WILLOWDALE is also an established community in the former City of North York, now part of Toronto. Originally it was a village centred at the intersection of Willowdale Avenue and Sheppard Avenue East, where a number of small business and commercial buildings still remain. The boundaries of the current neighbourhood extend as far east as Bayview Avenue, west to Senlac Avenue, south to the 401, and north to Finch Avenue. The neighbourhoods abuts Bayview Village to the east and Newtonbrook to the north. The North York Centre located at the intersection of Yonge Street and Empress Avenue is commonly thought to be a part of Willowdale, though its high-rise residential and commercial development sets it apart from much of the rest of Willowdale.
The Willowdale neighbourhood consists of single family homes, condominium townhouses and high-rise condominium towers. The high density development through high rise buildings is restricted along Yonge Street while in pretty much of the rest of Willowdale there is a significant family home transformation by tearing down original bugalows dated from the 1910 to 1950 and replacing them with very large two-storey luxury homes. It can be said that a huge part of Willowdale developed during the last 5-7 years into a Million $ home area.
