North York City Centre - Willowdale : Development News

After the high-profile opening of the Maple Leaf Gardens location, the LCBO's next two GTA openings will be smaller, more local affairs.

Construction has already been completed on the new Rimrock Plaza store at 1115 Lodestar Road near Allen. With 5,000 square feet of shopping space and a Vintages section of about 270 products, the store's meant to serve a neighbourhood that's slated to grow by nine per cent in the next decade.

York Mills Gardens at York Mills and Leslie is also getting a big new store, with 6,400 square feet of retail area, including 560 Vintages products.

Rimrock is scheduled to open next month, with York Mills Garden down for May.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Chris Layton

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Nominations opened this week for the 2012 Green Toronto Awards, though the most interesting category from the 2011 edition has been dropped.

Last year, the awards expanded to include a green homes category, aimed at individuals who had done something remarkable to or with their own homes.

"It wasn't our strongest category," says Jessica Chow, co-ordinator for the city-sponsored awards. "We don’t know why. We noticed a lot of them were, 'Oh, I recycle in my home.' It wasn't really what we were after."

So this year, it's been folded into the more general green design category, where individual homes will now compete with eco clothing, green roofs and other design innovations.

Nominations can be submitted here until midnight on Feb. 6. Winners will be announced in March.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jessica Chow

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Build Toronto got its rezoning approval this past week for what it expects will be Ontario's greenest office building.

The approval follows a similar approval from the North York Community Council, and makes the project a fair bet to make it through the rest of its hoops.

Despite its lofty carbon reducing ambitions, it hasn't been an easy road for the city's arm's length development corporation.

"I think there's a good tension between what we and the market view as the requirements, and what the planning people at the city and the residents view as the requirements," says Build Toronto's senior vice president of development, Don Logie.

In addition to altering the passenger pick-up and drop-off area and pushing the entire $150-million building back from the street, Build Toronto, which originally envisioned a 9-storey building, has dropped it to 7-storeys, and the current plan for 367,000 rentable square feet is about 20 per cent less than the original plan called for.

Designed by KPMB with their own Manitoba Hydro building as a model, the building will have in-floor radiant cooling and heating, as well as an eight-storey "solar chimney" that KPMB says will give the building a natural system of ventilation.

Located at the corner of Yonge and York Mills, it will also have direct lobby access to the subway and a direct connection to GO buses.
If everything else goes smoothly, ground will break in 2012, and the building will be completed, according to Logie, by the end of 2014.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Don Logie

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Four boring machines started work Friday morning at Sheppard Avenue West station.

Named Holey, Moley, Torkie and Yorkie, the four tunnellers began drilling their 8.6km way northwards in the latest extension of the city's subway system, connecting the Spadina line to York University.

The project, which will add six new stops to the line, is estimated to ultimately cost $2.6 billion.

According to Dale Albers, York Region Rapid Transit Corporation's communications guy, "Work started at 10am and will go on 10 hours a day" until the tunnel's finished. The borers place the tunnel liner down as it digs, building the tunnel as it goes, according to Albers.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 2015.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Dale Albers

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In a neighbourhood that is increasingly characterized by high rises, a developer broke ground last week for a new small condominium.

Rockport was the developer of Toronto's first condo, and Jack Winberg, son of founder Bert Winberg, broke ground on Twenty One Clairtrell with the same shovel used to break the ground on that 1967 project, which has been used for every ground-breaking since.

"Clairtrell I think is going to be an outstanding project," Jack Winberg says, "one of the most outstanding projects we've ever done. A wonderful boutique project in a wonderful residential neighbourhood. It's going to bring a style of condo living to The Bayview and Sheppard neighbourhood that they don't have now. Most of the them are built in large complexes, with lots of wind tunnels and lots of traffic. It's going to be on the edge of the built up areas, and across the street are town homes and schools. There's going to be a quiet neighbourhood feel to the place.

The eight-storey building will have 128 suites between 550 and 2,400 square feet.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jack Winberg

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An alternative home financing organization released a report last week to remind government that selling surplus land for low-cost residential development can help struggling neighbourhoods as well as aspiring homeowners.

Home Ownership Alternatives released three case studies of properties in Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto where government surplus land was used by HOA to improve the area and provide housing.

The Toronto example was Shermount, at Bathurst and Lawrence, on land that was once under the stewardship of the Canada Lands Company, the bureau responsible for federal land that's been designated as surplus.

"Home Ownership Alternatives wanted more people to realize what an impact careful redevelopment can have on a community." said Joe Deschenes Smith, vice president of partnerships for Home Ownership Alternatives, explaining the thinking behind releasing the report. "In each case study, governments committed to find partners who would develop mixed income communities.  Each government was paid market value for their land and at the same time helped families realize their dream of home ownership."

The result of the Shermount development was 380 mid-rise condominiums and 51 town homes, which sold at an average cost of $144,000 to buyers under the HOA second-mortgage scheme.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Desch�nes Smith

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Tridel is just putting the finishing touches on a new 335-unit rental tower at Yonge and the 401, just south of Oakburn.

The building, called the Harrison, is owned by the KG Group, which owns several rental buildings in the area.

The building, which began construction in the spring of 2009, is part of Tridel's master-planed Avonshire development, which also includes the Avonshire and Aristo condo towers, and the Parkside townhomes.

According to Jim Ritchie, vice president of sales and marketing for Tridel, "At least 25% of the tenants are coming from outside of the GTA," given the relative paucity of purpose-built rental buildings to choose from in the outlying areas. He also says that a rental building owned by a single entity, as opposed to condos that get rented out by individual owners, is attractive to some tenants who like what he calls the "security of tenure" � their unit will not be sold out from under them.

Tenants have begun moving in, and have been offered two months free rent on signing an 18-month lease as compensation for the fact that not all of the building's amenities have been completed yet.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jim Ritchie

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A planned community in mid-construction at Yonge and the 401 is exhibiting a greater than average dedication to diversity.

Avonshire, by Tridel, features not only the regular, relatively high end condo towers, and the by now usual townhouse component, but a rental building as well as a lower priced tower specifically aimed at first-time buyers and others who are willing to swap space for price.

The Aristo tower, just launched, will be 285 units on 21 floors. The sizes will range from about 400 to 900 square feet.

"Aristo differentiates itself from the Avonshire condominium in that the architecture is avant-garde, with extensive use of glass, and the suites are somewhat smaller," says Jim Ritchie, Tridel's vice president of sales and marketing. "Our target market is first-time buyers that are attracted to downtown towers, in terms of architecture and design, but prefer to live in a central location, close to transit, north of the 401."

The architect for this "central" project is Kirkor, with Munge Leung signed up to do the interiors. The building will also pursue LEED accreditation, a standard policy now for the developer.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jim Ritchie

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The third Whole Foods in Toronto, going up at Yonge and Sheppard, in the bottom of the Hullmark Centre, will be the biggest in the city.

Though loath to reveal the square footage, or many details at all -- "that would be showing our hand to our competitors," says Metro Store Team Leader Peter Hilge -- he did say it would be on one floor, there would be a cafe, and several amenities that are not currently offered in other GTA Whole Foods stores.

When asked why the company chose that location, Hilge echoes the currently popular line among developers and others with financial interest in the quickly expanding area. "If you took a pin and stuck it in the middle of Toronto, that's where it is," Hilge says pointing out it's at the intersection of the Yonge and Sheppard subway lines, and close to the 401. "Pusateri's just opened over on Bayview, and I truly think this is a better location," he says.

The new store, designed by Markham-based firm Petroff, will begin construction in 18 months, and is scheduled to open in early 2013, before many of the residents have moved in to the large condo complex above, according to Hilge.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Peter Hilge

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Menkes has just launched the second tower of their latest condo project for North York Centre, adding to a collection that has done much to define the skyline there.

The two 42-storey towers, which will house a total of 901 units, were designed by Rafael and Bigausakas, will join other Menkes residential projects in the immediate area -- Pinnacle, Royal Pinnacle, Ultima and Broadway � and will, like them, offer direct indoor access to the North York Centre subway station.

"Menkes has played a pioneering role in the creation of the North York City Centre community," says Mimi Ng, vice president of marketing. "We have been actively building in this area along Yonge Street since the early 1980s, and over the past 30 years we have built over 2 million square feet of retail and commercial space and over 5,000 condominium residences in this node." The commercial space they've built there includes the Procter and Gamble building, the Transamerica tower, and the Empress Walk shopping centre. "We remain very committed to the ongoing growth and evolution of this community."

The model suites for the project, which is called Gibson Square for the Gibson House Museum next door, were designed by Munge Leung.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mimi Ng

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Ground was broken last week just north of Finch on the west side of Yonge for the area's newest condo project, called The Palm.

It's the third project for developer Castle Royale, which built Belair Gardens at York Mills and Don Valley in 2006, and Tuscany Gates at 220 Forum Drive in Mississauga in 2008.

"Finch station is the second busiest subway station after Union," says Castle Royale CEO Nick Nanji, "and when its connected to York University, it will get even busier. That's why we felt this location was just perfect."

"The Kiss and Ride is right next to it," says Castle Royale president Mona Bhamani, "and Ontario has been putting a lot of pressure to increase density on Yonge Street and for developers to use the TTC."

The building team, including HC Architects, was brought in from Dubai, where Castle Royale is also active.

The 23-storey building, with 216 units for sale between $250,000 and $450,000 (with a $650,000 penthouse) is expected to be ready for residents by the summer of 2012.

Writer: Bert Archer
Sources: Mona Bhamani, Nick Nanji

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The buildings have all been demolished, and the materials all sorted for recycling at the future site of the Hullmark Centre at Yonge and Sheppard.

"Demolition will be complete by the end of this month, which will allow us to get going with the excavation of the site," says Jim Ritchie, senior vice president of Tridel, the developer of the three acre residential commercial complex best known, so far, for having signed Whole Foods as one of its anchor clients.

When complete, the complex will have two condo towers, an office building, retail, and a new path to the subway.

Ritchie expects excavation to take five to six months, and another five to six months of construction for the building to reach ground level.

The first occupancies are expected in 2013.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jim Ritchie


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Starbank Developments has run into some opposition to its plans for a 1.25-acre site at 1860 Bayview Avenue, the location of the former Brennan Pontiac Buick dealership.

"It's gone to committee twice," says Councillor John Parker, whose ward begins across the street from the proposed retail development, which Parker has been led to believe will include a Whole Foods grocery store. "The committee deferred its decision. The applicant appealed the deferral, which gave rise to the debate to whether a deferral is an appealable event. Before that was fully adjudicated, the applicant put forward another application in July, and that was refused, and that refusal has been appealed to the OMB."

As Parker describes it, the community's opposition to the plan is not an opposition to a new Whole Foods so much as the methods he says Starbank is using to get approval, Instead of applying for a re-zoning, which would trigger a public consultation, they are seeking a minor variance, which could avoid any input from the residents of the two affected wards.

Parker is interested in the development because of the increased traffic he expects any large retail site would generate in his ward as well as its neighbour.

Parker believes the project proposal is for 50,000 square feet on four levels, two underground. Starbank's website describes it as 80,000 square feet on two levels.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: John Parker

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Digging has commenced and new poles are being erected as part of Project Brian, Toronto Hydro's upgrading of a neighbourhood's old electrical infrastructure that was blacking out almost 10 times more often than the city's average.

The six-month, $1.4-million project in the area around the intersection of Brian and Old Sheppard in Don Valley East will replace both overhead and underground lines.

"Over the years, they've deteriorated," says Toronto Hydro spokeswoman Denise Atallah. "Underground, they're removing the direct buried cable and putting in new, concrete-encased ducting, which helps with premature aging and maintenance."

Crews are putting in about 20 new poles; the old poles will remain in place until the other utilities have replaced their wires.

Begin in May, the project is slated to be completed by October.

There will be power outages as a result of the work, Atallah says residents will be alerted.

According to Atallah, the neighbourhood was suffering between 8 and 12 power outages a year. The city's average, she says, is 1.5.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Denise Atallah

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The Rockport Group has taken over an assembled property near Sheppard and Bayview and will be building a 7-storey, 128-unit mid-range condo called 21 Clairtrell.

The original assemblers, who bought five adjoining single family dwellings, ran into financial difficulty during the recession. Rockport bought the property from the mortgage company earlier this year.

"They had applied for a 14-storey building," says Rockport's president and CEO Jack Winberg, speaking of the former aspirant developers, "the city went mad. Then they made it an 8-storey building" before they went under. Rockport kept the architects, Kirkor, but the project is going to be substantially different, with a largely brick facade and interiors done by Mike Niven.

"This is one of those great examples of re-use and intensification," Winberg says. "Now there's a subway at Bayview and Sheppard, the world's land has become more expensive, living styles are changing, and you're taking five units and you're going to put 128 on the same piece of land."

Though he says land is scarce up there, Winberg is happy to be providing an alternative to the high-rise projects by the likes of Daniels and Shane Baghai. "Across the street, you've got townhomes," he says of 21 Clairtrell, "not a 30-storey building, and across the other way is a school. It's a quiet residential street."

Rockport, under Winberg's father, Burton, built Toronto's first five condominium projects, beginning with a still-extant townhouse project on Albion Road, known as York Condominium No. 1, in 1968, one year after the legislation allowing for condominium development was signed.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source; Jack Winberg

Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or renovating, even a cool new house in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].