Development News

Options for Homes, the city's developer of low-cost housing that offers buyers a second mortgage they can use toward their down payment to increase their likelihood of being accepted for a mortgage, has reached the halfway point in their Junction project.

On Keele just north of Dundas, the 643-unit, two-tower building, somewhat misleadingly called The Village by High Park, broke ground in August of 2008 and will probably be ready for residents beginning this summer, with final completion and occupancy early next year if the trades, many of which are currently renegotiating their contracts, don't strike. Construction costs are estimated at $170 per square foot. With a total of about 560,000 square feet, the project's construction budget is estimated to be about $95 million.

"We tend to go for land that is in up and coming neighbourhoods, neighbourhoods on the cusp, because it's less expensive, so we can keep our prices lower," says marketing co-ordinator Jessica Speziale. Options for Homes, which also has projects planned for Bathurst and Lawrence and in Barrie, were early develops in the Distillery District area, building their light brick towers in the late 90s, before the district was renovated and rebranded.

The Junction condos range in size from 455 square feet for a bachelor to 1190 square feet for a three bedroom, and in price from $143,000 to $324,000.

Though no commercial tenants have yet been signed, there will also be retail on the ground level along Keele.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jessica Speziale

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King City is getting its first Shoppers Drug Mart this week.

The new store, a stand-alone building at 2136 King Road, will have 14,000 square feet on its main floor, and an upper floor with a medical clinic.

"We've been trying to work on this one for a while," says Shoppers spokeswoman Tammy Smitham. "We had to work very closely with the municipality to get it approved." The closest previous location of the aggressively expanding chain was in Oak Ridges. "It's a fair piece away," says Smitham.

The location will also house a post office, in addition to a cosmetics department and the usual food and lottery offerings.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tammy Smitham

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West Village, a massive new condo community by Tridel, has launched its first and is about to launch its second of four phases in what will be a four-tower, single-podium development in Etobicoke.

The first tower will be 27 storeys with 267 suites. Though Tridel hopes all four towers will be roughly the same height, the city has currently zoned the fourth one at 15 storeys.

"We're really trying to push the community feel of the building," says Samson Fung, Tridel's spokesman. "It's four buildings in an area that doesn't really have that."

The buildings, designed by Sheppard Avenue West firm Rafael & Bigauskas Architects, are to be built on The West Mall just north of Bloor Street West to LEED standards. Set between the Etobicoke Community Centre and Cloverdale Mall, West Village will be just west of Kipling station and Tridel's other development in the area, Parc Nuvo.

Construction is set to begin next year, with a fall or winter, 2013 occupancy.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Samson Fung

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A unique building at Pearson airport, which started out as a simple utilitarian project to train its own staff and ended up a dynamic for-profit institute run by the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, has won a 2010 Ontario Architects Association award for design excellence.

Designed by Kleinfeldt Mychajlowycz Architects Incorporated, which was previously cited by the OAA for their own offices at 147 Portland St., the Fire and Emergency Training Services Institute trains fire and emergency personnel in its classrooms, using such facilities as a burn building and a rescue tower.

If the project receives the LEED Silver certification it's aiming for with its passive solar collection panels and reduced energy and water consumption, it will be the airport's first LEED building.

"It exceeded forecasts in regard to recovered solar energy," says project manager Gerald Lambers.

Construction on the 25,000 square foot, $13.5-million building began in November, 2005 and was completed in January, 2007. The prize will be awarded next month.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gerald Lambers

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Modrobes was Lululemon avant la lettre and sans yoga. An independent shop, run by Brock University graduate designer Steven Sal Debus, Modrobes was a Queen West staple from its opening in a 400 square foot shop just west of John in 1997, to its expansion into a spot almost five times that size in the space now occupied by Adrenaline Tattoos. The big shop closed in 2005, but thanks to a winning appearance on CBC's Dragon's Den, Modrobes is back, re-funded, in a 1,200 square foot shop in the old Rotate This space at 620 Queen West.

Following the theme of the new clothing line, which Debus calls eco-sportswear, he designed the shop himself. "It used as much recycled material as possible," he says. "Basically, it's made of old metal and old barn board."

This is the least expansive store he's ever put together, he says. The big one that shut in 2005 cost him $250,000 to design and implement; this one, which opened April 10, cost $20,000.

The clothing is made mostly from recycled plastic bottles � 18 make a jacket, 16 for a pair of shorts � and is priced between $14.99 for an "organic t-shirt" and $150 for the jacket.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Steven Sal Debus

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A sign went up last week on the old Downtown Fine Cars dealership on Avenue just north of Davenport. Pears, named for the street residents will eventually be entering from, will be one of the first condo towers to be entirely conceived and launched � as opposed to re-launched � in the post-recession market.

At 20 storeys and 130 units, the mid-size, high-end building will begin selling this week. The building will be designed by Page Steele/IBI Group Architects, with interior design by Munge Leung Design Associates.

"We really have been working hard to come up with a building design that really adds to the streetscape and makes a design contribution to the area," says Mimi Ng, vice president of marketing for Menkes, which is developing the site.

The building will also incorporate a two-storey retail component along Avenue Road. "It's going to help liven up that stretch, which recently has been a bit derelict," Ng says.

If sales go well, construction will begin next year.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Mimi Ng

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The second subway station to benefit from the TTC's Second Exit Project is about halfway done. Castle Frank is getting an $8-million exit added to the west end of the subway platform.

According to project manager Steve Stewart, the purpose is "to increase the egress capacity during an emergency." Castle Frank is one of 14 stations identified in a 2002 Life Safety study, and Broadview was the first completed, with work at Pape underway, and work about to start at Wellesley and Dufferin stations.

The Castle Frank project was designed by MMM Group, with the work carried out under contractor TorCom.

Stewart expects the work will be completed by the end of the year.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Steve Stewart

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Colliers International has put together a deal for Good Life Fitness to establish a flagship gym for its 275-location national chain at 137 Yonge.

It will occupy the old Revolution Fitness space on the ground and basement floors of the building, giving them a total of 45,000 square feet.

The deal was signed last week and may ultimately involve shuttering several of the Good Life Fitness locations in the immediate area. The fates of 2 Queen East, 250 Yonge, 100 Yonge and 36 Toronto Street are up in the air.

"It's taken four years to find something," Bristow says, adding that the entire top floor of The Bay on Queen Street had been an earlier option. He estimates the renovation will cost Good Life, who have signed a 20-year lease, somewhere in the range of $3.5-$4-million.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Tim Bristow

Correction: There are 275 Good Life Fitness locations in Canada. Yonge Street was given incorrect information, which has now been corrected in the text. Also, with regard to any of the several locations within less than a kilometre of the new flagship location closing, according to Good Life spokeswoman Krista Maling, "We have no plans to make any changes to any clubs in downtown Toronto as of today." She was unable to make assurances about the immediate future. The original text has been changed to reflect this new information.

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].

Demolition was completed last week, and construction begins this week on the first building in the new $341-million, 536,967 square-foot phase of the 27-acre Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at 1001 Queen Street West at Ossington.

All built to LEED Gold standards, the Gateway Building will be first of the four buildings to go up. Designed by Stantec to mesh, says vice president of communications of community engagement Susan Pigott, with the loft-converted industrial buildings in the neighbourhood, the Gateway will be an outpatient facility with administration offices and a caf�, called the Out of This World Caf�, on a corner lot on Queen Street.

"It's been too long that the southern strip of Queen Street has been a sinkhole," says Pigott, of the situation that's been largely attributable to CAMH's century-long presence. "The new Gateway building will actually have an external face on the street. For the first time, it will really attract external business. The whole idea is to draw people on to the grounds so it loses that sense of isolation."

In addition to its new buildings, the CAMH property is constructing streets to increase public accessibility, as well as a 179-unit assisted housing project, with 10 units set aside for CAMH-related residents.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Susan Pigott

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Art Condos, a new condo project on Queen West, announced a photo and video clip contest last week, three weeks into its sales launch.

"We're asking people to give their idea of what Queen Street is right now, what it represents, something that will characterize how it is today... something that will give people a sense of nostalgia in the future," says builder Gary Silverberg. "It's going through a massive change right now, and we want to document it."

Judges include local gallery owners, artists and painter/critic Gary Michael Dault. The photo contest runs until May 24, and the video portion deadline is June 13. Prizes include being part of a video loop presentation in the model suite, as well as prizes donated by local businesses.

The contest is part of a larger social media marketing strategy that began before the project was launched.

According to Silverberg, the 11-storey, 150-unit tower at 44 Dovercourt is more than half sold. Construction will begin this year in preparation for a 2012 occupancy.

The project was designed by Hariri Pontarini and Oleson Worland Architects, with interiors by 3rd Uncle.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gary Silverberg

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There have been ways for Junctionalians to convince themselves that, despite the opening of the city's best caf� (Crema), one of its best hand-made organic chocolate shops (Delight) and a full-blown organic grocer (Sweet Potato), the Junction was still just the Junction.

That illusion may be a little harder to maintain for anyone who's walked by 3073 Dundas West recently and seen the Tailwaggers sign in the old Skyway Cleaners window. As of May 1, the Junction will be home to its own doggie daycare centre. There's no going back now.

"We're at the painting stage, and well be laying the floors in the next week or two," says Tailwagger owner and long-time dog-walker Adria Kowalski, who bought the building, which had been listed at $549,000, in February with her boyfriend, Ehren Davey.

Kowalski's plan is to make Tailwaggers a boutique-style daycare centre for a maximum of 20 dogs, "a higher-end place, with chandeliers and dog banquettes and toys and agility equipment," says Kowalski, who grew up in nearby Baby Point and had her first date with her current partner at Axis Bar and Grill just across the street from her new venture.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Adria Kowalski

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In the second expansion of a Junction business into the downtown core in a month, Delight chocolates opened a second location at 805 Queen Street West on March 26.

Delight moved into the space previously occupied by the Spice Trader and Olive Pit. The hand-made, organic, fair-trade chocolate shop, which started up years ago principally as a wholesaler and special order outfit is actually getting back to its roots. Jennifer Rashleigh, half of the husband-and-wife ownership team, used to own Citron restaurant on the Queen West strip, and husband Jeff Brown once worked both there and at The Paddock.

"We were both very familiar with the neighbourhood," says Brown, "and always wanted to return and offer what we're currently doing."

Unlike the Junction location, where the chocolate and ice cream is actually made, the 400 square foot space will be purely retail. "We started out as a wholesaler," Brown says, "but now the bulk of our business is retail out of the Junction. That's where we saw our business growing the most, which is why we decided to have another location that focused just on the retail."

The new store, which required hiring three new employees, needed minimal renovation work, limited to some plastering, painting and minor floor repairs.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jeff Brown

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There's a poignancy to posthumous dedications. The satisfaction in remembering is mixed with the knowledge that the person being honoured isn't able to share in it.

That bittersweetness is heightened in the case of Edmond Place, an affordable housing development going up at Queen and Dowling. A luxury building with 12 apartments when it opened in 1913, it had been a 55-unit rooming house for 15 years by the time Edmond Yu, for whom it's now named, was evicted in 1996, just a couple of months before he was shot to death by police on a bus in the middle of a schizophrenic episode.

"We wanted the name of the place to be part of its goal," says Victor Willis, executive director of PARC (Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre), the organization that is developing the city-owned property, on which it holds a 50-year lease, "a place where someone like him wouldn't have been evicted."

At about 20,000 square feet, designed by Hilditch Architect to fit in behind the heritage fa�ade, Edmond Place will offer 29 affordable apartments to people with histories of mental health and addiction problems. Originally budgeted at $4 million, the budget expanded to $7 million when the extent of the destruction inside the old building, which had been damaged by fire in 1998, became clear. It's set for completion by the end of this year, with occupancy expected in January, 2011.

Still $300,000 short on its capital goal, Design Hope Toronto is holding an art auction to raise funds on April 16 (see a previous story on Yonge Street about Design Hope).

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Victor Willis

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The Spice Trader and Olive Pit has a been a connoisseurs' stop on Queen West since it opened, spices on top, olives in the basement, five years ago. But when the lease ran out, they decided they needed a bigger space.

"We wanted to expand, do classes, the space was too small for that," says owner Allison Johnston. The new space, at 877 Queen West, just two blocks west of their old location (previously home to Klaxton Howl), is about a third larger, Johnston says.

Completely renovated to a design by Deborah Fenwick of the Fenwick Design Group, the new single-level space has a 10-foot marble counter, painted copper ceiling and a mural on the wall adapted from the company's logo. According to Johnston, the new look is "old world apothecary." In addition to stocking more store-imported and bottled olive oils, Johnston plans to offer balsamic vinegar tastings and classes in spice grinding.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Allison Johnston

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The 60 Richmond Street East housing project made this year's list of the projects honoured by the Ontario Association of Architects for excellence in design.

The 11-storey, 85-unit affordable-rent building was the first new housing co-operative to be built in years and will be used initially as a place to re-house those displaced by the nearby Regent Park redevelopment. It was built to LEED Gold environmental standards and designed by Teeple Architects. It was built by Toronto Community Housing.

"I think the most significant part of it is the way that it animates the street," says Gordon Grice, editor of Perspectives, the OAA's quarterly journal, citing its colourful cladding and saying the only other building as lively in Toronto is Will Alsop's Sharpe Centre for Design. "It's a good urban neighbour."

According to the OAA's citation, "This project explores ideas for the future of urbanism in the North American city. It seeks to understand and express the notion that urban form can simultaneously be environmental form. 60 Richmond East is also an example of the imagination and dedication that is required in creating responsible architectural solutions for the current global economic and environmental climate."

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Gordon Grice

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].