Metrolinx's demolition tour through Toronto's Riverdale neighbourhood is about to claim two more casualties.

The transit agency has announced that it is just a couple of weeks away from tearing down another pair of homes in the community as part of the 15.6-kilometre Ontario Line project, set to connect Exhibition Place with the former Ontario Science Centre via downtown Toronto.

The line's Gerrard Station has required sweeping expropriations of homes and businesses, including a stretch of 25 homes along Pape Avenue now in the process of being torn down.

Metrolinx announced the next step in its demolition marathon will begin as early as February 28, 2025, when the transit agency tears down a pair of vacant homes at 495 and 497 Pape Avenue.

The pair of houses at the northeast corner of Pape Avenue and Bain Avenue homes will be torn down in a process lasting four to five months to make way for a future emergency exit building serving the new station that will be constructed nearby.

According to Metrolinx, demolition will be followed by site preparation activities for the new exit structure. Piling to support the excavation of a shaft for the Bain emergency exit will take place later in 2025, followed by construction of the exit building itself.

These emergency exit buildings are built at roughly the mid-points between stations on the line, and offer exits for riders and access for first responders in the event of an emergency.

The critical importance of these emergency exits was put on full display during the 1995 Russell Hill subway accident — named for the emergency exit near the crash site — that saw three TTC passengers killed and 30 hospitalized.

This work will happen alongside the already-started demolition of a group of Metrolinx-owned properties that were also expropriated at 388-402 Pape Avenue as well as 257 Langley Avenue.

That process began on January 20, and is expected to last up to 10 weeks.

Demolitions are transforming the area on an unprecedented scale, and even a major neighbourhood shopping centre is on the chopping block.

The Gerrard and Carlaw shopping plaza will eventually be torn down, with its 2.7-hectare site to be redeveloped into a new transit-oriented community, which will include new retail spaces, housing units, and enhanced parkland.