Towering Ambition: How Peterborough’s Skyline Became a Numbers Game

Peterborough is waking up to a new skyline—and it’s not subtle. A seventeen‑storey glass-and-concrete tower is about to crash into East City’s backyards, a stark symbol of the province’s housing mandate and TVM Group’s relentless push for high-rent units. Four hundred and thirty-five units built last year, five hundred fifteen the year before, and vacancy hovering at one percent—this city isn’t just growing, it’s racing. And now, whether you cheer for the units or curse the shadows, the Hunter Street East tower is proof that hitting quotas has a price: your street, your sunlight, and maybe, your soul.

TVM Group, the developer behind the tower, isn’t new to Peterborough. They own and hold, pumping the streets with high-rent rentals while keeping the cash flowing. Their resume is etched across the city: District Lofts downtown brought modern rentals into heritage shells, East City Condos delivered chic homes for young professionals, Tannery Lofts turned industrial bones into apartments, and a ten‑storey mixed-use on George Street stacked retail, offices, and apartments tightly together. Hunter Street East fits that playbook perfectly: vertical density, a nod to heritage, high-rent units, and a tidy bump toward provincial quotas. The deal even preserves the Mark Street United Church, giving it a new hall and four condo units valued at two million dollars.

The city isn’t just letting this happen blindly. Ontario has demanded that Peterborough deliver 4,700 new homes by 2031, or risk having provincial powers override city hall. Recently, Peterborough has been hitting these targets hard: 435 units in 2023, 515 in 2024, and 470 expected this year. Vacancy is down to 1.0–1.1 percent, and average rents have climbed to $1,325, with three-bedroom units up nearly eight percent. Households now need roughly $15-20,000 a year just to cover rent, putting enormous pressure on working families. If utilities/parking aren’t included, the true required income is a bit higher, since those also count toward housing costs.

Flip the lens, and the street-level reality is stark. Seventeen stories loom over porches and backyards like a wall of glass and concrete. Four levels of parking pressed against houses feel more like a bunker than an amenity. Rents between sixteen hundred and twenty-seven hundred dollars a month are far from affordable. Residents warn that the city is playing provincial target bingo, counting units while erasing character, community, and sunlight. Traffic will spike, shadows will stretch across yards, and the East City skyline will never look the same. The split is raw: some say housing is urgent, that the city must hit the provincial mandate or risk losing control; others argue density is fine, but seventeen stories here is a stretch too far.

This tower isn’t just about units; it’s a warning shot. Peterborough is crushing its quota, TVM is cashing in, but the social ledger is balanced in shadows, traffic jams, and the uneasy feeling that hitting numbers and living well aren’t the same thing. The council vote isn’t just about zoning; it’s about who controls the city’s future. Hunter Street East splits the difference between growth and community preservation, and the fallout will be felt for years.

The Hunter Street tower is Peterborough in microcosm: ambition wrapped in concrete, dreams squeezed into tight budgets, and mandates pushing against the grain. You can cheer for the units or curse the shadows, but you can’t look away. Peterborough is coming of age. The real question: will the city grow with soul—or just chase the numbers?