2024 proposal from developer Crombie REIT — resubmitted with revisions in June — seeks to redevelop an assembly of buildings at 2026 through 2040 Queen Street East, including local grocer Beach Foodland at 2040 Queen East.

Photo of the store in question from Google Street View.

Crombie, which owns Foodland and the larger grocery chain Sobeys, has proposed a six-storey, mixed-use building for the site. The design from architects RAW Design incorporates brick finishes to blend in with the surrounding streetscapes.

Rendering of what the property could look like in the future from RAW Design.

The building is planned to house 60 residential units (the tenure has not been finalized, and planning documents do not specify whether this project will be pursued as a rental or condo) atop a retail base.

This generously sized retail component, at 1,140 square metres, would span the majority of the ground floor, providing space for a replacement grocery store at this location.

According to the proposal's website, the project team's vision "is to build a larger, modernized grocery store and introduce new housing units to meet the growing needs of the neighbourhood."

"The expanded grocery store footprint will allow for more selection, improve the overall shopping experience, and provide more employment opportunities on site."

It has not yet been determined if this new and improved grocery store will operate as a Foodland, a Sobeys, or one of the company's other banners, like FreshCo.

For now, the website states that whatever opens in this location "will continue to operate under one of the Sobeys Inc. banners."

Aside from the potential disruption of construction and the temporary loss of a grocery store in the area, locals would only see a slight increase in traffic resulting from the new building.

A single underground parking level is proposed for the project, which would add 33 parking spaces to the neighbourhood for building residents. Much of the building's residential population would be expected to make use of local transit and the 56 long-term and 12 short-term bicycle parking spaces.