Diversity : Development News

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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Today's the last day to get an advance look at the designs for the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Museum, being built on a large campus of land between 49 and 77 Wynford Drive.

On display on the first floor of the Ontario Science Centre since Dec. 23, the exhibit is free. According to theismaili.com, the website of the international Ismaili community, "The Aga Khan Museum will be a museum of Muslim culture that will seek to address the gap of knowledge about Islam and create opportunities for dialogue and understanding between peoples and cultures. The first of its kind in North America, it will bring together visitors locally and internationally, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to explore their connected heritage and celebrate their unique backgrounds."

According to Councillor John Parker, in whose ward the buildings are going up, the exhibit is "well worth viewing."

The $300-million, 6.8 hectare project is set to be completed in 2013.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Councillor John Parker

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An important part of the first phase of Regent Park's revitalization formally opened on Dec. 1, after several months of getting-to-know-you time that one planning and development co-ordinator says was absolutely necessary.

"There was a lot of confusion, and a lot of questions being asked by residents and other community members," says Alison Chan, who works for the Toronto Centre of Community Learning and Development, which is behind the Regent Park Centre of Learning, of the tumultuous process of re-building a neighbourhood, "so we wanted to give ourselves time to be able to establish a presence in the community before we did a formal opening. You need to have people know who you are before you can celebrate the opening of your centre."

The Centre, on the ground floor of a new building at 540 Dundas Street East, which is connected to 246 and 252 Sackville, seniors and family residential buildings respectively, all owned by Toronto Community Housing.

Though the centre started out as a literacy organization, they have moved into more diverse areas of education, for which the 2,233 square foot centre, with its conference room, multipurpose room, computer lab and classroom, is designed to be a hub. The Dec. 1 launch included what they're calling a community dialogue on creating a healthy community, something they're planning on making a series. The first one stayed general, and included Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation Glen Murray, city councilor Pam McConnell, and architect Ken Greenberg. Chan estimates there were about 100 people in attendance.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Alison Chan

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The St. James Cathedral's Parish House is getting its second semicentennial renovation care of Peter Clewes, Dalton construction and $16 million.

"The space was getting pretty tired," says St James' director of operations and finance Rob Saffrey, "which is probably being nicer than one might otherwise be."

They demolished the one-storey 1959 addition and are replacing it with a three-storey space, primarily to be able to offer parishioners and community members more space to meet and celebrate.

"One of the major programs we run is an outreach for people in the neighbourhood. We do a foot care clinic, cutting of hair, we serve a meal one day a week, so the space was not really adequate for that at all."

Other groups that have been using the space, and could benefit from more of it, include a mother-and-baby group, and a Muslim men's prayer group.

Saffrey says $5 million is coming from St James' coffers, and $11 million from donations and capital funds.

In addition to the space, St James and Clewes are also revealing some of the original 1909 architectural details that were covered up in the 1959 renovation, including some interior stone archways.

The renovation and addition, set to be finished by October, 2011, will also include a new slate roof, the cleaning and exposure of much original interior brick, and the installation of various audio-visual conveniences.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Rob Saffrey

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Last year, when Home Ownership Alternatives was a finalist for the World Habitat Awards, they threw a party on the UN's designated World Habitat Day to let people know, and to celebrate their various partners who helped them provide the city with an entirely new kind of affordable housing.

It went so well, they decided to do it again, and give the city an event at which to announce a major new funding initiative.

"It's an opportunity to bring together various partners and stakeholders and thank them on a day the world should be talking about availability of affordable housing," says HOA vice president in charge of partnerships, Joe Deschenes-Smith.

So on October 4, between 80 and 100 people from various levels of the municipal and provincial development sector will gather at the Enoch Turner School House, where Sean Gadon, director of the City's Affordable Housing Office, will announce the city's $3.5-million support for affordable housing under a new program.

If it goes as well this year as last, Deschenes-Smith says they'll likely make it an annual event.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Deschenes-Smith

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On June 8, a major new development force announced itself to city council.

The Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, which had recently negotiated a $145-million land claim settlement, appeared before council to introduce themselves as new city partners. Though the claim won't be completely settled or paid out for some time yet, the announcement made it clear that the nation intends to buy back some of the land they lost in 1828.

And this past Monday, an audience at Fort York was able to put all this in a little context with a talk by University of Calgary history professor emeritus Donald Smith, as well as Mississaugans Chief Bryan LaForme and Carolyn King, who talked about the facts and repercussions of the January 30, 1929 meeting between the British and a group of Mississauga chiefs, during which, as the talk put it, the "landlords became tenants."

"This is the first of a series of events that we're going to be having at Fort York, put on by the Friends of Fort York, that focus on Toronto and Canada's history, present and future," says Alok Sharma, supervisor of special events at the fort.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Alok Sharma

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"These garden were in operation in the 70s and 80s and into the 90s," says Councillor Peter Milczyn, of the just-resuscitated Titan Road community gardens. "Around the time of amalgamation, the number of people using it dropped off, and when amalgamation occurred, the garden was shut down."

Then came the Tibetans.

"A couple of years ago, I was approached by a community group, the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, who were constructing their community and cultural centre across the street. They saw the old sign that says City of Etobicoke garden plots."

Milczyn says he took the idea to city staff, and was met with silence, but after resolving an issue with another councillor who he says had been blocking the grounds use on behalf of one of their constituents, who was using it for storage, the two acres of hydro corridor lands are being prepared to use again. All it will take, Milczyn says, is a little tractor to clear out a decade of overgrowth, and a topsoil top up, to make it ready for the 1,000-plus members of the Tibetan centre, who will also be sharing it with other interested neighbours.

Though Little Tibet is several kilometres away in Parkdale, as a result of these gardens, this Kipling and Queensway neighbourhood will likely take on a greater significance to this exiled community. According to Milczyn, the Dalai Lama will be visiting it and giving the project his blessing next month.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Peter Milczyn

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The radical renovation of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts will be ready for October 1, the 50th anniversary of its opening.

But better than the 189 re-milled brass doors, the 1,700 restored cherry panels, the fixed marble, the carpeting that now goes with the marble, the LED-lit coffered ceiling, the new Sony store and the removal of several architectural interventions that got in the way of architect Peter Dickinson's original design: there'll be a bar open from 4pm to midnight every day. And you won't even have to buy a ticket to a show to drink there.

The Balcony Bar sounds like it has definite new Toronto hang-out potential. It's part of a new approach the Sony Centre (aka the O'Keefe Centre, aka the Hummingbird Centre) to cater to the city it exists in now, rather than the one it was built into.

"The first show 50 years ago was Camelot," says Sony Centre CEO Dan Brambilla. "It represented the city at the time: homogenous. Now we have 232 cultures, so our programming is no longer focused on Broadway -- there are other theatres for that. We want to program to all the ethnicities in the city.

They want to feed them, too.

"Every night, the food will be paired with the show," Brambilla says. "If we have a Russian show, there'll be Russian food, and so on."

The idea is to bring the city into the Centre. The food will be cheap, the bar will be open to the public, and the whole building will offer free WiFi.

The renovation and restoration, which was budgeted at $30 million, was paid for by the sale of air rights to the developers of the new Libeskind condo going up next door.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Dan Brambilla

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Thanks to two tennis organizations, kids at Jane and the 401 now have three resurfaced courts in Maple Leaf Park.

Tennis Canada and the Doug Philpott Inner-City Children's Tennis Fund (which caters to mostly outer-city kids, as it happens) are, among other things, devoted to smashing the stereotype that tennis is for rich kids.

"This is something that Tennis Canada has done a few times," says spokeswoman Sarah Grossman. "Our mandate is to get kids playing as much as we can, and this is just one extra way to fulfill our mission, providing an opportunity where it wouldn't otherwise be possible. I would say we've definitely gone a long way in terms of breaking down those stereotypes."

Maple Leaf Park is just south of Tennis Canada's Jane and Steeles offices.

The mayor and pros Bob and Mike Bryan were on hand for the official opening during the Rogers Cup.

As a result of the refurbishment, the Philpott fund's summer tennis program will be extending its program to include Maple Leaf Park as its 13th location.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Sarah Grossman


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Louise Russo Park is getting new playground equipment as part of a rash of playground and park improvements being funded in-part by soon-to-expire federal funds.

The equipment at former Flindon Park, re-named four years ago in honour of Russo, who was paralyzed by a fragment of a bullet meant for someone else at California Sandwiches in 2004, has been designed with disabled children in mind.

"It's a very old park," says Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, in whose ward it is, "and it was at the top of the list to get a new, freshly built playground."

Mammoliti estimates that the cost of the refurbishment, which was officially unveiled yesterday, was about $110,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Giorgio Mammoliti


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Options for Homes is launching its next low-cost, no-down payment homes at Bathurst and Lawrence in September.

The building will be 13 storeys high with 331 units ranging from studios to five-bedroom apartments, between 485 square feet and 1,675 square feet, with pre-launch prices of $155,425 to $309,200.

The complex, designed by Burka Architects and built by Deltera, is going up on lands sold by Asbury & West United Churchh at the corner of Bathurst and Saranac.

"We were up against some stiff competition," says Options for Homes spokeswoman Jessica Speziale, speaking of their bid for the property, "but the church wanted to do something good for the city, something good for the neighbourhood and wanted to make sure more families could own."

The oldest part of the church itself, built in the 1870s with a 1950s addition, will be demolished to make room for the mid-rise condo, which will include a sabbath elevator.

Speziale expects construction to begin next summer with completion the summer after that, in 2012.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jessica Speziale

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A development that will add 62 new affordable rental homes for seniors and people with disabilities broke ground at 5 Deauville Lane in Flemingdon Park last week.

"It's really exciting," says Simon Liston, manager of housing development at the city's Affordable Housing department, speaking of the roll-out of about 1,000 units of affordable seniors housing funded by economic stimulus money, of which the Deauville project is a part. "It's the largest tranche of seniors rental housing we've had in this city for decades."

Many honourable folks turned out with their fancy shovels to mark the event, including the Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Americas) and the area's MP, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, provincial Minister of Transportation and the area's MPP, and Councillor John Parker, whose ward the units are going up in, who is also no doubt quite honourable.

The architect for the project is Michael McKnight of Barrie-based McKnight Charron Laurin Architects.

The project is being funded by the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program to the tune of $7.4 million, with an extra $550,000 worth of incentives such as fees and property tax waivers from the city.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Simon Liston

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Aboriginal housing organization Wigwamen has given $250,000 to support the 50 units being set aside for aboriginal women and their children in the new YWCA Elm Centre.

Wigwamen, a non-profit in operation since 1972, usually builds and owns its own properties, including a 103-unit seniors building at Spadina and Bloor, and a 92-unit community in Malvern. They currently run a total of 405 units in Toronto.

"Although it's nice to own units," says Angus Palmer, Wigwamen's general manager, "it's more important to us that we guarantee access to affordable housing units for the aboriginal community."

Wigwamen will continue to accept, screen and process the applications for the units, and will then hand over the likely candidates' names to YWCA, who will be making the final determination of who gets the units, which will be rented out at a rate of about 30 per cent of the woman's monthly income.

The YWCA, which will be running the facility when it's completed around May, 2011, has put $15 million of its own into the whole project, which was designed by Hilditch Architects and Regional Architects.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Angus Palmer

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All three levels of government announced their support of alternative routes to home ownership last week by giving $2.5 million to fund Home Ownership Alternatives and Option for Homes' latest project, the 643-unit Village by High Park condo tower in the Junction at Dundas and Keele, on the site of the old Canadian Tire.

The funding will provide financial backing for buyers of 108 units in the building.

"These new units will provide quality, affordable housing for low income households and benefit the economic and social well- being of the entire community," said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in a press release.

"This investment will allow more people to realize their dream of owning a home which is a key ingredient of the City's 10-year affordable housing action plan," said city councilor Gord Perks. The plans calls for assistance for 257,700 households.

With this contribution the value for the average second mortgage offered to help prospective home buyers with a down payment will be $53,000.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Sharon Rego

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Non-profit developer Neighbourhood Concepts has begun selling units in a condo tower to be built at Donlands and Cosburn using an increasingly popular financing model that allows middle-income people to afford to get into the housing market.

Potential buyers for the East Yorker, which is being financed by Home Ownership Alternatives, can qualify to use a specially negotiated second mortgage as the down payment, which they only have to pay back when they sell the property. The financing model was developed by Options for Homes, with which Neighbourhood Concepts is affiliated.

"It's a great project," says Home Ownership's vice president Joe Deschenes-Smith. "You know Woodgreen Community Services? They actually owned the adjacent site, and we're buying the land from them as part of the agreement. We'll be doing affordable houses on upper stories and services for Woodgreen on the ground floor."

The 11-storey building will have 134 units, starting at about $200,000. Construciton is scheduled to begin in early to mid 2011.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Joe Descenes-Smith

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