And a new commercial plaza with a Shoppers Drug Mart store is getting set to expand at Dundas Street and McLaren Avenue.

A London-based developer wants the city's approval to demolish two houses, a restaurant and motel at the Preston corner.

A new, 17,000-square-foot building is proposed on the 0.4-hectare (one-acre) property.

Canadian Commercial Development Corp. has a track record of building big Shoppers Drug Mart stores that replace smaller ones in Cambridge. There's a small Shoppers in the shopping plaza across King Street from the proposed new drugstore.

"The retailer is unconfirmed at this time," said Lee Greenwood, partner in Canadian Commercial. "We are working with a large drugstore. It's not an official Shoppers deal."

A community meeting to present building and site plans is set for Wednesday.

City council hasn't yet been asked to consider the official plan and zoning changes needed to allow the new drugstore.

At the urging of city staff, the proposed store won't be a bland commercial building with parking out front. Instead, it would be hard against the King-Bishop corner, with red brick and stonework details, along with plenty of street-facing windows.

"This is simply flipped. The building really frames the corner… the parking is in the back," Greenwood said.

It's also proposed to be two storeys tall — unusual for a new commercial building in Cambridge. Because the site is small, store offices and storage is proposed for upstairs, Greenwood said.

City hall is pushing mixed land use in the new Cambridge official plan, with housing preferred over retail and offices in core areas.

Canadian Commercial considered that usage for King and Bishop, but Greenwood said it's likely not a good candidate for the development shift.

"We don't understand yet how and why people want to live above stores again," Greenwood said.

"Only really signature locations make sense for that . . . in established downtowns, or fringe areas," he said.

"You can't just put a mixed use on every property in every neighbourhood. It's not going to be successful."

Five kilometres to the southeast, at Dundas and McLaren, a $5 million Shoppers Drug Mart store opened in July. The 18,000-square-foot store replaced an 8,000-square-foot Shoppers in the abutting Highland Plaza.

The former Firth Brown Tools factory was razed by Canadian Commercial to make way for the new shopping plaza on the 1.4-hectare (3.3-acre) site.

Now, Canadian Commercial is hoping to start construction of a 9,000-square-foot second building by year's end, immediately north of the new Shoppers, Greenwood said.

He wouldn't divulge names of prospective tenants, but said the multi-store building is aimed at community uses like hairdressing and dry cleaning outlets.

Community meeting:

• 17,000-square-foot drugstore proposed at King and Bishop streets
• Public comment invited Wednesday at Preston Memorial Auditorium, upstairs board room, 1458 Hamilton St.
• Meeting starts 7:30 p.m.